Anyone ever have a close call going solo?

[=C=]

On Oening Day of lobster season earlier this month, I was at 97' in a magic puka that I had scoped out in July. There were 5 lobster sitting there waving at me. While I was bagging the first one and took a breath, I got a mouthful of salt water.
I remember thinking, "This is not good...", ...., I found that I still had my mouthpiece in my mouth - just no regulator.

this exact thing happened to me on my 1st OWD... heh.. no zip ties on the rental reg. I switched to the octo.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/134163-scooter-salvage.html

This was a memorable solo dive for me.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Yep, I bet it was memorable. Way back in my youth when I was doing some other things I was told by an "old timer" the way to have good war stories was to: Mess up really, really good and survive. Of course the language was a wee bit more colorful.

 

[texdiveguy]

Never have.

 

[K_girl]

Thanks.

Yes, I also limit my depth as well when solo.

I never new about leaving someone in the boat until I heard a few stories about divers / or unattended boats drifting away with currents.

Another story came from a famous book (can't remember which one) where the boat diver forgot to tun on their air, had tons of tanks, drysuit and gear on for a tech wreck dive and sank to the bottom after entry and died.

BTW, your photos are outstanding Catherine. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Book was entitled "Diver Down" by Michael Ange - available on Amazon.com. Focuses on dive accidents. Very good book.

 

[RumBum]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/134163-scooter-salvage.html

This was a memorable solo dive for me.

That was a wonderful account of your incident. I was scared just reading it!

 

[matjo1]

Spearfishing on the back side of the 3rd reef in SOFLO, (90ft) my flag line somehow got locked up in the split ring of my console retractor. Because of all my gear, (catch bag and slung pony) I had to take my BC off to fix the problem. Not a huge deal, but close to NDL with a rippppping current, it was a lesson learned.

 

[DennisS]

I've had two incidents where I was down to between 100 and 300 PSI when I surfaced. Both were attributable to staying with a buddy. I can always dive my plan solo.

 

[drbill]

Only real significant one was having the dip tube on my tank valve clog and stop all air flow to my regs/SPG at 75 feet. It was the only (and last) time I didn't wear my pony bottle. However, I have 20X more incidents when diving with a buddy (almost all were pick-up buddies).

 

[Valwood1]

Does it mean simply "no named buddy"? Or is it more than that?

For example, I am rarely "buddied up" by a boat captain, and tend to do my own thing when not so aligned. BUT, even while being "alone", I almost always stay near to the main group of divers. Is that "solo diving"?