Solo Diving

[redrover]

I suspect there is more solo diving going on than it may appear. I think one reason there is not much discussion of solo diving is that in general it is not recommended. People who speak of diving solo tend to be a bit heated either pro or con, there are tales of horror from both sides of the fence. And persons without extensive experience tend to get bashed as deserving the Darwin Award and inflicting cruel and unusual punishment since they will certainly die and bring sadness to the hearts of the living.
Personally I view the choice to dive alone or never dive alone each individuals personal choice and risk assessment. The Con folks feel the risk to be unacceptable and the Pro people feel there are acceptable risks. It appears to me that a major factor is understanding the risks, as with any and all potentially harmful activity.
SOLO DIVING The Art of Underwater Self-Sufficiency by Robert Von Maier might be of interest to you.

 

[Diver0001]

The Solo Diving forum is empty.

No it isn't. It's just not visible to everyone. Ask one of the moderators to give you access.

R..

 

[MikeFerrara]

Not always true,

If your diving on a charter and the DM pairs you up wiht an idiot what do you do? Refuse the buddy, go solo, or thumb the dive? How about just hanging back away from the group, same thing as solo IMO

There is a good book about the subject, I would reccommend it to any diver

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-2367087-0507354?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I realize that this is a problem for folks who travel alone but I would never hesitate to turn down a buddy if there was a reason too. In some cases that may be a matter of explaining to the DM that you've already got a buddy. In others it may mean that the charter doesn't let you dive. There are other days and other dives. Once you agree to dive with an assigned buddy the you should be a buddy to that person.

 

[shaggie]

As I have previously stated, I have dove solo in the past, and probably will again sometime. There is much to be said about diving with a new found or assigned "buddy". You meet new people, which is always a good thing, and not all the single divers you find on the boats are Kooks. Usualy, but not always, they seem to be a little green but are Ok. I'm not vastly experienced with only 70 or so dives myself so I still remember what it was like beening a newby. Buddy up for fun and safty if you have any doubts at all about your ability in dificult situations.

 

[RiverRat]

Once you agree to dive with an assigned buddy the you should be a buddy to that person.

Tell that to the photographer that blew me off in Cayman several weeks ago on a dive.
I was not worried so much about myself as I hung with the group on the dive, but I was worried about him. Back on the boat I asked him what happened and he said he just blew off on his own as he was taking photos. Nice guy, I think he just "used" me to get into the water. That's fine, but DON'T agree to buddy with me and TOTALLY blow me off right into the dive and run your own profile. Now if he ran into a problem down there he would probably still be there. I dove with another photographer all week and although we were both taking photos we did stay within close proximity and ran the same profile.

 

[Santa]

My 7th dive ever was a solo dive, was safer than diving with the people I was buddied with.

However poor your buddies You'll find divers on this board with thrice your dives and education who would abort the dive rather than follow your example.

Are you that selfreliant and are they all being needlessly over-cautious?

just something to think about.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Tell that to the photographer that blew me off in Cayman several weeks ago on a dive.

LOL, I'd jump at the chance to tell him. Cameras are one of my biggest pet peeves. they should make it law that no one can have one under water until they have at least 1000 dives! An exageration maybe but too many are trying to be UW photographers before they learn to dive. The arguement that a photographer can't be a buddy is proof, as far as I'm concerned. We've often done photo dives as a team and it works out great that way. You just have to plan it as a photo dive with every one on the same page. What a novel concept huh?

That's not even to mention the ones I've seen trashing the place laying all over everything trying to get a picture or the ones with their fins 6 inches off the bottom kicking like mad to stay up because their not neutral trying to get a picture of their buddy as they are engulfed in a silt cloud of their own making...a really funny sight if you don't have to dive in the silt cloud.

 

[Diver0001]

...snip...

many a diver can't really be trusted. I've had buddies endanger me far more often than ever be helpful.

There can be many reasons for this, not least among them is that the buddy system takes effort from all involved. From your post I see frustration about poor buddies and rejection of the buddy system but I would challenge you to look at what you can do to make it work.

I've been paired up with many an insta-buddy and certainly in more than 9 cases out of 10 I have good dives with them. How is that possible? I'd say the secret more often then not can be found in a combination of realistic expectations, discussing the plan etc. in detail before getting in the water and aligning my goals for the dive with my buddy's goals.

For example, if you're paired up with a photographer, you know he/she will be taking pictures. Realistically, swimming from one place to another for the whole dive isn't going to happen. Maybe helping them find good subjects would make for a better and more interesting dive for both of you. Maybe spending one part of the dive on pictures and one part of the dive on your goals is also possible. You'll never know, though if you don't discuss it and you don't try.

On the whole, I still think that declaring that you're safer alone because you can't make it work is bulls**t.

R..

 

[Jim Ernst]

One thing to keep in mind is, "If you have to ask if your ready to dive solo your not".

When your able to handle anything thrown at you, on your own, you might be ready. It's more of a frame of mind than anything else.

Gary D.

yup i agree with gary all of the way, i do a lot of solo diving as i do a lot of photography, and dont like to drive dive buddies crazy waiting for me, so i do it on my own, i like it that way as well if i am using the camera, but you must be ready for it!!!

 

[Charlie99]

Tell that to the photographer that blew me off in Cayman several weeks ago on a dive.
I was not worried so much about myself as I hung with the group on the dive, but I was worried about him. Back on the boat I asked him what happened and he said he just blew off on his own as he was taking photos.

I always wonder about the complainant's buddy awareness in cases like this. Was he really that much faster a swimmer than you? I've had a couple insta-buddies try to wander away, but they never managed to escape.

Good self awareness and realistic risk assessment are good traits in a solo diver. Hearing people justify their solo diving by blaming bad buddies doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Diving with an insta-buddy takes a bit more work and skill than doing the same dive with a regular buddy. In those few cases where my insta-buddy increased my risk, that buddy was a lot safer diving with me than he would have been otherwise.

Charlie Allen

p.s. Yes, I do many solo dives each year. I just don't feel compelled to try and convince either myself or anyone else that these solo dives are safer than doing the same dives as a buddy team.

For me the question is whether the risk is acceptable, even though higher than with a good buddy.