First solo dive!!

[Greg D.]

I made my first solo on sunday! Super fun, I got to pay attention to what I was doing the whole time! Never had to look to see where my buddy was. just me and the water way cool! I kept shallow (40ft max) used only a little over half of my air, and had somebody up top (wife) that knew how long I would be down for safety as I dont yet have a pony setup..... but soooon!!

Not to many divers in this landlocked area and with busy schedule's and what not its hard to find a buddy so it was the first, but I'm sure it won't be the last!!

 

[Hoosier]

Congratulation!. I know your feeling. I prefer the solo diving for the pretty much same reason. I admit it is a good idea to have a pony setup... I am working on it now

I made my first solo on sunday! Super fun, I got to pay attention to what I was doing the whole time! Never had to look to see where my buddy was. just me and the water way cool! I kept shallow (40ft max) used only a little over half of my air, and had somebody up top (wife) that knew how long I would be down for safety as I dont yet have a pony setup..... but soooon!!

Not to many divers in this landlocked area and with busy schedule's and what not its hard to find a buddy so it was the first, but I'm sure it won't be the last!!

 

[ScubaSarus]

Glad it was a nice dive. Im looking for a pony setup again myself. Your profile was conservative and probably 2x the dist of the avg person can free dive. If your the type that demand being under the sea to get away from the world above, the dive had to be quite peacefull and rejuvinationg.

Safe diving dude. Let us know the details of your pony setup when you get it.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I kept shallow (40ft max) used only a little over half of my air, and had somebody up top (wife) that knew how long I would be down for safety as I dont yet have a pony setup..... but soooon!!

How does having your wife at the surface make the dive safer? You seem to be saying that having a non-diver at the surface is somehow a replacement for a redundant breathing system. If so, could you explain how that works?

 

[Charlie99]

If you need to use a pony bottle, the emergency will be over, one way or the other, long before 1) someone topside decides you are overdue, 2) notifies another diver, and 3) that diver manages to find you.

OTOH, I do tell my wife what divesite(s) I'm going to and roughly when I'll be back. I can't see this helping in an underwater emergency, but conceivably it could help if I get caught in a strong surface current and am drifting along on the surface. I usually do the same when sailing or hiking alone.

Charlie

 

[BigJetDriver]

Gregoire,

Mike and Charlie are not being harsh here. They are suggesting that having your wife topside is more like a "Flight Plan". If you crash, we will know where to look for you. It is not a bad idea, but if you are solo, you need to do more to protect yourself.

We would all suggest that if you are diving solo, you rig yourself the redundant gas supply BEFORE you go divng again. If you have it and don't need it, it is cheap insurance. If you need it and don't have it, we will all say publicly how much we miss you! :bawling:

NOTE: (Required Legal Notice) Because of my position and training, I cannot and will not advocate solo diving.

Cheers!

 

[Charlie99]

Mike and Charlie are not being harsh here.

I sure hope that I'm not being harsh, since I dive solo without a pony.

I do stay in depths from which I can easily do an ESA. I also recognize the fact that were I entangled such that I couldn't reach the surface, and at the same time I lost my air supply, then I'll die. In the places I solo dive, this risk appears to be much smaller than the risk of some medical problem that causes me to lose consciousness and drown, with or w/o a pony bottle.

 

[ScubaSarus]

How does one know of the safe depth to do a ESA. Ive always wondered.

 

[Charlie99]

When doing ESA in my OW class it was hard to do one from 25'. That's because I was continually blowing lots of bubbles and ran out of air.

Since then I've realized that the actual requirement is to not close your airway, rather than continuously breathing out. Just holding my airway open, it was relatively easy to do a practice ESA from 90'.

It's a relatively risky drill, so I haven't repeated it. To minimize the risk, I did it in the nice clear warm water of Cozumel, as the very first thing on the very first dive of the day. Immediate descent and reascent, so I wasn't at any more risk for DCS than a freediver (but obviously with lung barotrauma risks that a freediver doesn't have). Took a bit over 2 minutes to ascend, and although I didn't know it until after I had done it, I could easily have spent another minute on the ascent.