What is your motivation to solo dive?

[BlueTrin]

My local lake requires solo cert to go alone.

In the U.K. you don’t need a solo cert to solo dive from boats, but I thought I’d do it because for easy dives, I’d like to go ahead if my buddy has a last minute cancelllation and I thought I might learn a thing or two during the class.

The few times I went for a solo dive from a boat, I enjoyed it a lot, it’s quite exhilarating to just focus on yourself.

 

[happy-diver]

There's a dude out the front right now hunting crays

Now that's SOLO

YEAH LOVING IT!

 

[MB NZ]

There's a dude out the front right now hunting crays

View attachment 811101

Now that's SOLO

YEAH LOVING IT!

**** mate, that looks as miserable as NZ

 

[SlugLife]

...realized that I was the only one I could depend on to save myself...

This advice often doesn't seem to propagate beyond "solo divers," but IMO is essential for all divers. The "dive industry" appears to intentionally avoid acknowledging that a dive buddy may often be unable to assist (due to incompetence, training, availability, their issues, separation, low-air, etc). Even if that (insta-) buddy was able to assist 90% of the time (haha), that last 10% is awfully scary. The industry is often happy to recognize all other kinds of problems on the dive itself, including out-of-air, equipment issues, boat-traffic, entanglements, etc.

I think safety overall could be improved, if divers were encouraged to think more about how they would self-rescue with no assistance.

(1) solo has some advantages over buddy diving, but safety isn’t one of them. Either people make bad buddies or have had bad experiences with buddies, but (2) two divers who understand and conduct themselves properly will always be better than one.

(1) That's a generalization, perhaps good enough for inexperienced divers, but isn't strictly true.

• A buddy can be a distraction
• A buddy may encourage dangerous behavior
• A buddy may behave dangerously, especially when in need of rescue.
• Over-reliance on a buddy for rescue may endanger both divers.
• Assuming the buddy can assist, may lead to diving beyond limits of self-rescue.

(2) Assuming 2 competent, properly behaving, and equipped divers might make "(1)" true. However, this goes back to needing to acknowledge that divers often aren't those things for various reasons (ego, inexperience, recent experience, inattentiveness, carelessness, etc).

When I look at an accident-or-incident, the analysis doesn't usually start with "he had a competent buddy, well maintained and sufficient equipment, proper skills, gas-planning, redundancy, etc...." where everything is as it should be 99% of dives.

 

[grantmac]

I don't hold a solo cert but I am completely willing to dive solo in some scenarios. Also the majority of insta-buddies I've experienced feel more likely to need my help than the other way around (I dive fully redundant in sidemount).
The exception are on GUE dives where everyone is very team focused. That is about the only place I'm not diving independently in the presence of others so to speak.

My partner has yet to move into redundant gear so when we dive together, which is most of the time, we dive as a team and I am very confident in our ability to handle problems underwater together. Also sharing the experience with her makes for more fun underwater.

 

[TrimixToo]

When last I checked, good numbers were not available for how many double fatalities there are in the context of solo and buddy diving.

But there are any number of double fatalities when one diver gets into trouble and the other tries to save the situation. I'm happy to dive either way, but generally wind up solo because it's simpler, or a qualified (and known) buddy isn't available, or I'm going somewhere dark and murky and tight where a buddy is often a liability.

 

[Celt]

) That's a generalization, perhaps good enough for inexperienced divers, but isn't strictly true.

It’s true for all divers, you’re always safer with a competent buddy, something as simple as bad cramp can render a solo diver helpless, any kind of illness could be fatal for a solo diver, fatigued and unable to make it ashore or back onto the boat. A competent buddy pair will do multiple times more work than a diver on their own. Faster, more efficient and safer. Too heads are always better than one to foresee a problem and come up with a solution. A competent buddy pair are not dependent on one another they’re an asset to one another. Poor training is what has brought the buddy system into disrepute. Solo diving is no big deal for any competent diver.

 

[admikar]

It was meant to be a team dive for body search and recovery, but river and visibility meant it was solo from the get go (with top cover). At least I did recover the body.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

So even if you ALWAYS dive with a buddy, what, if any, downside is there to also being trained, certified and equipped to dive solo?

I get that diving with a buddy has its advantages.......but I also think that we need to recognize that diving with a buddy can also have its disadvantages.

 

[rx7diver]

It was meant to be a team dive for body search and recovery, but river and visibility meant it was solo from the get go (with top cover). At least I did recover the body.

Body recovery!! This thread does not pertain to Public Safety Diving, I think. Doesn't PSD protocol mandate tethered-to-surface divers, surface communications, stand-by divers, an on-site recompression chamber, dive safety officer, etc.? PSD is not recreational diving.

rx7diver