Going it alone?

This might sound mildly silly or paranoid but here goes: I often snorkel alone in the ocean. When I say alone I mean sans buddy and nobody knows where I am. I usually stay where it's shallow but it occurred to me that this probably isn't the safest thing in the world since anything can happen in the water. Getting closer to my point: I live alone and I don't have a family so nobody would notice if I went missing for at least five days. I was thinking I should start leaving some sort of document in my car indicating who I am and what I was doing in the event that my car was parked overnight. I figured this would be the most sensible thing to do since the places I like to snorkel don't allow overnight parking and they'd probably tow my car if I drowned and it was left there. Does anybody else find themselves in this situation and how do you handle it?

I think it would a good idea to make sure you have I.D. on you, something like a stainless "dogtag".

If there are other people around you (preferably in the ocean) then I think it's not too unsafe. Free diving to depth on the other hand I would definately have a buddy.

Gidds:

This might sound mildly silly or paranoid but here goes: I often snorkel alone in the ocean. When I say alone I mean sans buddy and nobody knows where I am. I usually stay where it's shallow but it occurred to me that this probably isn't the safest thing in the world since anything can happen in the water. Getting closer to my point: I live alone and I don't have a family so nobody would notice if I went missing for at least five days. I was thinking I should start leaving some sort of document in my car indicating who I am and what I was doing in the event that my car was parked overnight. I figured this would be the most sensible thing to do since the places I like to snorkel don't allow overnight parking and they'd probably tow my car if I drowned and it was left there. Does anybody else find themselves in this situation and how do you handle it?

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Hey Gidds, you gotta come up here sometime, we seem to have a lot in common!

I went through the same sort of thing with family members worried about me skindiving alone. Oddly my wife who's with me 1/2 the time is comforatbale with me being out there and just asks for a call when I get out of the water. I do make sure she knows what site I'm at.

Depending on my suit and fresh salt water I wear between zero - 26 pounds of weight so even though I'm set to be barely positive I can usually go very positive at the pull of a buckle. When I'm alone I limit my diving down though I'll still go for 15'+ if I'm seeing something there but I do keep the number of dives down to a minimuim. I'm also extra careful not to dive into anything that I could get fouled in. IMO this is the biggest risk. That's followed by getting slammed into the rocks on an ocean site. Keep your distance and if it's to rough to enjoy go find a more sheltered site. I also won't dive with less than 4-6 feet of visibilty, when it's that bad you just can't count on avoiding things and it's not much fun no matter how bad you want to get wet. Go find a freshwater site. Kayak put in points are great skindiving leads though many are only good at high tide.

Obviously being with a buddy is always preferd but for conservative skindiving no instructor or experienced diver has ever cautioned me against going solo. Why do I get the feeling that is about to change?

Be carful, use comon sense, the placard ion the dash is a good idea in your case. Having someone to call when you go in and get out is even better.

Pete

I don't have anybody I can consistently call when I get out of the water or I wouldn't have asked. I like the dog tag idea though I can easily do that. My main worries are getting tangled up in something underwater or getting dragged out in a rip and not being able to get back in. If I'm out in the bay because of a rip I'd at least like the Coast Gaurd to come looking for me because my 7mm suit would keep me positive and not hypothermic for awhile.

Gidds you need to find some friends to go diving with...Now that you are certified post messages on the scubaboard searching for a dive buddy. There are plenty of us divers out there that are always willing to jump in the water. Your post and responses have a undertone of something much more deeper then just diving alone.

Quote:"I don't have anybody I can consistently call when I get out of the water."

Quote: "I live alone and I don't have a family so nobody would notice if I went missing for at least five days."

Gidds- I live very far away from my family however I created a family of friends that care about me. I wish you luck and get out there and create a family of friends.

Clarification: I have friends etc. but they have different interests than I do plus they have (large) families so they aren't always around for my to call and say: "Hey I'm going snorkelling, I'll be back at..." As far as nobody noticing my absence for five days I tend to engage in advisor/coworker evasion on a fairly regular basis so if they didn't see me or couldn't reach me (I like my privacy) they wouldn't think it was unusual unless it stretched beyond five days, possibly more.

Ok, well now that you are diving I am sure you will build a scuba family fairly quickly. When I travel I always post a need dive buddy message and have great success in meeting some very nice people all over the place...

Something like this is probably not a bad idea either:
ACR Aquafix 406

Look at the price tag though. Ouch!
http://www.jandhproducts.com/product.asp?pf_id=ACR_Aquafix_2797.4_EPIRB

Oh a gadget! I LOVE gadgets! Gadgets aren't a substitute for common sense though I suppose.

Gidds:

Oh a gadget! I LOVE gadgets! Gadgets aren't a substitute for common sense though I suppose.

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Me too. You should see my gadget boneyard!

Something else I saw (while browsing for more gadgets!) is this:
http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=XSscubaPonyPac

That's getting close to just wearing SCUBA gear, but maybe you can attach a tiny pony tank somewhere else just in case you find yourself temporarily stuck underwater.