Solo Cave Diving

I was looking for cave diving possibilities here in Germany and found this website advocating solo diving in our caves:

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What do you think about this philosophy?

This is a discussion that comes up frequently. There is a huge dividing line on this subject,with emotional arguments and no real resolution or definition of when to do the activity. I agree with the article that there are times such as real tight or very low viz,that a buddy can become a liability versus an asset,but this is not a common dive position for most. I am unsure what type of research diving they refer to,but I do a lot of research cave diving for two states,and a buddy is an essential tool.

We have redundant equipment,but not a redundant brain,so having a buddy for this and life support is prudent. There are many people who want to do solo diving because they don't have buddy,but are determined to do it because they came to dive. This is probably the least beneficial reason to solo dive,and history will show we have had accidents which resulted in near-fatalities and fatalities. It is smart to have a lot of cave diving experience before attempting this activity,and also do progressive penetration,because line doesn't guarantee an exit.

The accident this guy had wouldn't have happened with a buddy:

Jochen Hasenmayer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No thanks...

I can understand the idea that, if you are crawling through very silty, tight passage, the guy behind will be blind the entire way and not much use for anything. In addition, if one person gets stuck and blocks the exit for the other, you have converted a single fatality to a double one. I think the passages that mandate solo exploration represent a tiny fraction of the cave that exists to explore.

That kind of diving is not for me.

I have done a few dives that were the tight and dirty ones that others have mentioned and I did not want or need a buddy for those dives. A Buddy can actually be a liability in certain circumstances and I have absolutely no intention of becoming a fatality. This can be a very heated argument to many divers, both cave and OW. Some instances are just a matter of personal preference and comfort levels.

Cave diving solo when it is not necessarily mandated by cave conditions is not the normally accepted method. A buddy will almost always be an asset in these circumstances. I still do many dives of this nature solo, just because I am cocky and arrogant enough to believe that if I follow my training, then I will survive to dive another day.

So we've covered the "it depends on the environment" rationale. I'll add the "it depends on the buddy" rationale. Some buddies are an asset and some are a liability. I regularly take more gas when I dive with some folks than I do if I were to dive alone.

_Slacker_:

So we've covered the "it depends on the environment" rationale. I'll add the "it depends on the buddy" rationale. Some buddies are an asset and some are a liability. I regularly take more gas when I dive with some folks than I do if I were to dive alone.

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I would say time to find a new buddy that isn't a liability,and take the ones that are a liability off your speed dial and friends page. I had a guy that asked to be guided by me at a guided site. Not a problem. After the dive,I saw that he breathed well below his 1/3rds,so when we exit the water he had a lot less than 1/3rd left. Bottom line he sucked down my gas if I had an emergency. This is basic cavern training,and at the full cave level,with 100 cave dives needed to access this system,it was unforgivable. The bottom line is I wouldn't dive with him anymore,nor could I give him a positive recommendation to other guides he asked. In open water reef diving,then a dive buddy that isn't the sharpest tack,no problem,although it will mess a good dive. In an overhead environment,your buddy is a liability,then they are compromising your survivability-time to thumb the dive,and part ways forever.

We had a situation last night that brings up this very question. While cave diving in JB recently on CCRs, we came upon an a tunnel neither of us had ever noticed. It was too small for our back mounted Megs, so we decided to come back later on SM OC and try it out. Dive plan last night was to follow our normal protocol in this situation, which is for one of us to be the guinea pig (it was my turn) to see if it was okay for two of us, while the other waited. I swam through the duck under and as far as my light would shine showed me very low and silty passage. I decided this was not suitable for two and came out. My buddy went in and looked around and concurred. Back on the surface we agreed that this tunnel would be visited individually later on solo dives. So solo diving for us is a norm in certain situations.
Also, my scooter broke down on the way out (inner hub sheared). A buddy was a very comforting thing to have in that situation, even though we had plenty of gas to swim out. Nice to know I had a tow if I needed it.

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karstdvr:

This is a discussion that comes up frequently. There is a huge dividing line on this subject,with emotional arguments and no real resolution or definition of when to do the activity. I agree with the article that there are times such as real tight or very low viz,that a buddy can become a liability versus an asset,but this is not a common dive position for most. I am unsure what type of research diving they refer to,but I do a lot of research cave diving for two states,and a buddy is an essential tool.

We have redundant equipment,but not a redundant brain,so having a buddy for this and life support is prudent. There are many people who want to do solo diving because they don't have buddy,but are determined to do it because they came to dive. This is probably the least beneficial reason to solo dive,and history will show we have had accidents which resulted in near-fatalities and fatalities. It is smart to have a lot of cave diving experience before attempting this activity,and also do progressive penetration,because line doesn't guarantee an exit.

Click to expand...

Something as simple as losing a mask in high flow made this abundantly clear to one of my dive buddies. It really pays to have an extra brain and a set of eyes watching out.