SCORE ResQ once bubbled...
Okay, I have searched the boards and come up empty-handed on the topic of solo diving. I would like some opinions on the matter. Please try and stay civil as I know this is a subject of huge debate and flaring tempers at times. So with that in mind what do you think?
While I dive solo about 75% of the time, I neither advocate or oppose solo diving for others. But I think everybody should always step back and consider the big picture, whether it be rebreathers, trimix training, whatever.
First off, ask yourself, what is solo diving? If you seperate from your buddy, ascend alone, hunt a lot, of photograph, chances are you're a solo diver. Just because you buddy up on the boat and start the dive together doesn't count for much.
My diving career started where solo diving is quite common, West Palm Beach. I realized I was diving solo the first time I made a solo ascent. It's very common there for hunters and photogs to be off by themselves, and for people to ascend seperately as air consumption dictates.
Then you ask, how dangerous is solo diving -actually-? Well, it's not, in as much as diving generally isn't very risky. There is a different set of consequenses from buddy diving. When you buddy dive, you at least partially assume the responsibility for the safety of your buddy, whom in some cases you may never have dived with before. You also at least partially assume the consequences of his mistakes, which can be fatal.
Not many divers die solo, and those that do, may not have died because they were solo.
Risk is part of diving. You assume additional risk each time you expand the envelope. Each advanced cert, each time you go deeper. Each time you penetrate. If you're one of those people that want to take the path of lowest risk, take up stamp collecting.
For a recreational diver, is the risk of solo diving more substantial, say, that taking up cave diving?
Yet many people choose to cave dive.
I liken the additional risk of solo diving to the way I drive in the rain. I know the cops won't be out for speeders, so I drive faster. Less risky? Of course not. But you get there faster.
Think about how many private planes are flow solo.
At least one agency offers a solo diving cert. First off, since a substantial number of divers already solo dive (whether they admit it or not), a training syllabus can't be a bad thing. Secondly, It would be my opinion that if they considered solo diving a significant risk, they would be opening themselves to substantial liability, and they obviously don't think so.
Then there are gear configurations to consider, redundant air supply and so forth. Also a frank self examination of your self confidence and self reliance, and abilities as a diver. Also contingency practice, actually practicing ESAs, which I do. Among other things, I practice breathing my LPI/Wing during ESA.
I solo dive for two reasons, first, because I can't always find someone to go diving when I want to, and secondly, many dives I do are more enjoyable solo. Not that I don't enjoy diving with my friends. There are also some dives I would never consider doing solo (although other do).
So spend some time evaluating the actual risk, and ignore the chicken littles, and then decide whether the additional risk is acceptable.
One friend said "If you have to think about solo diving too hard, you're probably not ready".
Just food for thought.
