Solo diving
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Mountainturtle
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Thanks everybody,
I have now done two solo dives, and must say that I enjoyed them much more than the dives I've done with buddies. Both were in fairly calm water and on both occasions there was someone in the boat (1st dive) or on the shore (2nd dive. I have had quite a bit of experience snorkelling/swimming alone in conditions that were a bit more dangerous than when I dived so I was confident and had no problems. Apart from the utter exhilaration I felt at being alone down there, these dives felt not much different to buddy dives I'd done (except I had nobody else to worry about so Icould really look at the things I wanted to and go at my speed). Both dives were < 8 m and I had informed my friends on the surface of my plan.
Although I will by no means not buddy dive anymore, I do not think that I will make every dive neccesarily with a buddy. And I will not let the absence of a buddy prevent me from going diving (within my limits of course).
I have now done two solo dives, and must say that I enjoyed them much more than the dives I've done with buddies. Both were in fairly calm water and on both occasions there was someone in the boat (1st dive) or on the shore (2nd dive. I have had quite a bit of experience snorkelling/swimming alone in conditions that were a bit more dangerous than when I dived so I was confident and had no problems. Apart from the utter exhilaration I felt at being alone down there, these dives felt not much different to buddy dives I'd done (except I had nobody else to worry about so Icould really look at the things I wanted to and go at my speed). Both dives were < 8 m and I had informed my friends on the surface of my plan.
Although I will by no means not buddy dive anymore, I do not think that I will make every dive neccesarily with a buddy. And I will not let the absence of a buddy prevent me from going diving (within my limits of course).
terrydarc,
Like already mentioned by to, check:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=3137
I am from Israel, we got this law since 1979, with some changes. anyway-any comments you have on the law, pls put on it's thread
Like already mentioned by to, check:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=3137
I am from Israel, we got this law since 1979, with some changes. anyway-any comments you have on the law, pls put on it's thread
Below is an article I wrote for Rodales Scuba Diving. It's worth reading if you solo-dive or are thinking about it.
Solo-Diving
by tomnolan
Date: 2001-05-10
Category: Misc Tips
There were always certain things that your mother told you never to do. Such as, never ride a motorcycle without a helmet, never swim right after youve eaten, look both ways before crossing the street and above all, never dive without a buddy. Well, I didnt listen to mom and Im still alive, so maybe there is something to this, solo-diving after all.
I had to ask my self the question, Is diving alone safe? I came up with several answers, yes, no, maybe. I wasnt helping myself much with my answers so I decided to take a scientific approach to it. I asked an instructor that I had known for years. He looked and me, raised an eyebrow and said in the most definitive voice I had ever heard, NO. I then asked him if he had ever dove alone. He said, NO! Then I reminded him of the time he went down the anchor line in North Carolina, alone to undo the anchor. He just looked at me, and again, he said, NO! So I decided to compare diving to crossing the street and asked a friend who was a police officer. I asked him if he thought diving alone would be safe. His response was expected, how should I know? I then asked if he thought if crossing the street was safe, and this is where I got the answer I was looking for, Sure its safe, if you dont get hit by a car. This seems to translate to, its as safe as you make it. Now I was on to something.
Ive been diving for more than seventeen years and have 1050+ dives in all kinds of conditions. I can only recall a hand full of dives where I actually came back from the dive with my buddy. It never fails, get in the water descend the anchor line and disperse like rattle snakes in the desert. OK, so that wasnt part of my PADI openwater course or any of the other courses Ive taken. I thought to myself, I need to do something about this, I kind of enjoy diving without a buddy.
I started to notice back in the early 1990s that there were technical diving organizations that were teaching a variety of courses where the curriculum claimed, Self-Rescue. This sounded pretty interesting, considering that I was diving by my, Self. After becoming a PADI Divemaster I took the IANTD Nitrox and Deep Air courses. Both of these opened my eyes to different equipment configurations and using technical equipment such as, reels and lift bags in everyday recreational diving. Before I knew it there was a group of us that would use reels, lift bags and surgical tubing on every dive we did. We would descend the anchor line and fan out in every direction. During surface intervals we would get together and talk about the different things that we saw during the dive. On the next dive I would find myself going to the spot were my buddy had been on the previous dive and again we would compare notes during the surface intervals.
