If Catherine calls the DIR folks pompus pundits, I wonder what she calls everyone else? :huh:
Solo Diving
- Thread starter Wing_nut
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I enjoyed reading the answer, Bob.
Every once in awhile, I like doing a cross-check on myself!
I must have missed that post.
Yea, people, my solo days are almost over!
getting pretty happy bout that.
Good news for you all is that I won't be so annoying.
Every once in awhile, I like doing a cross-check on myself!
I must have missed that post.
Yea, people, my solo days are almost over!
getting pretty happy bout that.
Good news for you all is that I won't be so annoying.
JeffG
Contributor
Good thing I'm not DIRTheRedHead:
catherine96821:
I think it has a lot of potential entertainment value!
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Pompous pundit...let's see... Who could put that on their avatar? We''ll have to make Bob a t-shirt!
I just hope Dennis is being careful. I think photography might have made him safer...probably doesn't do really really deep so often, etc.
I just hope Dennis is being careful. I think photography might have made him safer...probably doesn't do really really deep so often, etc.
JeffG:
:huh:
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what? that is too much stuff. You know you have lost it when you buy the sherpa pants.
AND the camera? (scanning list for good ideas to steal) Why TWO spools?
impromptu will and testament? No, do that before you get off the boat, Kev. The hydration pack has me thinking. Can you imagine being adrift at sea and your buddy pulls out his "hydration pack"? Ya'll share EVERYTHING, right?
What I really want, more than anything, is the Breitling dive watch with the GPS pin. Tiny, practical.
djanni
Contributor
TheRedHead:
Humm... I wonder.... "quitely confident, emotionally stable and fun loving people?" I don't really know I'm just venturing a guess.
As for the aphorist's in the crowd... they make a lot of us nervous.
I dive solo about ninety percent of the time and I have done so for many years. My take is probably over simplified, but here it is. You need to have confidence that you can self rescue from anywhere in the dive, i.e. if you are 30 minutes in at 100fsw, can you make it to the surface incase of a catastrophic gas loss? Can you switch to a pony and swim out safely? Can you shut down a post and switch to your back up? I think that self confidence needs to be a result of having good decision making skills: do you have the mental capacity to make a decision in an emergency? DCI vs. Drowning. Are you willing to thumb the dive on the surface if conditions are bad?
Then there is gas management, navigation, site selection, timing the tides(if applicable) knowing the underwater hazards: are there any entanglement hazards from old nets that you could get caught in?
Those are a few of the things that I consider. This is not even close to a complete list. My check list shouldn't match yours. I do a lot of photography that involves heavy deco so I sling a stage. That is one of my things that I have to look at when I hit the water. Not everyone does that. Some hunt, some just fish watch. Everyone should prepare for their dive in the manner that suits that dive.
Then there is gas management, navigation, site selection, timing the tides(if applicable) knowing the underwater hazards: are there any entanglement hazards from old nets that you could get caught in?
Those are a few of the things that I consider. This is not even close to a complete list. My check list shouldn't match yours. I do a lot of photography that involves heavy deco so I sling a stage. That is one of my things that I have to look at when I hit the water. Not everyone does that. Some hunt, some just fish watch. Everyone should prepare for their dive in the manner that suits that dive.
pterantula
Contributor
Solo Diving is like so many other things in life: your choice, and your consequences. No use moralizing, just make your own decisions.
While as an artist I have no problem burning a whole tank trying to capture the perfect shot of a single anenome, this is something I won't do so I can stick close to my buddy and afford him/her a fun dive by their own measure. Even then, bad vis can turn it into a defacto solo dive for awhile, but I'm all eyes for him/her so we don't completely separate. Enter together, exit together - seems like a reasonable rule.
I probably could do solo dives, but I won't any time soon. The cons for me simply outweigh the pros by a wide margin. For instance: once past the surf and cruising the kelp at Monastery, it would make a really cool solo dive, chasing fish and whatnot, but for the entry and exit - man am I glad someone was there to make sure the surf didn't pound my *** into the ground. Would anyone have even found my body until the next day or so? (It's also nice to share the momentary embarassment of crawling back on the beach with no mask on and sand all up your suit...)
As well, what if I couldn't handle the surge that particular day? Just float out to sea, I guess.
As with everything else in life, I may change my tune with more exposure, so I'll keep my head open....
I've never even considered not sharing air*, since that's what we were taught, but it's an interesting point that a wiggy diver could be more of a danger to you than your not sharing air is to them. My usual buddy carries Spare Air, and I may too in the future, so that may help.
* please forgive the Devil's Advocate bit, studying law makes that inevitable, but what are the ramifications of refusing air? Granted, we sign waivers while on charter boats, and accept a certain amount of trust with dive buddies, but if something happens and you refused to share air there could be serious Heck in your future.
(And please don't read 'over-litigious' into this; sure, the law is abused by some but the system as it is exists for reasons far deeper than what's soundbited.)
While as an artist I have no problem burning a whole tank trying to capture the perfect shot of a single anenome, this is something I won't do so I can stick close to my buddy and afford him/her a fun dive by their own measure. Even then, bad vis can turn it into a defacto solo dive for awhile, but I'm all eyes for him/her so we don't completely separate. Enter together, exit together - seems like a reasonable rule.
I probably could do solo dives, but I won't any time soon. The cons for me simply outweigh the pros by a wide margin. For instance: once past the surf and cruising the kelp at Monastery, it would make a really cool solo dive, chasing fish and whatnot, but for the entry and exit - man am I glad someone was there to make sure the surf didn't pound my *** into the ground. Would anyone have even found my body until the next day or so? (It's also nice to share the momentary embarassment of crawling back on the beach with no mask on and sand all up your suit...)
As well, what if I couldn't handle the surge that particular day? Just float out to sea, I guess.As with everything else in life, I may change my tune with more exposure, so I'll keep my head open....
I've never even considered not sharing air*, since that's what we were taught, but it's an interesting point that a wiggy diver could be more of a danger to you than your not sharing air is to them. My usual buddy carries Spare Air, and I may too in the future, so that may help.
* please forgive the Devil's Advocate bit, studying law makes that inevitable
, but what are the ramifications of refusing air? Granted, we sign waivers while on charter boats, and accept a certain amount of trust with dive buddies, but if something happens and you refused to share air there could be serious Heck in your future.(And please don't read 'over-litigious' into this; sure, the law is abused by some but the system as it is exists for reasons far deeper than what's soundbited.)
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