Thinking back, what caused you to go solo?

[northernone]

As a child I wanted to dive more often and in worse conditions than anyone I knew.

So I dove alone once I didn't need someone topside running the bellows on our homemade surface supply rig.

Moving another 1200 km north to the Arctic ocean also ingrained this childhood belief...

Until I started making new divers out of anyone interested.

Cameron

 

[Rollin Bonz]

Rollin is my real surname and I'm probably the right age.

But being your dad is unlikely, as I am so shy with females of my species, it is a miracle I got hooked up with one and got married. And as I dislike humans, we decided to skip the offspring alltogether ;-)

Coolest surname ever.

Only thing worse than a human is a tiny human.

 

[NAM001]

freedom and lack of dependence.

 

[happy-diver]

Forty five years agoish a bloke threw me off the boat with a rope attached
Mask flippers tank reg a weight or two, in my luxurious sky blue Speedos
Wore sky blue for years, until my ego could no longer offset the shrinkage

and of course the obligatory photograph

Rope's gone, modesty suggested shirt and shorts and I haven't looked back

and still into the blue ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

[lowviz]

Thoroughly enjoying all the candid replies. So maybe true solo divers are best described as being friendly misanthropes?

 

[drbill]

Initially (back in the early 60s) we only had one kit for a group of divers. Later it was a lack of available buddies, then an awareness that my incident rate was much higher when buddied up than when diving solo and finally focusing on my underwater videography. I still dive with one of my good buddies when they are available (in fact, due to my cancer, I almost need a buddy when getting out of the water).

 

[Fastmarc]

Thoroughly enjoying all the candid replies. So maybe true solo divers are best described as being friendly misanthropes?

Just saying, "hey, can I tag along" and friendly is out the window. LOL

 

[Stoo]

Over the first few years of diving, my friends and I had fallen into a "same lake, same day" style of diving. We were all wearing doubles or at least ponies. I had also worked a couple of summers doing construction work underwater which was all solo.

Then I moved to the Caribbean to teach/guide for two years, so that was pretty much diving alone anyway.

I don't actual recall the first time I did a true solo dive. Probably had a buddy who couldn't clear or something.

I'd logged maybe 2000 solo dives before I "acquired" a solo card from a friend. I needed it for a liveaboard.

It seems I do less "official" solo diving now, since I ramped up my photography stuff. My model/buddy often isn't too close though, so we still dive "alone, together". Is that solo?

 

[stretchthepenn]

I went solo for three reasons. One is that I'd already gone to sidemount, and as such, I was already carrying redundant gear. Going full solo was a relatively minor step.

A second is that I hate having to scrounge for a buddy. @Rollin Bonz and I dive together frequently, but our schedules don't always coincide.

A third is bad experiences with instabuddies. For example, one instabuddy turned out to be an underwater sprinter. I couldn't keep up, and he ditched me without even a backward glance. By the time I surfaced, he'd practically packed up his truck.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

My 15 year old son was my dive buddy for years. Wife didn't dive then so when son grew up and moved way I had no choice but to dive solo (we had our own boat).

The wife got certified and we dive together when she wants to dive. She "likes" diving but I "love" diving so I end up diving solo a lot.