The time had come for us to develop procedures for diving alone. Redundancy became ever more important. This meant the use of double tanks with isolation manifolds, not one but to lift bags, a pressure gage for each tank in the event that one tank had to be isolated and more than one way to get to the surface, this means, diving with a dual bladder BC or a single bladder BC and a couple of lift bags. Soon I had become even more skilled in the use of, bail out tables, underwater navigation and of course, self-rescue.
I used bail out tables in case I had to cut a dive short due to an equipment malfunction or other emergency. The bail out tables were nothing more than planning another, shorter multilevel dive. Not only did I use twice as much equipment on a single dive, now I was planning two dives for every dive I actually did. One for the dive I was planning to do and one in case that dive didnt go as planned and I had to get back to the surface.
Underwater navigation was the easy part. After spending 6+ years in the US Army and the better part of that in the Special Forces, land navigation had come easy, you do the same thing underwater that you would do on the surface. First things first. Mark off an area in a straight line and measure the distance. Now get under water and swim from point A to point B. Count the number of kicks from A to B, that is called the kick count and is used to measure distance. Swimming into the current take the kick count a multiply by two, swim with the current divide by two. The next part is land marks. Shoot a compass azimuth write down the direction in degrees on your slate and go in that direction.
Reels are used in case you forget how to use a compass or if you are in a cave, ship or any environment where you could get yourself into a black out situation. This is also where self-rescue comes in play. Never, ever under any circumstances, panic. This can kill a diver quicker than anything else. Panic can come quickly or slowly, depending on where you are, what you are doing, level of stress, level of confidence and so on.
My conclusion to the question, is solo-diving safe? I still dont have a definitive yes or no answer but I do have a definite but conditional, yes. It is as safe as you make it. The solo-diver needs to have the skills, knowledge of the environment for which he/she is diving, the right equipment for and the confidence to do the dive. If any condition is missing the dive could result in disaster.
It is important for a solo-diver to know his/her limitations, equipment and environment. I have never done a solo-dive beyond the limits of my own comfort, or with brand new equipment that I havent dove with before or if I were the least bit hesitant about the dive. Going beyond the limits of your comfort will result in unnecessary stress which can lead to panic which can lead to injury or even death. Remember solo-diving is only as safe as the diver making the dive.
Solo-Diving
by tomnolan
Date: 2001-05-10
Category: Misc Tips
There were always certain things that your mother told you never to do. Such as, never ride a motorcycle without a helmet, never swim right after youve eaten, look both ways before crossing the street and above all, never dive without a buddy. Well, I didnt listen to mom and Im still alive, so maybe there is something to this, solo-diving after all.
I had to ask my self the question, Is diving alone safe? I came up with several answers, yes, no, maybe. I wasnt helping myself much with my answers so I decided to take a scientific approach to it. I asked an instructor that I had known for years. He looked and me, raised an eyebrow and said in the most definitive voice I had ever heard, NO. I then asked him if he had ever dove alone. He said, NO! Then I reminded him of the time he went down the anchor line in North Carolina, alone to undo the anchor. He just looked at me, and again, he said, NO! So I decided to compare diving to crossing the street and asked a friend who was a police officer. I asked him if he thought diving alone would be safe. His response was expected, how should I know? I then asked if he thought if crossing the street was safe, and this is where I got the answer I was looking for, Sure its safe, if you dont get hit by a car. This seems to translate to, its as safe as you make it. Now I was on to something.
Ive been diving for more than seventeen years and have 1050+ dives in all kinds of conditions. I can only recall a hand full of dives where I actually came back from the dive with my buddy. It never fails, get in the water descend the anchor line and disperse like rattle snakes in the desert. OK, so that wasnt part of my PADI openwater course or any of the other courses Ive taken. I thought to myself, I need to do something about this, I kind of enjoy diving without a buddy.
