Solo Diving
- Thread starter eddie the pink
- Start date
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DaleC
Contributor
Sas, a pleasantly surprising response. No more about it from my end then.
OP
eddie the pink
Registered
You didn't make a mistake at all!There is no problem with new people asking questions about stuff they do not know. However, the only problem seems to be when new people get narky
SAS if you did not think I was getting narky why did you write this ? look mate lets just draw a line under this, I will assume your original intent was to help. thanks
Zieg
Contributor
Wow, costa del sol, cove in front of the house, 15-20 ft deep. Man, I would be in that cove every night. This screams relaxing to me. Even if there is nothing to see. Just sit on the bottom, listen to your bubbles and crawl inside yourself. Do that a few times and nobody on this forum will ever get to you. But, personally, I'd let someone know I was going out and check in with them when I got back. Hey, but that's me. Oh, and have a cortado for me.
seaducer
Contributor
I have yet to read all the responses, so apologies if these ideas have been covered.
As far as solo diving in general, diving is safe enough, and the equipment reliable enough, that someone who has never even taken a class could safely solo dive in a lot of common conditions. That is, if nothing bad happens. What seperates the wheat from the chaff so to speak is one's ability to negate trouble before it starts, or at the very least gets out of hand, and failing that to effect a rescue to safety. This all starts with basic knowledge of diving, it evolves with practice, experience, and even goes to understanding why things are done a certain way, not just how to do them.
So, is it foolhardy to dive alone? No, provided you are a capable diver ready for the experience, and in many cases it can be safer than diving with someone. Is it fool hardy to do what you are proposing? Honestly only you would know. Do alot of people do it? Probably more do than should. Again, in the end the choice is yours to make.
seaducer
Contributor
Well, I suppose predictably the tone of the thread seems to have gone downhill.
I will say this, when someone asks for an opinion, nobody should get bent out of shape when an opinion is offered. If the idea of reading an opinion is enough to make you cringe, I suggest when you read things in an OP like " so the big question would it be fool hardy to take such a chance alone" , you simply ignore the thread. Seriously, it will do your blood pressure some good.
As for the experience quotient, experience is a good tool to measure whether someone is ready for something or not. It is only one tool to be sure, but an effective one never-the-less. The advice, or idea in a post should be evaluated based on it's own merits, and not colored by an opinion of the experience of the poster, unless they put an idea out there and ask for opinions on it.
Eddie, damn the torpedos. Ask as many questions as you have, we got lots of answers. The more you ask the more you will be exposed to, but like anything else, the more you know and the more experience you have the better you will be able to evaluate the advice given.
Anyway, don't get scared off, you are in the right place.
I will say this, when someone asks for an opinion, nobody should get bent out of shape when an opinion is offered. If the idea of reading an opinion is enough to make you cringe, I suggest when you read things in an OP like " so the big question would it be fool hardy to take such a chance alone" , you simply ignore the thread. Seriously, it will do your blood pressure some good.
As for the experience quotient, experience is a good tool to measure whether someone is ready for something or not. It is only one tool to be sure, but an effective one never-the-less. The advice, or idea in a post should be evaluated based on it's own merits, and not colored by an opinion of the experience of the poster, unless they put an idea out there and ask for opinions on it.
Eddie, damn the torpedos. Ask as many questions as you have, we got lots of answers. The more you ask the more you will be exposed to, but like anything else, the more you know and the more experience you have the better you will be able to evaluate the advice given.
Anyway, don't get scared off, you are in the right place.
Sas
Contributor
You didn't make a mistake at all!
SAS if you did not think I was getting narky why did you write this ? look mate lets just draw a line under this, I will assume your original intent was to help. thanks
Because often people who ask for advice to do something, and they are told not to, they get narky. That is why I wrote the next line to say that YOU were not doing this and that was good. You seemed to be taking some of the things people said personally so I was trying to be nice... Why didn't you quote the rest of it? "I think it is good you are asking questions and taking on board the advice given to you. "
biz_nate
Contributor
Wow, another "should I bbe soloing?" thread. This is fantastic. You all give some of the best lunchtime entertainment I can imagine. I may have to start reading here before my daily Dilbert Blog ritual.
