Solo Diving!!!

[kr2y5]

The risk of doing something for negative reasons is that we might be prone to look at it in a biased way, underestimate the problems, downplay the disadvantages, etc., looking for confirmation and justification why the alternative is better than what we are trying to avoid. Out of the box, our brains come out wired the wrong way.

Do it for positive reasons. There is something unique, magical, and intense about being all alone with the ocean. If this kind of experience strongly appeals to you, ultimately you will not need any encouragement to at least try.

Nothing wrong with enjoying music in focus, and in solitude. Neither better, nor worse than enjoying it in a club packed with people dancing. You might even enjoy both.

If you could always reliably count on having a great, predictable buddy, would you still be considering to go solo?

 

[Diver0001]

Eh - not so much for me. I dive for the solitude and freedom. I don't want the added task of keeping track of other divers - ever. I'm selfish. My time underwater is limited (and expensive). I don't want to give up even a second of my attention to take care of "buddy" tasks.

It's a choice

Boring???????? Perhaps I'm anti-social, but I don't need other people to find myself in awe of the underwater world.

On a typical dive day I'll be 4 or 6 hours from door to door and maybe an hour or 90 minutes actually busy with diving. I personally find it more interesting when I can share that time with friends. YMMV

R..

 

[Kharon]

Diver0001,

Like you said (and I wholeheartedly agree) it's a choice. I simply prefer solitude - underwater and on land.

 

[Ninelinegoby]

If I'm not taking my camera I dive with a buddy. But if I'm going and I know I'll spend a lot of time in one spot shooting, I prefer solo. Personal choice, there are sometimes that I just like to be alone with the fishes. But there are times when I've been solo and wish I'd had a buddy. Not for safety reasons but because of what I've found. Solo in Bonaire, turning around and having a manta ray 20ft away is one I would have liked to shared with someone.

 

[certified in 1976]

I wouldn't tell any body to dive solo or not to as its their choice, but I've only known two divers who have died, and both died while diving solo. Just saying.

 

[Ninelinegoby]

When I solo, I have redundant air and back up computer. I don't do dives that involve any overhead environments or entanglement issues. There on open reefs with no or minimal current. Do I think solo dives are for everyone, no. But for me there becoming my preferred way to dive. On my last trip I did 71 dives in 20 days. 52 of them where solo.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I wouldn't tell any body to dive solo or not to as its their choice, but I've only known two divers who have died, and both died while diving solo. Just saying.

And what was the cause of death? In many cases, it is heart attack, and in that case, it doesn't really matter if you are diving solo or with a buddy.

 

[lowviz]

Eh - not so much for me. I dive for the solitude and freedom. I don't want the added task of keeping track of other divers - ever. I'm selfish. ...//...

I'm almost there. But there are still times and places with certain buddies that I can really enjoy and remember too.

Going solo is massively empowering because everything is most obviously on you. "Does this look OK?" "Can you give me a zip?" "You crossed a hose back there." on a gear check isn't going to happen. I dive very carefully and conservatively when diving solo: night, high current, low visibility, and usually cold. But it isn't very deep, so I'm fine. Should I log that dive? Jeez, it didn't even break 16 feet...

...//... Perhaps I'm anti-social, but I don't need other people to find myself in awe of the underwater world.

100%

 

[Bob DBF]

I wouldn't tell any body to dive solo or not to as its their choice, but I've only known two divers who have died, and both died while diving solo. Just saying.

Not indicative of reality however.

(quoting from DAN fatality workshop) Forty percent of the fatalities took place during a period of buddy separation; 14 percent involved declared solo dives.

I find myself taking more precautions and less chances when diving solo than when diving with my trusted, and tested, buddys. There is more security in diving with a buddy, but only if the buddy is good, and you won't find that out until the sh*t hits the fan a few times.

Of course once you are over 40 the chances of a heart attack taking you out rise dramatically, if you are prone, but it still is only around 25% of the total.

Make your choices and take your chances.

Bob
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[MXGratefulDiver]

People like to quote that 40% DAN statistic as an argument against solo diving, but the reality is that it's really more an indictment against buddy diving as it's commonly practiced. Read it again ... "Forty percent of the fatalities took place during a period of buddy separation" ... those people weren't solo diving, they were diving with a buddy and screwed up.

Buddy separation is not solo diving ... it's diving a broken plan, with all the anxiety, task-loading and lack of preparedness that entails. These accidents didn't happen because these people were alone, they happened because they didn't pay attention to what they were doing. That's how they got separated from their dive buddy in the first place ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)