Solo skills to practice?

[mmerriman]

Those yellow trash bags are genius. I'm going to find myself a box

if in the US - get the big orange pumpkin leaf bags after halloween.. they are great markers...

 

[AfterDark]

Those yellow trash bags are genius. I'm going to find myself a box

+1 !! I have a safety pouch on my harness belt, it contains: Whistle, mirror, knife, SMB w/dive flag sewn on the top, a 50lb yellow lift bag. I think I can slip one of those yellow trash bags in there too!

 

[AfterDark]

If you really want to carry a snorkel but don't want it attached to your mask why not use a folding snorkel? You can deploy it from your pocket when needed.

Lost mine on the 1st dive out, back to mask attached. Can't use if I don't have it.

 

[Nemrod]

Have you had success actually using a folding snorkel at the surface? The ones I’ve used do not work well at all. I carried a roll up model for a while, just checking the block that I had one even though I knew better.
My ‘real’ snorkel has a quick connect to my mask strap. Two small bungee loops on my back plate or side mount rig make it easy to stow and access when needed. Or I just dive with it attached.

My roll up snorkel works fine. I stow it in an XS weight pocket on my left shoulder strap, down low against the plate. The only time I ever used it was the solo course which required it. It has a little clip to snap over the mask strap. I just do not really have a need for a snorkel. In my dive bag I usually have a good Scubapro Shotgun snorkel or similar. In case I want to do some snorkeling.

I occasionally practice smb deployment. Last dive I will run my auxiliary bottle. The school has an 18 foot diving pool. I just ran through everything, doff and don, reading gages without a mask, aux bottle, switch over, DSV on-off. It was mostly a test session for my new camera. That is one thing I practice, camera stow.

I need a better case for my PLB. What is the best option at the moment?

N

 

[Diver-Drex]

@Nemrod - So the one time you used it, in a training environment, it worked fine. That was in a pool, lake or quarry? I have had very different experiences. Waiting to get picked up in heavy chop and big seas, they do not work well. Those are the conditions where you will actually need a snorkel.

What you are saying is like saying you don’t need a seatbelt sitting in a parked car, so you don’t need it while driving in the highway. Your call but it doesn’t make sense to me based on my experience.

 

[Nemrod]

Diver-Drex, in the past 52 years I have been a certified SCUBA diver I have figured out what sort of snorkel I need or do not need and for SCUBA, just a very limited need and the stowaway will suffice for that limited need. Let me refine a little further what I said, the ONLY time in 52 years of SCUBA that I recall that have needed a snorkel is when it was required by some course, such as in the case of the solo course, it was required equipment, therefore I needed it. Otherwise I did not and as soon as I was done, I no longer had a need and I tossed it in my dive bag where it remains until some other course I might take requires it and I therefore need it again. I just do not find them useful. N

 

[Diver-Drex]

@Nemrod - OK, thanks for clarifying. Your first response read as ‘I carry a roll up snorkel, I’ve only had to use it once, which was during the solo course, and it worked just fine.’ What you are really saying is you can not recall ever using a snorkel and you don’t carry one unless it’s required by course standards. So you don’t know if a roll up snorkel does or doesn’t work for its intended purpose. Which seemed an odd response to my question “have you had success actually using a fold up at the surface?”

I’ve only been diving for 36 years and most of that has been NJ wreck diving. I’m just a rookie compared to you, haha. Surfacing away from the boat is common enough in my experience that it makes sense to plan for it. Through my own experience and seeing and speaking to others, a folding snorkel is not adequate. A real snorkel is easy to stow and deploy, and with a fast attach clip is easy to use. It is far superior to a folding snorkel in anything but flat surface conditions.

Not trying to convince you one way or the other. Just presenting my experience so others can make their own decisions.

 

[happy-diver]

I invented a system whereby I always surface with one hand on the boat ladder
and if I miss the boat, I have always plenty of air to scuba around, until I find it.

Whilst solo scuba diving around practicing boat finding and plenty air to spare.

 

[Diver-Drex]

Yep, my incompetence requires me to plan for contingencies. Things like redundant gas supply, a DSMB, audible signal devices, redundant cutting tools, back up lights, redundant buoyancy, back up computers.... all things to overcome my skill deficiencies.

 

[lionfish-eater]

I invented a system whereby I always surface with one hand on the boat ladder
and if I miss the boat, I have always plenty of air to scuba around, until I find it.

Whilst solo scuba diving around practicing boat finding and plenty air to spare.

I always surface away from the boat.
Usually about 50 ft away, in the 1,2 or 3 o'clock position from the helm, on the starboard side of the boat.
This gives the captain an easy view.
Unless the boat is anchored and the keys are stashed, I would not surface under the boat.