Documentary on solo diving

[Darnold9999]

Clearly, you don't understand anything I wrote. Since there seems to be a lack of comprehension on your part, perhaps you could quote what I wrote, which led you to believe I stated diving is extremely dangerous, requires a "special unique" level of skill or that only an elite few are capable of attaining the skills required for safe diving.

Here you go -

You said:

Any idiot can dive solo, but being a solo diver, in my mind, speaks of a level of experience, competency and skill which I haven't seen present in many/most of the solo dives I've witnessed.

You also said:

In my mind, not everyone is cut out to be a diver. Of those who are, I don't believe there are many who have the unique skill set that would qualify them as solo diver.


Perhaps I missed something but why else would you need "a level of experience, competency and skill" and "a unique skill set" to dive if the activity wasn't extremely dangerous??? And if not everyone is cut out to be a diver, and of those who are, there are not many who have this unique skill set to qualify them as a solo diver; that defines elite to my mind. Perhaps you have a different definition of elite in mind. All of this presents solo diving as a very dangerous activity that only a very few can do safely - and by extension unless you view solo diving as significantly different than buddy diving then you are also saying that diving is also a dangerous activity that only a very few can do safely.

In my view and experience a buddy just adds a false sense of security. It doesn't particularly change the risks of diving which are fairly minimal. A bit of training and some common sense and your risk of an accident are pretty low. In general it requires that you do at least one and probably several stupid things at once to kill yourself.


Perhaps also being an instructor dealing with beginners a large part of the time has skewed your view of what an average diver is. And perhaps my experience, which includes exactly no teaching of new divers has done the same. If I am not diving solo I am typically diving with people with many hundreds of dives. It is pretty rare for me to be out with a beginner.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

All of this is really simple to me.
I am almost always solo diving.
When I DM another instructor's class, or when I am running my own classes, I am actually solo diving.
When I lead a group of recreation divers, I am solo.
When I choose to relax and dive without a buddy, I am solo diving.

All of these situations require me to be able to make good decisions, handle any and all emergency situations, to carry a redundant air source, and be able to effect self-rescue.
If you have the experience and sense to be able to that, then you are perfectly capable of solo diving. Whether you solo dive or not, is then your choice. BUT, you need both experience And sense. (on this note, you all know as well as I do that often, number of dives has nothing to do with good or capable... How many divers have you run accross with many dives, who are still idiots underwater?....)

My problem is not with solo diving. My problem is with the cowboys and idiots who think an AOW class makes them sound experienced divers. That 24 dives makes them accomplished and seasoned enough to solo dive. It's those arrogant, reckless divers who give solo diving it's shadow. Those who pass the magic 100 mark, but never led a dive or had to navigate, or solve a problem, yet think they are automatically great divers and ready to solo just because of a number are foolish.

The serenity of a solo dive is is a feeling of peace that I don't find anywhere else. I treasure my time alone under the blue. But I came a long way as a diver to get to this point safely.

I even agree with solo certification classes. At least these people want to learn all they can to be lifelong divers. Those who just jump in with out the skills or the practice, are the ones who end up in the accidents forum.