Solo Diving

[dscheck]

As for dealing with buddies. Its really quite simple. Be selective on who you dive with and the type of diving you do with them. There are a few dives I'll do with practically any certified diver but there are a lot more I will do with only a handful of divers.
You are responible for the choice of who to dive with.

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

 

[pants!]

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

The mistake was made before you got onto the boat.

 

[Grajan]

The mistake was made before you got onto the boat.

I completely agree - don't get on a boat without a buddy. Casual dating can be bad for your health.....

 

[jmps]

jmps,
to answer your original question concerning how to learn to solo dive, imho you should take a certification class offered by a recognized agency.

i had the opportunity to do this last month with sdi.
i still feel that i need to dive several hundred more dives before i would feel comfortable giving anyone advise on the subject.
regards,

Thanks for the info and to the others who answered the question. I realize that I need training and experience to do this. I just realized what was missing in my diving so far. I was asking what that training would be and what sort of experience and equipement I would need. I will look for a solo diving course once I get some more experience. Thanks for the SDI pointer. In the meantime, my 15 YO daughter is getting certified so I am growing my own buddy and am looking for a compatible list of buddies.

In bye gone days I was a solo climber and backpacker. I realized the risk and prepared for it and I was willing to accept the calculated risk. Some of the most moving experiences in life came during solo treks.

 

[in_cavediver]

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

My statement still holds. YOU are responsible for who you dive with. It doesn't matter how, what or where. YOU pay the price for whatever happens. Given that, and the exact scenario you gave, you failed list one other option - Staying on the boat.

 

[drbill]

The decision to dive solo is not one to make lightly. I have been doing it since the 1960's under conditions I felt were quite safe. In fact my "incident" statistics suggest that the 20% of the dives I do with buddies have a much higher frequency of problems than the 80% of my diving I do solo.

However, IMHO no one should recommend to another that they "should" start solo diving. I am not making such a recommendation here. It is only one that you should make after gaining enough experience to know how you react in difficult situations- whether you panic or remain calm and think logically about the problem.

If you decide to do it, the suggestion of a solo diving certification is a good one. There are books you can read on the subject as well. But you won't know for sure if you are ready until you know your typical response to emergencies. And I recommend a pony bottle for all solo diving, at least below 30-40 ft. I keep mine on 99% of the time even if I'm diving shallow. The one time I really needed it, I hadn't taken it with since my planned profile was to 40' instead of the 70' where I found myself suddenly out of air due to a clogged debris tube in my valve. Fortunately I don't panic and made a safe emergency ascent. Had it been further into my dive, or one of my later dives, I might have been seriously bent.

Not worth that risk.

Dr. Bill

 

[Wildcard]

If I didn't dive solo Id have 1/10 of the dives I do. Dive buddies have a bad habit of not showing up. It's a question (as stated earler) that if you have to ask, your not ready. Nice slow shallow dives are great fun solo. When you have the dive time and that is no specific number of dives, you will know. You will just be comftorable. If your not, then don't.....

 

[Grajan]

Not sure about this theory. My experience teaching other risk sports is that men in particular tend to be delusionally optimistic about their own state of readiness for pretty much anything. Probably a testosterone issue...ilot:..

If I didn't dive solo Id have 1/10 of the dives I do. Dive buddies have a bad habit of not showing up. It's a question (as stated earler) that if you have to ask, your not ready. Nice slow shallow dives are great fun solo. When you have the dive time and that is no specific number of dives, you will know. You will just be comftorable. If your not, then don't.....

 

[shaggie]

I started diving solo with less then a dozen dives under my belt. At the time I was working midnights with days off mid week. I wanted to go diving after work in the AM and the dive shops didn't open until 11. My solo diving started out of necessity since I had a difficult time finding a buddy. I haven't dove solo in a year or better now since I now met someone who also has a funny-not ha ha funny- schedule. I found solo diving very relaxing. Everyone talks about task loading, not having to look after someone else and vice versa relieves you of some of that. I've had a minor mishap or two while solo, if you can keep a cool head- stop, breath, thank, act- you'll do just fine. Don't even get me started on going onto dive boats as a solo! It's more fun with a partner, but if the right partner isn't out there.....
well, there's my 2 cents.

 

[cornfed]

If I didn't dive solo Id have 1/10 of the dives I do. Dive buddies have a bad habit of not showing up.

This has to be the worst reason to solo dive that I've ever heard. If I get stood up more then once I'm probably not going to invite that person to go diving again.