The solo diving movement, a good idea?

[Laurie S.]

I've been solo diving regularly for about a year now. I've done 200+ dives and almost 50 solo dives. My main reason for doing it was that I'm a photographer, plus I got very tired of instabuddies who took too long to gear up, wouldn't stay near me, or wouldn't want to descend below 30 feet. Most of the dives are off my own boat, where I set the rules, but I've done about a third of them off of dive boats in San Carlos. I generally stay around 60 feet, but have done one to 102 feet and plan on doing another to that depth next month. I love it!

 

[ladyfishdvr]

Besides Mike Nelson almost always dived alone

Mike Nelson had a whole camera crew with him and probably an orchestra too.

 

[uncfnp]

Why did I decide to become a competent solo diver? Sometimes it just evolves...

Eric and I do a lot of drift dives and at least initially he would run low on gas much sooner than I so we mutually agreed to ascend individually. This was the start to our developing skills to dive solo.

As we found our underwater interests diverging, it became more difficult to keep track of each other and admittedly we were less than ideal buddies at times. Also, Eric can be very focused underwater and it can be extremely difficult to get his attention. This pushed us into looking at additional gear including pony bottles. Still not truly solo diving but another step in that direction.

Then we learned to hunt bugs and Eric developed an interest in spearfishing further complicating the buddy system. So we took the SDI solo course.

Now, we occasionally set out to solo dive but more often we start out together on the boat but he decides to go with the hunters. Or we descend together but visibility or hunting/photography separates us and thats ok because our predive planning included this possibility. Its the best of both worlds. I have the freedom underwater to pursue my interests but have the buddy/dive group back on the boat to share the experience.

And I have to admit that I cherish those dives when I find myself alone. Others have spoken of it better than I can, I don't have a poetic bone in my body. It is a unique experience of total freedom and a self awareness. But I can also see how it might cause anxiety for some and solo diving is definitely not for everyone.

So as you can see, it was not a lack of or untrustworthy buddy or an unwillingness to dive with others. But rather a natural progression that suited our diving interest and styles.

Lisa

---------- Post added August 19th, 2013 at 03:49 PM ----------

Wow. There were 20 posts while I was writing mine! Obviously a passionate topic!

 

[Dr. Lecter]

But I do strongly believe in the buddy system as its saved countless* lives!

*citation to support made-up statistic not provided

Improved that for you.

 

[nimoh]

Improved that for you.

To the best of my knowledge statistics are not kept on instances of near misses avoided by an available buddy. Based on this, the buddy system has saved countless lives, and there is no need to *improve* on the statement. It may be zero, it may be a million, either way, it is still countless.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

To the best of my knowledge statistics are not kept on instances of near misses avoided by an available buddy. Based on this, the buddy system has saved countless lives, and there is no need to *improve* on the statement. It may be zero, it may be a million, either way, it is still countless.

While I appreciate a good attempt at semantics, the dictionary definition of "countless" does not agree with you.

 

[phoenix31tt]

I don't believe this argument is still going on...

me personally, i probably won't solo dive as i have niether the need nor the inclination to do so.. that being said however... i see that in diving you are supposed to be totally self reliant in the water (i.e. you do not need a buddy, but its nice to have one)...

and with the right training/experience and gear configuration i don't see solo diving as being any more significantly dangerous than buddy diving.. as a matter of fact, the traditional buddy system can be more dangerous than solo... to much people rely or default to their buddy and cant cope with a situation on their own

 

[Hickdive]

So your GUE training taught you to invoke rule #1 on all non-GUE divers and that solo diving is ok?

Who was your instructor?

No. Why would it do either of those things?

It taught me the benefits of having GUE-trained buddies and skills.

I decided for myself that I'd rather dive alone than seek the false security of a less competent buddy. A non-GUE trained buddy is not necessarily the same thing as a less competent buddy.

You might not have taken GUE training and have a false impression of what it involves or perhaps you've have but taken it to the rather old-fashioned "everyone else is a stroke" extreme but the attitude I detect in your post doesn't chime with the GUE instructors and divers who I've dived with and been instructed by. None of them has ever suggested that DIR was the only way I could ever dive again.

 

[Rhone Man]

This thread is way too civilised, so I will try to warm it up a bit:

Do you know where the buddy system originated in diving? When the YMCA sat down to draft "safe diving" rules, they started by copying the "safe swimming rules", including never swim alone. They also had one recommending that you don't dive within 45 minutes of having eaten.

 

[Gren]

They also had one recommending that you don't dive within 45 minutes of having eaten.

So I can't eat during surface intervals shorter than 45 minutes now

Thanks

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