Bert van den Berg
Contributor
Skills to practice if going to dive solo should include navigation.
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*) Zero viz deco ascent without looking at any gauges
When by yourself you can practice a broken computer or zero viz silt out. One of the things taught is to tie a series of knots in your smb reel line to indicate by 'feel only' your depth. I have 3 knots in a row at my 30 foot mark on my line that I can 'feel' to tell me I'm at 30 foot to decompress. 2 knots at 20, 1 knot at 10. You can count down the seconds of time in your head while stopping at the knotted depths from your deco stops that you memorize prior to the dive.And why would you not look at your gauges?
When by yourself you can practice a broken computer or zero viz silt out. One of the things taught is to tie a series of knots in your smb reel line to indicate by 'feel only' your depth. I have 3 knots in a row at my 30 foot mark on my line that I can 'feel' to tell me I'm at 30 foot to decompress. 2 knots at 20, 1 knot at 10. You can count down the seconds of time in your head while stopping at the knotted depths from your deco stops that you memorize prior to the dive.
Solo diving is an entirely different set of additional skills you need to repeatedly practice so you automatically react with no delay in time. Panic Kills.