How many of you think solo is OK to do and why?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Z Gear

Contributor
Messages
831
Reaction score
194
Location
San Diego
# of dives
50 - 99
We were all taught to dive with a dive buddy at all times, NO MATTER WHAT. I am not advocating any one take up solo diving but the fact is many do practice this. I am curious as to why would some opt to do this, especially when they know this is not a safe practice.

It has crossed my mind several times especially on shallow dives near shore. It would be good to understand where most of you stand on this and I think its OK to be honest.



Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear
 
The fact that it is not the main steam teaching does not make it unsafe. It is unsafe for the audience of entry level training and those that have not paid their dues with adequate training and bottom time.

It's hard to dispute that if things go wrong a good buddy by your side is a nice thing to have. The fact of the matter is that in most cases buddy awareness is far from 100% so you are in effect diving solo a good part of the time especially in less than pristine visibility. A moment of distraction can mean separation and an immediate solo situation. This assumes a pretty decent budy situation. If the buddy not attentive and capable then the residual risk goes up by an order of magnitude.

That being said divers evolve through training and experience to a capability to self rescue and incident avoidance in a high percentage of situations and at that point solo diving becomes an acceptable situation.

Pete
 
I don't think it's OK I know it's OK. I've been solo diving since the 1970's and here I am safe and sound and that's how I know it's OK...for me.
 
We were all taught to dive with a dive buddy at all times, NO MATTER WHAT. I am not advocating any one take up solo diving but the fact is many do practice this. I am curious as to why would some opt to do this, especially when they know this is not a safe practice.

It has crossed my mind several times especially on shallow dives near shore. It would be good to understand where most of you stand on this and I think its OK to be honest.

Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear

I was also taught a snorkel was a critical piece of equipment I should always have with me
 
Safety is relative & partial. You'll never be absolutely safe till you're dead. It's not safe driving to the dive site, riding in the boat, or engaging any dive in the absolute sense.

Relatively speaking? A solo diver with well over a hundred dives, maybe hundreds, does a typical reef dive. On a different day in the same conditions, a pair of fresh-out-of OW newbies buddy dive the same site. Who's 'safer?'

Solo diving doesn't have to be the safest option. It just has to be safe enough. After all, who decided a 2-diver team was the safety sweet spot? Why not 3? Why is OW good enough to buddy dive? Why not require a GUE trained DIR practicing team who've passed GUE Fundamentals?

Solo diving is like buddy diving; done properly it can be easily safe enough to suit most people. Or you can kill yourself doing either one.

It does seem to trigger interesting reactions in people, such as an arbitrary judging that it's 'too dangerous' (based on what numbers & standards?) or an off-putting quality (as if solo diving were a condemnation of the buddy system or implied ill will toward others).

Solo diving lets me dive when I want to just do my own dive without regard for someone else's needs or schedule, and it lets me dive when I don't have an available buddy. Plus, I can do all the buddy diving that everyone else can do.

What's not to love?

Richard.
 
The fact that it is not the main steam teaching does not make it unsafe. It is unsafe for the audience of entry level training and those that have not paid their dues with adequate training and bottom time.

It's hard to dispute that if things go wrong a good buddy by your side is a nice thing to have. The fact of the matter is that in most cases buddy awareness is far from 100% so you are in effect diving solo a good part of the time especially in less than pristine visibility. A moment of distraction can mean separation and an immediate solo situation. This assumes a pretty decent budy situation. If the buddy not attentive and capable then the residual risk goes up by an order of magnitude.

That being said divers evolve through training and experience to a capability to self rescue and incident avoidance in a high percentage of situations and at that point solo diving becomes an acceptable situation.

Pete


At what point or level does experience come into play, when one can try a solo dive. Is it a magic number of dives let say 100 plus. Would this be a reasonable marker for one to use. From that point one can sense how they will equip themselves and approach a solo dive, perhaps?
 
We were all taught to dive with a dive buddy at all times, NO MATTER WHAT. I am not advocating any one take up solo diving but the fact is many do practice this.
Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear

I advocate solo and make no apologies for it nor do I feel the need to justify it continually for the last 46 years give or take I have been doing it. I fly solo, I backpack solo, I swim solo, I bicycle solo, I canoe solo, exactly why cannot I SCUBA dive solo?

And, just for the fun of it and curiosity over coming me, I took the SDI SOLO SCUBA Diver course. Nice review. So I am after all these years, official.

At what point or level does experience come into play, when one can try a solo dive. Is it a magic number of dives let say 100 plus. Would this be a reasonable marker for one to use. From that point one can sense how they will equip themselves and approach a solo dive, perhaps?

I cannot agree with that 100 dive thing, for some people it might be day one, for others, maybe never. Cannot say for you but for me I have been solo essentially from the beginning. Of course when I was a new diver, my dives were shallow and benign, as time went on my limits extended. I never did solo cave nor would I do solo overhead, soft or otherwise. Those are my limits, I would not impose upon others my limits.

N
 
My wife would rather that I never dive solo. I have been doing it for years but not really what I prefer to do. So why do it? Well, for those boat dives when you do not want to be paired up with a "first time for everything" diver. When you get to the dive site and the conditions are perfect and your buddy does not show up. You get in the water and your buddy can't get under for some reason (can't clear ears, drysuit flood, etc) and you hate to get all of your gear out of the water and have the long drive back home. Testing new gear at shallow depths where others will be bored. The Cooper river is a solo dive everytime!

If I had a choice I would dive with a buddy just for sharing the dive and talking about it later. Much like golfing by yourself...nowhere near as fun. Also, by diving with a buddy you have a much better chance of getting in the video.

Training, equipment can come into play but mostly it is about your comfort level. You can get all the training, equipment and dives in but if you are not comfortable diving solo (much like cave diving) it is simply just not for you. I can think of only a few dive related deaths that might have been prevented if the deceased diver would have had a buddy...but then we will never really know if it would have changed anything.
 
some experience, Pony Bottle and go, I do 3m to 5m dives but I don't count them as dives when I'm metal detecting, I do them Solo, deeper than that and I will go with my buddy, eventually I will go Solo after more experience and school.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom