Thinking back, what caused you to go solo?

[drrich2]

I like the option to dive, plan/conduct a dive, and travel to dive, without regard to what someone else is available and up for.

I'm not solo only, but sometimes it's solo or no-go, and solo diving in the right conditions has its charms.

Richard.

 

[Ana]

I grew up by the ocean, the "thing" to do around my social circle at the time was surfing, sometime before turning 13 or 14 I realized I was going to kill myself if I kept surfing. On a calm day I saw a couple of people with one set of basic scuba gear going in. I HAD to ask them about that stuff and they let me try it, don't remember what instructions I got but I will never forget the sense of peace I got. Just the fact that I wasn't being slammed against the bottom praying to not hit a rock was all I needed to know that diving would be my thing.
I couldn't get gear for a long while but did some pathetic free diving in the meantime... then life happened: I got my gear and dove solo, had kids, then got certified and for a decade I worked inspecting bridges underwater (also solo). After becoming an engineer the Navy hired me, this time I worked with UUV's going to places that you can't rely on having a buddy, I followed the rules of the places I went to, but whenever I could I soloed.
Somewhere in that time period, I met my husband on a dive trip. He didn't care either way, solo or with company as long as he could spearfish. After getting our boat 90% of the times there's no option, we have to take turns diving, so diving together is actually "an event".

Maybe that history leads me to believe that if I can do it, any one comfortable in the water can too. To read that diving is dangerous is just amusing, to me surfing is the killer... I suppose you can talk to surfers and get a different point of view.

 

[chrisch]

I am lucky that the wife dives and we enjoy diving together as a buddy pair. She is a better diver than I am and certainly more enthusiastic about cave diving than me. Sometimes though it is impossible to dive as a pair (when one of you has to stay up top to provide boat cover for example). I think that being able to dive without a buddy is something that increases the opportunity to dive. I don't see it as any more dangerous than diving with a poorly skilled buddy, possibly even safer than that.

A buddy is very helpful with entanglement issues, monofilament netting for example. If that is a high risk I might not choose to dive solo. That situation has never arisen in nearly 30 years diving though.

My first solo dive was a search and recovery in a shallow lake. I never gave it much thought to be honest. I found the object (jet-ski cowling) and got out the water. I don't see what the big deal is. If you know what you are doing you assess accordingly and work to your own limits. If you don't know your own limits you shouldn't be in the water with or without a buddy.

 

[Colliam7]

How about you, what tipped the balance to the dark side?

A good question, and one that prompted a lot of thought - I really hadn't considered it before.

As a caveat, I thoroughly enjoy buddy diving, I thoroughly enjoy group diving, I thoroughly enjoy solo diving. So, I haven't established solo diving as my primary style, or even as a preference. It is just something that I do when I want to, and which I very much enjoy. I have honestly gotten to the point where I don't think of it as conspicuously riskier, or even daring. Maybe I should. I guess an argument could even be made for incipient complacency. But, I do not think that's the case.

If there was a defining moment, when i realized that I really (really, really) enjoyed the freedom of diving alone, it came on a night shore dive on Bonaire almost a decade ago. A group of friends (7-8) were doing a night dive. There was no particular leader, or even identifiable buddy pairs / trios. It really was just a group of fairly experienced divers swimming along, more or less together, enjoying the wonders of the reef at night. I was swimming somewhat ahead of the group, and gradually noticed that the lights behind me were appearing less intense. I turned around and realized that most of the group had apparently seen something really cool on the reef, and were clustered around an area shining their lights on 'something'. Rather than swim back, I decided to continue on ahead of them figuring we would probably reconnect when I turned my dive. So, now I was diving solo, and after a few minutes, on a whim, decided to turn my light off. Wow! There I was, all by myself, with no 'local' light, yet I could 'see' lots of things on the reef. There was some light for the moon (I was at about 50 feet) I truly felt relaxed (incredibly relaxed), and absolutely free - I was floating in warm water with a universe of life around me. And, that was the moment when I realized how much I liked being in the water by myself.

If that was 'the' moment, there have also been a continuing series of dives where my comfort with solo diving has been reinforced and enhanced. And, from my perspective - and this is something I tell student divers (e.g. Self-Reliant Diver students) - everyone who dives will ideally have similar experiences. Every time, you challenge yourself, with proper preparation and planning, to expand your diving 'envelope', you come away a better diver. You have greater insight into your skills (what you do well AND what you need to improve), and the unknown becomes a little less daunting. So, when I made my first solo ocean boat dive, my first solo decompression dive, I learned from each experience, I gained more confidence, I improved.

 

[AJ]

One day, after having done tech intro training, I decided to start diving solo because I had the skills and knew how to use my backup equipment in case of failure. I enjoy diving with good divers but not with bad divers with bloated ego's which are quite a few divers. Furthermore solo gives me a sense of absolute freedom to be able to dive any time I like and do how I please. Ie train skills for an hour or photographing or just enjoying the scene without rush.

I do not consider solo diving as special. It's just diving. Imo, many people who object strongly to solo diving are not even capable of diving safe at all. Hence, they should never attempt to dive solo because they will 'die' doing so. More likely of fear, then of lack of skills by the way

 

[almostDIR]

Knowing that there really wasn't someone there for me.....

aww that's sad

I personally think that every diver should be at least trained for solo diving as well... and the normal basic diving course should be A LOT more advanced and educative to begin with and include 10x more training dives. in PADI terms maybe something like combining at least the ow, aow, some specialities, nitrox, rescue diver and divemaster to a single package and THAT would be the 'basic ow' that would be offered in scuba schools
(but the "advanced" and "divemaster" etc. levels being higher standard of course ).

there can be some added risks in solo diving but I don't think they would be much for a well prepared and skilled diver (which one should be anyway whether diving solo or with a buddy or doing group dives)
I actually don't trust the buddy system at all but still can see some benefits in it. Normal ow buddy diving is more like same ocean diving at times and I think group diving without designated buddy is more close to solo diving which is why I insist to keep a pony tank with me just to be sure


No one needs to "dive solo" , we can be DIFFERENT OCEAN BUDDIES if you want!




-

 

[Searcaigh]

Back in the 90s I brought some camera housing spare parts back for one of my friends in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The following Friday he invited me out on his boat and there were only the two of us.

When we arrived at the dive site we got our gear together and he asked me if I had dived this spot before and as soon as I said yes he was gone in 30 secs with his camera leaving me alone on the boat (tied to a mooring).

I really didn't have much choice, it was either dive or sit on the boat alone.

So I dived around the area where the boat was moored, and I do recall feeling slightly uncomfortable about it (this was dive number 481 and lasted for 78 mins).

However, that was just the beginning, but I did do the PADI Self Reliant Diver course in August 2012 to sort of "legalise" my solo habit.

 

[Rollin]

It is the only form of diving I really really enjoy. I prefer the company of decapods over humans.

Second is diving with my preferred buddy, but he decided to have children, so the surface time on his shearwater has many digits now.

 

[shurite7]

There is no particular reason. Sometimes it is nice not having to watch over someone else. Shooting video can be quite nice with no one around to stir up the bottom. On some occasions there is no one available to dive with so I just go alone.

 

[tech_diver]

When I became a dive master, I started to carry redundant air and redundant everything. Eventually, I realized I was safer diving alone than diving surrounded by a group of new divers.

As a dive master leading a group, you are less than solo diving. Not only are you on your own if there is an issue, there's a half dozen other divers that could create an issue without warning.