Why I should Not be Solo Diving?

[beautybelow]

findmylove, concerning Jimminy Crciket's post that you responded to while in your avatar your upside down in a paint can---lol----no, your obviously stuck and obviously cannot rescue yourself so no you better not solo dive at least until you can figure out how to get out of the paint can!!!!! LOL---(just teasing you so don't go postal and go thermonucleor) Your avatar does not inspire confidence on my part of your solo diver potential. N

finally, a reasonable way to judge divers on here. Sorry Dennis, but I probably shouldnt dive with you either....I think you might turn my air off just for fun judging by your avatar. Wait....that was my dm instructor, nevermind

 

[Charlie59]

I'll relate a story of an entanglement and why it was not possible to remove gear.

We're at 50 or 60 feet diving through the tree's and manage to get hung up. Now we dive dirty lakes and the vis is poor,

I would think that like cave or wreck diving, diving in a man made lake with trees acting as an overhang is a special and dangerous environment. In this case it that might make one obligated to dive with other divers. As you have indicated entanglement risk is very high. I doubt too many people would leap at the opportunity to dive such a place alone (as they should avoid to dive alone in a cave or wreck).

Solo diving is not absolute, clearly a buddy is required in some environments.

 

[mdb]

Solo diving is not absolute, clearly a buddy is required in some environments.

Charlie59: This kind of sums it up for me. I prefer to dive solo however; as you state, there are environments where a buddy/team diver is prefered/required. I have been on quite a few "test dives" with equipment: regulators, computers, U/W vehicles, BC's etc, that were still in the development stage. Our normal procedure was to have the test equipment on only part of the dive group and others tasked with monitoring. So, your post that "Solo diving is not absolute" hits right on the mark.

 

[Cacia]

I have often thought that personality was the most critical component of a solo diver and not time in the water so

I see this as true more and more. Eventually I won't even feel the need to discuss it any more.

People that solo in bad viz, I can in no way relate to. You just don't know what is there. It is a crap shoot. Diving solo in gin, I am very sure I can keep myself from being entangled, just like if the light is on for my trip to the bathroom.

It seems so simple to me. Solo at 70 ft or less, clear water, nice conditions. Not much can happen that I cannot get out of, as long as I have used my brain before getting in. I am a pretty big chicken and I cannot see one thing happening. All these other fancy scenarios just don't enter the picture for a prudent solo diver. Anybody who solos in really bad viz---shouldn't be a solo diver. A good solo diver personality figures this out easily. Sometimes I think people who over intellectualize things operate at a disadvantage in some cases.

To the original question, I find my reasons NOT, have not changed.

1) poor shape, sickness like flu,etc

2) family pressures not to

3) bad viz/ entanglement risk

4) ocean conditions not favorable...current, etc

redundant air, formal coursework, don't really effect me as far as I can see.
My best prevention is to stay in good cardiovascular health, by a huge factor.
Aerobic exercise barely gets a nod in these debates and yet...look at the numbers and decide if a pony or a workout is more likely to keep you from dying down there.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

I thought deeply about your responses and the reasons you all were providing me to not solo dive right now. That was what I thought deeply about. I just want to remind folks, the solo diving I was wishing to do was in a well known area less than thirty feet deep, it had a great deal of risk reduction in the first place, and I was comfortable with it. I wasnt suggesting solo diving all the time in different places at this point in my diving life, I was suggesting solo diving in the same place for now.

Your avatar does not inspire confidence on my part of your solo diver potential.

Judging people based on their avatars is totally ridiculous, IMHO. My avatar was chosen because I love water so much, it was a simple choice. But I'm probably being too defensive here.

Now, I agree that some of what I have posted can be misunderstood/misread, so I'll try to be more clear in the future.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

How can you think deeply about something you don't know very much about. Well, maybe you can. I have often thought that personality was the most critical component of a solo diver and not time in the water so therefore I have no particular problem with relatively new divers going solo, but, here is the flaw in that, you have to at least reached a point where you realize that you don't know what you don't know. N

Very good point in the last sentence. In fact, it was one of two main reasons why I decided against soloing for now, even in the risk reduced profile I was suggesting. It was probably the most important post of this thread (68 I think). I'm sure you read it, I'm mentioning it for others.

 

[cummings66]

Blanket statemets like the quote are worthless, they could have gotten out by themself or they are not yet ready to solo dive. Solo divers probably

You are quite correct and as I said they may have got themselves out of it given enough time. The good thing was we didn't spend a lot of time doing it so we saved air and were able to have a dive that was more fun because we saw a lot more stuff.

I love those pictures of yours, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

The way I see it diving solo in some conditions is risky compared to buddy or team diving, and in others the risk isn't that great. I think if I lived and dove where Catherine does I'd probably do a lot of solo diving.

I'll also tell you this, I was diving solo at Dewey Short and there was an OW class going on. I of course chatted with a couple instructors on break there and solo diving come up, they told me they dive that way quite a bit but not to let the students know that. I have had that exact same conversation with many instructors there, solo diving in some locations is fairly common.

Not to imply it's good to do that everywhere as my previous post pointed out.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

**************MOD POST***********
A number of posts have been removed. Some have been removed as a by product of a post that was insulting.
Folks, let's keep it civil. We are all divers and by participation are constantly learning. One learns so much more by civility than by condemation or berating. Posting a civil, concise posts elevates you more by your peers than does an insulting, finger pointing post. If anyone feels the need to continue posting in an insulting manner, you will find yourself with a nice 5 day vacation from SB to ponder your posting methods.

 

[ams511]

Darn, I always miss the good stuff.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

Thanks Jenny! I preferred this route.