Solo Diving

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Wing_nut

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Location
Windsor Ont
Hey Folks,

I am not trying to stir the pot just looking for some feed back. I said to my buddy the other day that the dive we were doing would be better as a solo dive and he bit off my head. My point was this. It was low vis (3' tops) is shallow water (30') and we were looking for junk on the bottom. We had to use buddy lines to keep in touch with each other and it was a pain. I don't see a huge problem with it as long as you have a pony and you know the area and stay in the open. Any thoughts?
 
Poor viz---I wouldn't.

That is just me...entanglement fears. But then poor viz scares me...
 
I do it all the time in poor vis.
 
Here in the U.S. solo diving seems to be quite a popular activity amongst many I've noticed recently. Personally I wouldn't engage in the practice purely because it goes against all the training I've ever done, and for recreational diving it's kind of pointless to me if I cannot share my experience with my buddy wife anyhow.

It's a personal choice on my part that's all. To each his/her own I guess, it's just not something I'd consider to be fun to go diving alone. It's about the social interaction for me as much as it is about the enjoyment of the diving itself.

Just my opinion. :o)
 
I would think that in low visibility the hazards are increased, not decreased. So I would be even less likely to solo dive in low vis.
 
I actually prefer solo diving in 3' vis. I can concentrate on the subjects I'm looking for without having to look for my buddy. In good vis, buddy contact is much easier.
 
I have done LOTS of this type of diving and most of it for pay.

I greatly prefer to do this kind of diving tended with surface supplied gas.
A tender can concentrate completely on the diver and is not distracted with his (her) own dive.
The gas supply can be as simple as a hooka rig.

It does require some training in technique for both the diver and tender but is not all that complicated for fun stuff.

There are extra risks in low vis with 'junk on the bottom' for entanglement and getting loose can be tricky even with help. Good training helps with this, you really don't want both divers entangled in the same mess.


There are many different ways to do this and the best choice depends on the conditions including the vis, type of hazards and skill/experience of the divers.

Solo diving where there is significant risk of entanglement is usually a VERY risky activity.
 
As a photographer-under-water I assume I am really a pain in the *** for my buddy sometimes. Spending a lot of time on each snail or shell, taking a bunch of pictures from every angle...

For that reason I sometimes go solo. But only say 5m/15ft deep.

I once went solo that way. I ran out of air due to a leaking inflator and not watching my manometer (give me a cam and the display is all I see; all right, kick my ***:kopfab: ). I really would appreciate my buddy if that happened on 30m/90 feet. So just be careful...
 
I don't think it would be "better" as a solo dive. As was pointed out, entanglement is best handled with an extra brain, set of hands and pair of eyeballs.
 
I actually think solo diving is a better choice here, it will reduce your taskload and with the viz as limited as that buddies probably won't be helpful.

I also don't like depending on someone else to save my life, this would probably change if I had a very regular buddy though. But what do I know?
 

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