I started to notice back in the early 1990s that there were technical diving organizations that were teaching a variety of courses where the curriculum claimed, Self-Rescue. This sounded pretty interesting, considering that I was diving by my, Self. After becoming a PADI Divemaster I took the IANTD Nitrox and Deep Air courses. Both of these opened my eyes to different equipment configurations and using technical equipment such as, reels and lift bags in everyday recreational diving. Before I knew it there was a group of us that would use reels, lift bags and surgical tubing on every dive we did. We would descend the anchor line and fan out in every direction. During surface intervals we would get together and talk about the different things that we saw during the dive. On the next dive I would find myself going to the spot were my buddy had been on the previous dive and again we would compare notes during the surface intervals.
The time had come for us to develop procedures for diving alone. Redundancy became ever more important. This meant the use of double tanks with isolation manifolds, not one but to lift bags, a pressure gage for each tank in the event that one tank had to be isolated and more than one way to get to the surface, this means, diving with a dual bladder BC or a single bladder BC and a couple of lift bags. Soon I had become even more skilled in the use of, bail out tables, underwater navigation and of course, self-rescue.
I used bail out tables in case I had to cut a dive short due to an equipment malfunction or other emergency. The bail out tables were nothing more than planning another, shorter multilevel dive. Not only did I use twice as much equipment on a single dive, now I was planning two dives for every dive I actually did. One for the dive I was planning to do and one in case that dive didnt go as planned and I had to get back to the surface.
Underwater navigation was the easy part. After spending 6+ years in the US Army and the better part of that in the Special Forces, land navigation had come easy, you do the same thing underwater that you would do on the surface. First things first. Mark off an area in a straight line and measure the distance. Now get under water and swim from point A to point B. Count the number of kicks from A to B, that is called the kick count and is used to measure distance. Swimming into the current take the kick count a multiply by two, swim with the current divide by two. The next part is land marks. Shoot a compass azimuth write down the direction in degrees on your slate and go in that direction.
Reels are used in case you forget how to use a compass or if you are in a cave, ship or any environment where you could get yourself into a black out situation. This is also where self-rescue comes in play. Never, ever under any circumstances, panic. This can kill a diver quicker than anything else. Panic can come quickly or slowly, depending on where you are, what you are doing, level of stress, level of confidence and so on.
My conclusion to the question, is solo-diving safe? I still dont have a definitive yes or no answer but I do have a definite but conditional, yes. It is as safe as you make it. The solo-diver needs to have the skills, knowledge of the environment for which he/she is diving, the right equipment for and the confidence to do the dive. If any condition is missing the dive could result in disaster.
It is important for a solo-diver to know his/her limitations, equipment and environment. I have never done a solo-dive beyond the limits of my own comfort, or with brand new equipment that I havent dove with before or if I were the least bit hesitant about the dive. Going beyond the limits of your comfort will result in unnecessary stress which can lead to panic which can lead to injury or even death. Remember solo-diving is only as safe as the diver making the dive.
Thank You Tom, well done.
Biggest problem with diving without a buddy is "what happens if...".
What I mean is- Let's start with the worst situations- Heart attack underwater. Without a buddy you'r probobly doomed. With a buddy you have good survival chances. And there are much simpler scenarios, like crumped muscles, alone it's a bummer, but if you'v got your buddy to tow you ashore...
I know I feel a lot of times that I could have enjoyed a dive way more if I was alone. but that's becouse I am an instructor, It's hard for me to find adive-buddys in my own level. But for less experianced divers, and actualy for us instructors as well (a friend of mine had a heart incident during a dive) I belive it is still important to reduce the risks as much as possible. I belive that diving with a buddy, preferably in your own level, reduces the risk by quite a bit.
What I mean is- Let's start with the worst situations- Heart attack underwater. Without a buddy you'r probobly doomed. With a buddy you have good survival chances. And there are much simpler scenarios, like crumped muscles, alone it's a bummer, but if you'v got your buddy to tow you ashore...