Eddie, man, I'll level with you. My advice would be to hold off, maybe dive the cove with some buddies, and get a feel for the layout, along with taking a year there to study how cove conditions change. After that, and some redundant gear purchases (and familiarity with the equipment), you could reevaluate your position.
That said, (and this is where I'm leveling with you), that beautiful body of water beckoning me every afternoon and night would likely be too much for me. I'd probably be in there daily in less than a month. I hope you're a stronger man than I.
To give you an outsider's opinion on the content of this thread: I honestly don't think Saspotato was calling you snarky. I don't think you were being snarky. You each seem like reasonable, intelligent people- I hope you two can let that issue rest and move on. What you're seeing here isn't all related to your one question. If you follow Dale's link, you'll see that this issue has already been hotly debated quite recently. I suspect that there's some spillover here.
You seem to be approaching this issue scientifically, and that's a good thing. In the end, you're going to find that some people will approve of you diving solo, many more will not. I say this because I think you'll find (like me) that when it's time, it's time. You won't ask approval or permission, you'll just plan it, gear up, and do it. And when you do, I hope you post your experiences here (with pictures).
SDI does offer a solo course, though it requires 100 dives to enroll. If you really can't wait that long but do want some perspective from the class, you may look into buying the book itself. I've not read it so I don't know how valuable it is without an instructor, but it's something to consider.
One other thing I'd recommend- a number of people have mentioned self-rescue. Obviously, that's an integral part of the solo diver's toolkit. A great way to receive some training in that area would be to take a rescue diving class. The course, at least the PADI one, focuses a good deal on self-rescue.
Good luck, and have fun!
-Ben
Eddie, man, I'll level with you. My advice would be to hold off, maybe dive the cove with some buddies, and get a feel for the layout, along with taking a year there to study how cove conditions change. After that, and some redundant gear purchases (and familiarity with the equipment), you could reevaluate your position.
That said, (and this is where I'm leveling with you), that beautiful body of water beckoning me every afternoon and night would likely be too much for me. I'd probably be in there daily in less than a month. I hope you're a stronger man than I.
To give you an outsider's opinion on the content of this thread: I honestly don't think Saspotato was calling you snarky. I don't think you were being snarky. You each seem like reasonable, intelligent people- I hope you two can let that issue rest and move on. What you're seeing here isn't all related to your one question. If you follow Dale's link, you'll see that this issue has already been hotly debated quite recently. I suspect that there's some spillover here.
You seem to be approaching this issue scientifically, and that's a good thing. In the end, you're going to find that some people will approve of you diving solo, many more will not. I say this because I think you'll find (like me) that when it's time, it's time. You won't ask approval or permission, you'll just plan it, gear up, and do it. And when you do, I hope you post your experiences here (with pictures).
SDI does offer a solo course, though it requires 100 dives to enroll. If you really can't wait that long but do want some perspective from the class, you may look into buying the book itself. I've not read it so I don't know how valuable it is without an instructor, but it's something to consider.
One other thing I'd recommend- a number of people have mentioned self-rescue. Obviously, that's an integral part of the solo diver's toolkit. A great way to receive some training in that area would be to take a rescue diving class. The course, at least the PADI one, focuses a good deal on self-rescue.
Good luck, and have fun!
-Ben
biz_nate
Contributor
One other (separate) thing I'd like to bring up. Sorry if this causes a temporary hijack, but I think it should be considered: is the solo forum the proper place to be addressing questions like this?
I know the OP didn't start it here, which, to me, makes the question all the more pertinent. SB staff moved the thread here, though it does seem to violate the spirit of the sticky for this forum. It seems that such questions are best addressed here. The topic is volatile enough here; the flames generated by posts external to this forum might well be enough to burn down all of SB. If it be the case that questions such as this are best handled here, I propose an amendment of the forum rules.
Consistency seems healthy.
I know the OP didn't start it here, which, to me, makes the question all the more pertinent. SB staff moved the thread here, though it does seem to violate the spirit of the sticky for this forum. It seems that such questions are best addressed here. The topic is volatile enough here; the flames generated by posts external to this forum might well be enough to burn down all of SB. If it be the case that questions such as this are best handled here, I propose an amendment of the forum rules.
Consistency seems healthy.
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