Would you dive alone in a recovery situation? (not for you solo divers)

[ArcticDiver]

Let us see now what is wrong with this picture:
-A diver who is not mentally or physically practiced in solo diving. The single most important parts of solo diving are the diver's mental attitude and physical ability to handle the unexpected.
-A diver who most likely has not the equipment to dive solo.
-A diver who most likely doesn't have any experience in evaluating the situation. A vehicle may Look like it is stuck and stable; but it may not actually be. I've seen this more than once.
-A diver who not only doesn't know the answers; doesn't know the questions to ask.
-A diver who has no support and is entering into an unknown situation. You can drown in a tea cup of water, let alone 20'.
-A diver who is risking life and limb for a thing.

Nope, doing this kind of thing is hazardous for experienced, currently practiced divers. It is very dangerous for others. I'm amazed that anyone who is not a Solo Diver would so blithly attempt a recovery. Don't you remember you are not supposed to dive beyond your training. I'll accept OJT under controlled conditions. But, this don't qualify as that.

 

[Jandee]

We do this kind of stuff in the winter when a snowmobile or 4 wheeler goes through the ice. My husband (or his buddy) are in the water by themself getting things hooked up. The 2nd person is on the surface and has their dry suit and BCD/tank on and ready to go in case of an emerergency. The third person is usually me and I'm the line tender.
I would be ok going in by myself in the summer if I was asked to look for keys or a wallet. Add a lift bag and ropes and I want back up.

 

[ArcticDiver]

We do this kind of stuff in the winter when a snowmobile or 4 wheeler goes through the ice. My husband (or his buddy) are in the water by themself getting things hooked up. The 2nd person is on the surface and has their dry suit and BCD/tank on and ready to go in case of an emerergency. The third person is usually me and I'm the line tender.
I would be ok going in by myself in the summer if I was asked to look for keys or a wallet. Add a lift bag and ropes and I want back up.

Sounds like you don't like the OPs proposition either. The way you do it is what the reasonal person does.

One thing you can count on: If something can go wrong it will. So, be prepared. Can't be prepared if you aren't trained and practiced.

 

[ReefGuy]

Doing this kind of thing for a living, I wouldn't do it solo. Especially for a vehicle. The closest my team has come to an incident was a "routine" vehicle hook up. Dive team leader got caught in the truck suspension and could not extradite himself and could not reach his comm gear. It took several minutes for his buddy to free him and he could not have done it himself.

If there is any silt at all, you are going to have to stir it up to have any hope of finding any object. Even something small like a ring or wallet can easily get covered by the silt stirred up by the fall. Basically any recovery dive (unless over hard bottom) is zero vis.

Not to mention clean up. Vehicle extractions get very messy. Gas, Oil, Transmission fluid, you name it.

Edit: Looking at your profile you have 0-24 dives. You definately don't have the experience to do this kind of thing, especially solo.

 

[Barracuda2]

In my neck of the woods, we have rivers, ponds, manmade lakes, and gravel pits. 99% of the time it's total black water diving when we're called out to do an S & R. The only time two divers go in together is when there is any vis at all; rarely does this happen. In all the missions I have ever been on since 1970, there was only two times that we actually saw the object before we touched it---a body and a gun. The body was in a natural lake (we were called to assist in another state) and the gun was in a river in Feb. when very little runoff was present; we actually had about 3 ft. of vis. In black water dives, we never put two divers in at once unless we are running a straight-line pattern on a guideline; each diver covers his area on each side of the line allowing for more area to be covered in a sweep. The search solo diver is always roped to the tenders on the surface, more to maintain a pattern than for safety, and communication via rope pulls is ongoing. We always have a second diver geared and ready to go in case the primary diver has a problem. IMO, two divers in a black water search can get confusing and somewhat unproductive; very little effective communication can take place in this circumstance. To solo dive in black water S & R definitely takes a team of at least 3, experience, confidence and, different gear configuration. You don't want to do this on a whim just to make a few bucks if you've never practiced this before under controlled conditions. In the truck scenario, you better put that hook in the right spot or all you'll do is tear the truck apart trying to pull it out; this takes blind dry-land practice to "feel" for the right spot. There is really much involved in doing S & R safely and effectively. My $.02

 

[emttim]

If someone called and said they dropped a wallet or keys or someting of that sort(small and light) would you go out alone to go out and get it for a few hundred bucks? Or to hook achain on a car that drove off in the water? I think I personally would if it was less than say 40 ft of water especially if had dove it before? How do yall fell on this????

No and no. Even with perfect conditions under the water, which as others have mentioned is probably an illusion in S&R dives, you have no idea what may happen down there. Additionally, without double redundancy in your gear such as a pony tank or other independent air source, diving solo (especially for S&R) is a cross between dangerous and stupid.

Can't spend money if you're dead.