I know I feel a lot of times that I could have enjoyed a dive way more if I was alone. but that's becouse I am an instructor, It's hard for me to find adive-buddys in my own level. But for less experianced divers, and actualy for us instructors as well (a friend of mine had a heart incident during a dive) I belive it is still important to reduce the risks as much as possible. I belive that diving with a buddy, preferably in your own level, reduces the risk by quite a bit.
On the otherside of the coin is what happens when your buddy is the one that jeopardizes your life. What about double fatalities? Don't get me wrong I'm not promoting solo diving nor am I suggesting it's safer than diving with a buddy. I'm just saying that there is always a risk involved. What's important is that it's a calculated risk, taken knowingly by the diver in question. It's a choice the diver makes, and should be permitted to do so at their will. I have hundreds of solo dives under my belt, and have never had to be rescued. On the other hand I've personally pulled 8 divers out of the water, some of which were with a helpless, panicked, useless buddy. One was a AOW student of another instructor on a boat dive.
Diving is risky business period. I'm sure we can quite easily open up a can of worms that'll be discussed with passion for many days... we're good at that eh!
Diving is risky business period. I'm sure we can quite easily open up a can of worms that'll be discussed with passion for many days... we're good at that eh!
Ok Liquid let's talk. You mentioned, "what happens if?". I say that's what planning is for. Before I get in the water I've got a plan, someone else knows what that plan is, they know when I'm going to surface and where I'm going to surface. They know that If they see a red marker or liftbag that there is a problem. They know if I went in with a buddy and they see my yellow lift bag, that I'm alone but I'm ok.
You mentioned "heart attack". Let's just say I hope this is a very experienced diver and he enjoys it more than anything, because he just died doing what he loves. "We should all be as fortunate." That brings up another issue, "health". If you aren't healthy, don't dive. Here is an example, "while on an island, an instructor had his class in the water. One of the girls paniced and shot up from 30FSW. The instructor was at 40FSW. He shot up after her. She was about 22 years old and in good shape. The instuctor looked like he was about 48, over weight and out of shape. He hadn't over stayed his time and neither had his student." But he got to stay in the chamber due to Type 1 DCS. This insturctor had 8 students. Yes the instructor lived.
I've never been in any kind of sport or technical scuba class where there were more than 3 to 1. (Students to Instructors) I think that has alot to do with it. I've been diving for 18 years, I'm trimix certified. I extended my trimix class an extra day based on the instructors evaluation of one of my dives. His exact words were, "I just don't think we are there yet." Well if he didn't say it I was going to because he was right. All students need confidence and consistant traning. And instructors need to instill that survival and confidence mentallity into their students training.
During my training in the Army the instructors tried to get us to panic. You know what, "we did". I know how I'll react in a panic situation, so do the people I choose to dive with, if I choose to dive with anyone at all.
I'm not an instructor, I'm a tech diver. I was taught, "only you can think for yourself, only you can breath for yourself, only you can decide wheather or not you are ready to do this dive". I was also taught to treat every dive like it was a solo-dive because push comes to shove if my buddy needlessly puts my life in danger because he or she paniced there is going to be seriouse trouble on their part.
My final point, "the best defence against the solo-diving debate and the "what if's" is information". In my opinion you should not be for or against solo-diving, you should just be informed, you should know the risks, you should be as prepaired for an emergency as you can. Noting is 100% in this world except birth and death.
I know this topic has been beaten to death but I still love it...
You mentioned "heart attack". Let's just say I hope this is a very experienced diver and he enjoys it more than anything, because he just died doing what he loves. "We should all be as fortunate." That brings up another issue, "health". If you aren't healthy, don't dive. Here is an example, "while on an island, an instructor had his class in the water. One of the girls paniced and shot up from 30FSW. The instructor was at 40FSW. He shot up after her. She was about 22 years old and in good shape. The instuctor looked like he was about 48, over weight and out of shape. He hadn't over stayed his time and neither had his student." But he got to stay in the chamber due to Type 1 DCS. This insturctor had 8 students. Yes the instructor lived.
