Weighing in late... and without reading the entire thread... some of this is sure to be repetition.
Why SOLO Diving is not just Dangerous... but somewhat foolish can be easily established... and I will establish it clearly for you. With that said, it can also be dangerous and somewhat foolish to dive with a buddy. Situations vary, so to each diver I say... dive smart with or without a buddy.
Solo diving for new divers is foolish because there is no conceivable way a new diver has the experience under his or her belt to handle what may come at them. The only way to gain these experiences - and likely live through them - is to dive with more experienced divers. They may or may not be your direct "buddy" but they must be in the water around you if you have much chance of surviving your "experience building" stage. Solo divers have died due to a variety of situations where a buddy may have been able to offer assistance - or at least returned to the surface to effect a rescue by someone more experienced. Some situations dangerous to a solo diver include entrapment, entanglement, running out of air, getting lost, ascending or descending out of control, experiencing vertigo, etc... I have personally been involved with saving less experienced divers - and myself - from situations involving all of the aforementioned hazards. Some will argue that running out of air is one with remedies... (dive doubles, carry spare air etc...) but those too have failed, or failed to have been used properly. There is safety in numbers... on land in a dark alley and underwater with the fishes.
Now with all that said... you may be in even greater danger if you're diving with a less experienced buddy or a buddy who is an incompetent boob. I have seen buddies damn near kill their buddies with everything from plain stupidity to outright overt acts I thought to myself may have been attempted murder. I've seen buddies think it was funny to swim up behind their buddy and turn off their air... I've seen buddies follow buddies into wrecks or caves where they had no business going etc. etc...
Know yourself - and if you have a buddy - know them as well as you know yourself. If you dont - dont dive with them.
The final reason I like diving with a buddy is so that if god forbid something did happen to me and I didn't make it back to the boat... at least someone would know what happened to me... They can go back with a great story like - Ken got eatin' by a shark or Ken got stuck in the wreck and I couldn't get him out... yada yada yada...
Good stories like that are hard to come by... and rarely are first hand accounts available.
Ken
Why SOLO Diving is not just Dangerous... but somewhat foolish can be easily established... and I will establish it clearly for you. With that said, it can also be dangerous and somewhat foolish to dive with a buddy. Situations vary, so to each diver I say... dive smart with or without a buddy.
Solo diving for new divers is foolish because there is no conceivable way a new diver has the experience under his or her belt to handle what may come at them. The only way to gain these experiences - and likely live through them - is to dive with more experienced divers. They may or may not be your direct "buddy" but they must be in the water around you if you have much chance of surviving your "experience building" stage. Solo divers have died due to a variety of situations where a buddy may have been able to offer assistance - or at least returned to the surface to effect a rescue by someone more experienced. Some situations dangerous to a solo diver include entrapment, entanglement, running out of air, getting lost, ascending or descending out of control, experiencing vertigo, etc... I have personally been involved with saving less experienced divers - and myself - from situations involving all of the aforementioned hazards. Some will argue that running out of air is one with remedies... (dive doubles, carry spare air etc...) but those too have failed, or failed to have been used properly. There is safety in numbers... on land in a dark alley and underwater with the fishes.
Now with all that said... you may be in even greater danger if you're diving with a less experienced buddy or a buddy who is an incompetent boob. I have seen buddies damn near kill their buddies with everything from plain stupidity to outright overt acts I thought to myself may have been attempted murder. I've seen buddies think it was funny to swim up behind their buddy and turn off their air... I've seen buddies follow buddies into wrecks or caves where they had no business going etc. etc...
Know yourself - and if you have a buddy - know them as well as you know yourself. If you dont - dont dive with them.
The final reason I like diving with a buddy is so that if god forbid something did happen to me and I didn't make it back to the boat... at least someone would know what happened to me... They can go back with a great story like - Ken got eatin' by a shark or Ken got stuck in the wreck and I couldn't get him out... yada yada yada...
Good stories like that are hard to come by... and rarely are first hand accounts available.
Ken