Cave Diving is a solo responsibility conducted as a social activity

[GDI]

Cave Diving is a solo responsibility conducted as a social activity

What does it mean to you?

What this statement means to me is

You are responsible for yourself, your equipment, your environment and your team.

Yourself, - limitations, comfort levels, training and experience, Your ability to handle stress and reactions to emergencies, dependency levels, health (emotional and physical), awareness, your habits, your response to others (buddies if not pure solo diving), risk assessment and acceptance

Your Equipment - is it ready, is it maintained correctly, it is correct for the dive plan at hand, correct redundency, correct gases, correct rigging and accessibility

Your Environment- depth (deep vs shallow), time, climate, water conditions, (overhead vs open water), geographical location, local resources availability

Your Team - Are you pure solo diving (thus yourself), Your family, Friends, Dive Buddies (their experience and training, equipment, comfort and stress levels- all of the same things you would look at in yourself)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Excellent summation ... and to my concern it applies to any level of scuba diving ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[charlesg3]

I'm not a cave diver but the same sentiment pretty much decides the type of buddy we like to dive with in my group of dive friends. You don't have to be some awesome diver and you don't really need that much experience (as many of our dives are shore dives to 40' on average). The one thing you do need is to be able to take care of yourself and I think you nailed it as far as the different areas.

 

[piikki]

So, say you were going for a dive with two new buddies. You were having a pre-dive discussion to find out about each other. Buddy A would start the description about himself with a sentence: “I believe it’s important to be a responsible solo diver”. Buddy B would begin with: “I believe it’s important to be self-sufficient team diver”. Then both buddies would go on to describe exactly same kind of things (dive experience, skills, attitude, equipment, dive planning etc) otherwise.

Which buddy would you personally feel more comfortable making (a team) dive with? Or would the choice of words matter? Would you probe any deeper in either case and why?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So, say you were going for a dive with two new buddies. You were having a pre-dive discussion to find out about each other. Buddy A would start the description about himself with a sentence: “I believe it’s important to be a responsible solo diver”. Buddy B would begin with: “I believe it’s important to be self-sufficient team diver”. Then both buddies would go on to describe exactly same kind of things (dive experience, skills, attitude, equipment, dive planning etc) otherwise.

Which buddy would you personally feel more comfortable making (a team) dive with? Or would the choice of words matter? Would you probe any deeper in either case and why?

The part I've bolded above would indicate to me that they've simply chosen different words to say the same thing ... in which case, provided we are in agreement on how the dive is to be conducted, I'll be equally comfortable diving with either one of them.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[GDI]

So, say you were going for a dive with two new buddies. You were having a pre-dive discussion to find out about each other. Buddy A would start the description about himself with a sentence: “I believe it’s important to be a responsible solo diver”. Buddy B would begin with: “I believe it’s important to be self-sufficient team diver”. Then both buddies would go on to describe exactly same kind of things (dive experience, skills, attitude, equipment, dive planning etc) otherwise.

Which buddy would you personally feel more comfortable making (a team) dive with? Or would the choice of words matter? Would you probe any deeper in either case and why?

Either one. I dive essesntially solo as an instructor within a group to some degree. So my observation would be that I am responsible to keep the team together just as much as the other diver should be, even more so in an instructor role

 

[scuba127]

Just curious. Are there cave diving training agencies that condone, certify, teach etc. solo cave diving?

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

So, say you were going for a dive with two new buddies. You were having a pre-dive discussion to find out about each other. Buddy A would start the description about himself with a sentence: “I believe it’s important to be a responsible solo diver”. Buddy B would begin with: “I believe it’s important to be self-sufficient team diver”. Then both buddies would go on to describe exactly same kind of things (dive experience, skills, attitude, equipment, dive planning etc) otherwise.

Which buddy would you personally feel more comfortable making (a team) dive with? Or would the choice of words matter? Would you probe any deeper in either case and why?

The latter for sure! I've dove with some people with the "solo diver" mentality in buddy teams, and it's really not fun and at times is dangerous! Not to say all solo divers are this way necessarily.

 

[ucfdiver]

OK, I guess I started this by disagreeing with the statement, so I owe an explanation.

Approaching a cave dive as a solo dive is not the same thing as approaching it as a team dive in my opinion.

Here's a non complete list of a few things that I believe separates a team diver from a solo diver with a buddy.

• Watch buddy while on deco, due to risk of high ppo2 mixes or fatigue if on a long dive.
• Verify any gas switch with his buddy, the whole team needs to verify depth and mix individually as well as have a team member verify.
• Leave a backup light in the cave if needed to communicate that he's left, so his buddy doesn't over extend himself.
• Choose dive sites that allow buddy diving, rather than small silty SM cave.
• Leave cookies for each team member at each jump rather than a single arrow, so during a lost buddy situation, each buddy knows if one has left. (I slacked on this, but after the Bruce incident, no more!)
• Plan gas around the team. This means putting reserve gas in backgas so it can be shared, and not in a stage that has only 1 2nd stage.
• Reserve extra deco gas so that the bottle can be passed (or buddy breathed) during deco in a manner that allows the entire team to complete deco together.
• Not use a computer, or use a computer with the same algorithms on the same settings so that they remain together during deco, and not on different ascent profiles.
• Keep close contact with buddy during the dive, no going through side tunnels and meeting up where they come out.

Of course you're responsible for yourself, but so much more is involved in diving with a buddy beyond simply donating gas. I really feel like the majority of divers I hear use the saying you've quoted as a way to promote solo diving as less risk than buddy diving, by implying that they're two in the same. I can agree with how you've outlined it, but the saying leaves it's self to so much misinterpretation, I don't like it.

 

[rjack321]

I generally don't dive this way.

For my diving today, its much more like roped climbing. In some roped climbs it actually might be (off and on) more dangerous to be roped together than solo since if one person falls they are both going to die. Or one will die and the other will have a horrendous day trying to save themselves. Then for other large sections of the ascent its safer to be roped together with a teammate. Cave diving and diving in general is like this for me. At specific times and places I may be better off solo, yet on the whole, the team is stronger by not adopting a "solo but with friends" mentality. When someone else was (I don't climb anymore) on the other end of the rope, either the sharp end (leading) or following, I had a responsibility to that person. I would not route the rope over sharp edges, I would not create anymore rockfall than absolutely necessary, I wouldn't continue when my injury might make their self rescue impossible, I would be aware of their mental state and not push them beyond their boundaries - and I would expect the same care and attention from them. In (cave) diving the details are different and UCF has elaborated on some of those. But ultimately it comes down to taking mutual responsibility for one another. And in a selfish way I take end up taking better care of myself in the process, having more resources (gear and brains) than a solo mentality can bring to the water.