I've never been in any kind of sport or technical scuba class where there were more than 3 to 1. (Students to Instructors) I think that has alot to do with it. I've been diving for 18 years, I'm trimix certified. I extended my trimix class an extra day based on the instructors evaluation of one of my dives. His exact words were, "I just don't think we are there yet." Well if he didn't say it I was going to because he was right. All students need confidence and consistant traning. And instructors need to instill that survival and confidence mentallity into their students training.
During my training in the Army the instructors tried to get us to panic. You know what, "we did". I know how I'll react in a panic situation, so do the people I choose to dive with, if I choose to dive with anyone at all.
I'm not an instructor, I'm a tech diver. I was taught, "only you can think for yourself, only you can breath for yourself, only you can decide wheather or not you are ready to do this dive". I was also taught to treat every dive like it was a solo-dive because push comes to shove if my buddy needlessly puts my life in danger because he or she paniced there is going to be seriouse trouble on their part.
My final point, "the best defence against the solo-diving debate and the "what if's" is information". In my opinion you should not be for or against solo-diving, you should just be informed, you should know the risks, you should be as prepaired for an emergency as you can. Noting is 100% in this world except birth and death.
I know this topic has been beaten to death but I still love it...
Mario, Tekdiver- Great points, Let's just continue for the sake of the arguement
Like we all just agreed- Its a question of calculated risk. I think that being without a buddy usualy increases the risk. The point mario made, about the buddy risking yourself, well. Hm, I think that comparing the risks, it is greatly smaller than those of diving alone. Now I know that in the cases of experienced instructors the chances of it hapenning are greater, but let's take again my example of a friend of mine- He's the most experienced diver I know, With well over 20000 dives, in every possible condition, only he had a heart incident during a dive and was towed ashore by his students.
Another thing, well, mario-think what would have happened to those divers that got panniced if they didn't have you around. could'v probobly end up way worse than they did. As instructors we have great responsibility on our sholders, and I can give you a little example.
Example: (true story) A boat goes to sea, anchors. On the boat there are 2 buddy teams- one of not experienced o/w divers, and the second consisted of a DM and an experienced Ao/w. Each pair went on a different direction. when everybody returned one of the none experienced did not come back, and was later found dead. Now get this- The family of the dead diver SUED the DM, and WON. why? becouse he was the most senior around, and he had responsibility.
I know that responsibility can really be a bummer. If I dive with people that are beneath my level I feel responsible for them, and later on feel the need to correct their mistakes. But still, If I go to the dive-center and there are some none-experienced divers there, the owner may ask me to join them for a dive or two and check them out, just to be sure, And I would probobly agree, though I probobly wouldn't enjoy those dives to much.
That's it for now, got to go.
Like we all just agreed- Its a question of calculated risk. I think that being without a buddy usualy increases the risk. The point mario made, about the buddy risking yourself, well. Hm, I think that comparing the risks, it is greatly smaller than those of diving alone. Now I know that in the cases of experienced instructors the chances of it hapenning are greater, but let's take again my example of a friend of mine- He's the most experienced diver I know, With well over 20000 dives, in every possible condition, only he had a heart incident during a dive and was towed ashore by his students.
Another thing, well, mario-think what would have happened to those divers that got panniced if they didn't have you around. could'v probobly end up way worse than they did. As instructors we have great responsibility on our sholders, and I can give you a little example.
Example: (true story) A boat goes to sea, anchors. On the boat there are 2 buddy teams- one of not experienced o/w divers, and the second consisted of a DM and an experienced Ao/w. Each pair went on a different direction. when everybody returned one of the none experienced did not come back, and was later found dead. Now get this- The family of the dead diver SUED the DM, and WON. why? becouse he was the most senior around, and he had responsibility.
I know that responsibility can really be a bummer. If I dive with people that are beneath my level I feel responsible for them, and later on feel the need to correct their mistakes. But still, If I go to the dive-center and there are some none-experienced divers there, the owner may ask me to join them for a dive or two and check them out, just to be sure, And I would probobly agree, though I probobly wouldn't enjoy those dives to much.
That's it for now, got to go.Similar threads
