solo diving info please

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OOOOOPS... Thanks Tony. :D
 
Mauifish:
If you want to dive solo, who is to stop you?
OK, now we can hijack the thread in earnest :D

Here are my thoughts.... Diving, with buddies or without, can be dangerous... yada yada hostile environment, drowning, etc. So all we have is informed consent and our own personal appetite for risk.

The problem with informed consent is that what you don't know can hurt you. Yes, you can train, dive, practice, read Scubaboard, and be generally prepared, but you just might run into that problem that you didn't anticipate or thought would be so remote that you didn't worry about it. The best you can do is to know that regardless of your diving ability, any dive might not end the way you intended.

Regarding appetite for risk, everyone has their own balance between risk and reward. Some people don't care to dive deep, solo, at night, etc. because to it isn't fun for them. Others value the reward enough to justify the risk. There are no hard lines, just a subtle slope and a lot of gray. The question to ask yourself before every dive is "Why am I doing this and is it worth it?"
 
Regarding appetite for risk, everyone has their own balance between risk and reward. Some people don't care to dive deep, solo, at night, etc. because to it isn't fun for them. Others value the reward enough to justify the risk. There are no hard lines, just a subtle slope and a lot of gray. The question to ask yourself before every dive is "Why am I doing this and is it worth it?"__________________
couldn't agree with you more, I dive solo at times, shore dives in water no deeper than 40 ft, great for taking pics. I know a lot of guys that do the same, very good divers. When I say I dive solo I wish I wouldn't get the replys that I should be hauled off to prison to protect me from my own ignorance!!
 
reeldive:
common sense

I guess I don't really understand where you're going with this? You said you want to dive solo but that common sense is preventing you from doing so?
I've worked for many commercial operations and dove with many more, most (in fact in my experience all) have a strict no solo policy (unless you are a 'known' local diver). I can tell you that if you showed up on any of the boats I've worked on with a solo cert card it would make no difference. You'd still dive with a buddy or guide. This is due to liability constraints: buddy diving is (and has been for many years) the accepted 'safe' practice. Deviance from accepted practices are how lawsuits are born, thus most companies want nothing to do with it. If you're not diving with a commercial operation, you don't need to show anyone you're cert card.......
The way to get into solo diving (at least in my opinion) is to:
1. find a easy (shallow, minimal currents, familiar), local (to you) dive site.
2. Tell someone where you'll be and when you'll check in with them.
3. Carry a redundant air supply capable of returning you to the surface from the deepest part of you dive.
4. get in the water and go diving.
 
A couple charters in the local area allow solo diving. Due to the local currents it is very difficult to keep a group together. My advice is find some new dive buddies, hunters make the worst dive partners and most would rather solo dive.
 
Loneranger:
.... hunters make the worst dive partners and most would rather solo dive.


So are videographers, photographers, and folks who like to spend hours on the sand waiting for some little critter to pop up!!

These folks wants you to be their buddy, because, no one else would care to be a mobile spare air device.
 
fisherdvm:
So are videographers, photographers, and folks who like to spend hours on the sand waiting for some little critter to pop up!!


guilty!!
but then some floaters want cover as much reef as posible on a given dive and try to turn the whole experienc into a marathon event
 
I guess I'm not sure what the real question is here. Solo diving isn't anything new. If I want to dive alone, I do it. If I need to find a commercial oporation that will let me dive how I want, I get on the phone or email , state my needs and see what they have to say. In the end, I'm going to buy the sevices I'm looking for or nothing at all. They're the ones who need to sell me and I'm the guy with the money. Where I come from, the guy with the money makes the rules. LOL
 
reeldive:
guilty!!
but then some floaters want cover as much reef as posible on a given dive and try to turn the whole experienc into a marathon event

I've seen a few DM who think that it is fun to make people huff and puff to follow them on a drift dive.

The thing about drift diving, it is suppose to be relaxing. Quit your stupid finning, and let us see the fishies!!
 

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