Welcome to ScubaBoard, an online scuba diving forum community where you can join over 205,000 divers from around the world discussing all things related to Scuba Diving. To gain full access to ScubaBoard (and make this large box go away) you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
Participate in over 500 dive topic forums and browse from over 5,500,000 posts.
Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
Post your own photos or view from well over 100,000 user submitted images.
Gain access to our free classifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, travel and services.
Use the calendar to organize your events and enroll in other members' events.
All this and much more is available to you absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact the ScubaBoard Support Team.
With the recent discussions about solo diving and the meaning of competence, I thought it may be useful to discuss different ideas on what some of you consider proper for solo diving with respect to: training - experience - expertise - planning - safety - equipment - in short, any aspect of it.
How and what, if so, is your solo dive different then a buddy dive?
For anyone that has taken a solo diving course, was it a good useful course.
I am not advocating solo diving. But it would be beneficial to get tips and ideas from those who choose to practice it, especially since most discussion on solo diving seems to revolve on the issue of whether it should be practiced or not from a safety perspective.
A solo diving course? I've never heard of it, and can't imagine a certifying agency condoning/encouraging solo diving by offering a course, but then I'm pretty new to diving so, gosh, wow.
the the problems that one would encounter solo diving are the same as what would be encountered on a buddy dive. The down side to solo diving is that there is no one else there to provide any kind of assistance. This means that if something does go wrong the reality that you may not survive is increased.
On a dive of 100 feet with a buddy and you run out of air there is at least some air there to give you a reasonable chance of making it back to the surface unharmed. Same situation solo and you had better be very well versed in emergency ascents.
Same situation solo you can increase your chances of reaching the surface unharmed by having a redundant air supply.
Thats the kind of thinking one has to do when considering solo diving.
Most of my solo diving now is never deeper than 40 feet which is a depth that I feel(through practice) I can comfortably do a CESA. Probably 80% of my solo dives are at or shallower than 20 feet.
In a nutshell fi you dive solo you need to really consider all the what ifs pretty thoroughly. If you come up with any doubts at all then its best not to dive solo.
There's a decent article on Solo diving and agencies offering courses in this month's Diver Training mag. I guess some people get the solo cert becasue some charter boats will only let them dive alone with the card (the boats I've been on here in the NE always let people dive alone - I think it's more of an issue in the Tropics).
Seems like most of the real top tech dives dive solo alot, but, for most of us, having a buddy to help out adds a big margin of saftey to every dive.
I've done some shallow solo dives and so free diving stuff alone, you can take measures to make it a little safer, but, most of the time you are facing more risk than if you brought a competent and familar buddy along.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
