Doing it Solo - DIS?

[Blitz]

My apologies. Since I was quoted, I felt it was directed at me. I think the proximity is relevant though, if someone else needs help and comes upt to a solo diver underwater, shouldn't we help as much as we can and within safe boundries?

I dive solo like either I am going to run into a problem or come a cross a diver that has run into a problem, and perhaps that is due to our community up here, we have quite a few local shore dives that have a lot of people in the water at the same time. So I always consider others, but rely on myself to perform any emergency procedures. That explain it better?

Marc....acidic tongue temporarily removed.

 

[dave4868]

I know this is getting a little old but the terminology freak in me just can't let it go. To wit, if you didn't make a conscious decision to dive solo before you entered the water, you may find yourself to be alone but you are not diving solo.

Tom, you've provided lots of food for thought with this thread, but you lost me here.

Unless we're getting into the dogma of "plan the dive, dive the plan", I don't understand the apparent need to stick with a definition of the dive as determined by the initial dive plan, since many routine dives can easily and safely evolve, and the dive plan can be adjusted. Routine dives would be those in benign conditions, within NDL, etc.

Unless safety would be compromised, I don't feel locked into "plan the dive, dive the plan". Most of the divers I know are comfortable and competent to adjust as needed.

For riskier dives, I dive the plan, especially if there's a possibility of nitrogen narcosis affecting judgement.

On the rare occasion that I have a buddy, we usually have a loose plan of what we want to do, and an agreement to continue the dive solo if we get separated either intentionally or not.

We'd say the dive began as a buddy dive, then became a solo dive.

Some hunting/photo dives become "salvage dives". Didn't expect to find a $300 anchor, but there it was! (I always bring a lift bag.)

Further to that point, someone with the proficiency and mindset to dive solo shouldn't be losing track of buddies on buddy dives or be inclined to dive with a buddy that's unreliable.

This happens quite often even to very competent divers for any number of reasons. Could be because of low vis, pre-agreement on going solo if needed, or just simple mistakes, such as getting "turned around" briefly or misunderstandings.

If it happens with a buddy who isn't comfortable diving solo, we apply the typical procedures to re-connect with the buddy.

We don't tear up our C-cards if it happens, nor should we.

Am I missing your point?

Dave C

 

[Diveral]

This is the solo divers forum! We are not going to get consensus here!!! . We are all independent, opinionated, individualists.

I tend to agree with others in this thread that you can be diving solo with others in the water. Many of us are forced to dive as buddies by many of the dive ops out there. In that case especially if I'm buddying with another experienced independent diver we make the gentleman's agreement to be same ocean same day buddies. I.e. meet you under the boat in 45 minutes . If the op is paying close attention they will observe two diverging bubble trails.

Sometimes if I am diving with experienced buddies and we unintentionally get separated we make an agreement beforehand that we will not surface and conduct a buddy search but that we will continue our dive solo and meet up on the anchor line at the end of the dive.

As far as experience, I think its highly variable and depends on the diver. It's whatever it takes to make you a comfortable and good independent diver. For some of us that can be relatively few dives, for others it takes many dives, and some will never be capable no matter how many dives they have.

As to equipment I don't think that there is one defined set. It's whatever you need that is appropriate to the particular dive that will get you safely back.

AL

 

[TomP]

Tom, you've provided lots of food for thought with this thread, but you lost me here.

Clearly not my most effective post. I really have to stop posting before I've had my AM coffee.

On the rare occasion that I have a buddy, we usually have a loose plan of what we want to do, and an agreement to continue the dive solo if we get separated either intentionally or not.

This is absolutely consistent with what I was trying to say which is that diving solo is something a person decides/agrees to do. And I agree that decision can be made on the fly. In any case the essence is that solo is a choice, it isn't something that happens to you.

Thanks for the thoughful feedback Dave. I hope this helps.

 

[TomP]

My apologies. Since I was quoted, I felt it was directed at me. I think the proximity is relevant though, if someone else needs help and comes upt to a solo diver underwater, shouldn't we help as much as we can and within safe boundries?

I dive solo like either I am going to run into a problem or come a cross a diver that has run into a problem, and perhaps that is due to our community up here, we have quite a few local shore dives that have a lot of people in the water at the same time. So I always consider others, but rely on myself to perform any emergency procedures. That explain it better?

Marc....acidic tongue temporarily removed.

Glad we cleared that up and I absolutely agree that if we can render aide to other divers within safe boundaries we should do so. I make a fair amount of solo dives in a quarry and run across other diver all the time and wuldn't hesitate to assist a diver in need.

 

[mdb]

Glad we cleared that up and I absolutely agree that if we can render aide to other divers within safe boundaries we should do so. I make a fair amount of solo dives in a quarry and run across other diver all the time and wuldn't hesitate to assist a diver in need.

I beleive that most solo divers would come to the aid of any other diver in distress. While diving solo off Grand Cayman @ about 130 fsw i noticed another diver "buddy diving" at about 100 fsw. For whatever reason he lost his primary and it floated over his shoulder. He spent some time trying to find it and began to panic. His "buddy" was obvilious to the situation. I came up and donated my primary and we made a controlled ascent w/o a problem. His friend came to the surface a minute or two later and asked; "What happened ?".

We had several other incidents on that trip. It was a good learning experience.

 

[TomP]

I beleive that most solo divers would come to the aid of any other diver in distress. While diving solo off Grand Cayman @ about 130 fsw i noticed another diver "buddy diving" at about 100 fsw. For whatever reason he lost his primary and it floated over his shoulder. He spent some time trying to find it and began to panic. His "buddy" was obvilious to the situation. I came up and donated my primary and we made a controlled ascent w/o a problem. His friend came to the surface a minute or two later and asked; "What happened ?".

We had several other incidents on that trip. It was a good learning experience.

The most interesting stuff happens on dive trips. My wife and i did a trip to Tobago a while back and got partnered with a group that arrived the same day. Owing to the strong currents the protocol is a simultaneous backward roll 'negative' entry. One guy in the group brought his weight integrated BC, fully loaded for cold water exposure protection. We rolled and needless to say the planned head count at 20 feet came up one short as this guy expressed to the sea floor 95 feet below. Fortunately he managed to clear his ears on the way down but not so his mask. If the screw up alone didn't teach him a lesson i'm sure his 'pals' reminders that his bruised face made him look like a racoon certainly did.

 

[Diveral]

Talk about the express elevator to the ground floor.