Where did you solo dive today?

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A local former sand quarry in South-Western Finland with tree stumps, lake mussels and other stuff.

Details:
Depth 9 to 15 feet.
Temperature 25C/77F (surface) to 15C/59F (bottom).
Visibility about 2m or 6 feet.
Equipment: one 7 litre 200 bar steel cylinder hand held, one Apex regulator, a dive knife, a basic dive light (unused), fins, mask, swimming trunks, and a Heinrichs Weikamp bottom timer. Exposure protection: none. Weights: none - the cylinder provides initial negativity.

Now, that dive knife is a vital safety precaution. I never dive without at least one.

The impatient can skip to 5:30.
nice
 
Dive: 960
Site: Shark Mouth Cave
Region: Famagusta District
Country: Cyprus
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Maximum Depth: 11 metres

Not a dive site, but a tourist site! A little way down the coast from one of my usual spots, named after the shape of a cave rather than the presence of sharks. Thought I'd give this a go. Bad choice! A steep, dangerous walk down to the water and absolutely plagued by tourist boats that come to view the cave. They get very close to shore, so much so, I decided to skip my safety stop and make a dash for the exit point. I don't think my DSMB would have saved me. I doubt the skippers are looking for divers or would even recognise a marker buoy.

The site wasn't very interesting. Minimal life even by Mediterranean standards and fairly flat topography. Although not recommended, you can't discover new sites if you don't go looking for them!

Shark Mouth Cave.

sharks-mouth-4398412-1920.jpg



View of a tourist boat from 6 metres below. The bow of this boat was in 3 metres of water at one point!

GX010970-0001-2.jpg
 
Dive: 960
Site: Shark Mouth Cave
Region: Famagusta District
Country: Cyprus
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Maximum Depth: 11 metres

Not a dive site, but a tourist site! A little way down the coast from one of my usual spots, named after the shape of a cave rather than the presence of sharks. Thought I'd give this a go. Bad choice! A steep, dangerous walk down to the water and absolutely plagued by tourist boats that come to view the cave. They get very close to shore, so much so, I decided to skip my safety stop and make a dash for the exit point. I don't think my DSMB would have saved me. I doubt the skippers are looking for divers or would even recognise a marker buoy.

The site wasn't very interesting. Minimal life even by Mediterranean standards and fairly flat topography. Although not recommended, you can't discover new sites if you don't go looking for them!

Shark Mouth Cave.

sharks-mouth-4398412-1920.jpg



View of a tourist boat from 6 metres below. The bow of this boat was in 3 metres of water at one point!

GX010970-0001-2.jpg
water look pretty clear to me lucky your are. You are getting close to 1000 dives ! Congratulations.
 
The Black Ball Line packet ship Albion ( 447 tons) was driven on the cliffs of Courtmacsherry Bay on April 22 1822. On board was 4 tons of specie in gold and silver.
 

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Site: Zenobia (wreck)
Region: Larnaca District
Country: Cyprus

One of the best wreck dives in the world (apparently). I have history with the Zenobia going back 25 years. I've done 99 dives on it. I've dived it with mates, girlfriends and guided on it for a time. I've penetrated the deepest compartments including the engine room and done technical dives on it. You can imagine that doing a guided recreational dive on the Zenobia wouldn't be super fulfilling for me, so I have endeavoured to organise it independently and dive solo. This wasn't easy and I won't share how I did it publicly. It cost about half the price of going with a dive centre, but was twice as much hassle and no doubt, there was less of a safety net should something go wrong. Regardless, it wasn't about money, it was about freedom.


Dive: 961
Dive time: 58 minutes
Maximum depth: 41.1 metres

I couldn't resist a bounce to the sea bed for old times sake which was 41.1 metres. A rare 40+ metre dive for me these days. It was relatively cold at that depth, but I didn't care, I was buzzing! Had a quick look at some broken up trucks before starting my ascent up the top of the wreck (it lies on its side). Got to the shallowest point of the wreck and did the "handrail" tour taking in all 172 metres of ship and back again. Of course, I was pushing NDL, but it remained a no decompression dive.


Dive: 962
Dive time: 50 minutes
Maximum depth: 30.3 metres

I had a 1 hour surface interval before my second dive. Not a lot of time. I had planned to keep it shallow, but was tempted by a hold at around 30 metres. I did another bounce dive, had a swim around the hold before ascending and then spending most of the dive on the handrail looking at the fish life which now seems more prolific than ever. Lionfish, grouper and amberjack were all chasing baitfish on the side of the wreck. Oddly, I also found two DIN dust caps lying right next to each other on the wreck. A twinset diver who can't tie knots may have lost these? With no other divers in water, I added them to my collection. Not surprisingly, NDL ended my dive and I got back on the boat with 70 bar remaining.

Apologies for the essay, but these were my most enjoyable dives in recent years.

[Photos are GoPro screenshots, so no judgement please]

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wow that's nice ! schedule dive on my side this sunday. My class for sidemount will be held on the 28-29 of august could not wait.
 
It's mini season for lobster here. It's a two day season for recreational divers before the commercial season opens up. The weather has been fantastic. My buddy and I dove wednesday at 12 am, and again at 5 am getting 13 lobsters between us. I'm happy.
After a good night's sleep, woke up this morning, with the intention of diving solo. If the weather was good. It was beautiful. Lake Atlantic was waiting for me, and when I got there, just after 8 AM I counted at least 20 boats. And I saw at least 3 dive flags nearby. I didn't think I was going to get much but yeah, but I'll make the best of the situation and enjoy it. Did end up right with three lobster. Dive time was just over 200 minutes on a steel 80. Average depth fifteen feet. Water temp a balmy 86-87°.
 
It's mini season for lobster here. It's a two day season for recreational divers before the commercial season opens up. The weather has been fantastic. My buddy and I dove wednesday at 12 am, and again at 5 am getting 13 lobsters between us. I'm happy.
After a good night's sleep, woke up this morning, with the intention of diving solo. If the weather was good. It was beautiful. Lake Atlantic was waiting for me, and when I got there, just after 8 AM I counted at least 20 boats. And I saw at least 3 dive flags nearby. I didn't think I was going to get much but yeah, but I'll make the best of the situation and enjoy it. Did end up right with three lobster. Dive time was just over 200 minutes on a steel 80. Average depth fifteen feet. Water temp a balmy 86-87°.
200 minute ???? Holy cow I don’t know how you do that after 45 min max I fall asleep and fall in deep narcosis.well I am impress.
 
Planned a 2:52pm Bridge dive with my buddy. Woke up to FLAT seas and was bummed to head to the bridge. But, he has some diving restrictions and the bridge is better than nothing for him. Show up at his house, load my gear in the truck and we start to leave. Get a mile down the road and he's having second thoughts. So we turn around, transfer my gear back to my car and decide where I want to dive.
I opt for the same location I dived yesterday morning. I found a yellow seaweed blenny - something or a rarity of color pattern, and marked it's location for a return with a camera.
I found it pretty quickly, shot a bunch of photos then meandered on.. Enjoyable 150 minute dive. Came in with 500psi on an aluminum 67.

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Just wondering if non-solo divers look at this thread? If it's just us, then we are online pariahs just like we are on the dive boat :)

If others do look, what do you think? Are we mad, bad or just a bit different?
 

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