First solo dives!

[Reku]

Glad you had fun. Add some redundant gas to your setup and enjoy. Also get a backup mask....very important.

I recommend getting some kind of tech shorts to put on over exposure protection with pockets and then getting a foldable snorkel - you can't lose it if it's secured in your pocket.

Did you surface swim back to shore - how did you drop your mask? Just curious.

Like the others have said - solo training is good, controlled experience is also good. Same ocean buddies are good for solo "practice" - you are not right next to each other but you've got someone there within the area.

When you get to 100 dives you would probably want to find a good instructor and take the class - and then in some places you can solo dive off the boat!

Sounds like a successful dive to me. Just remember you've gotta be able to deal with any problems that you encounter - without help. If you can do that - you are good to go.

 

[rsingler]

Ka'anapali was a great choice for your mini adventure! Not too deep, lots of folks around, easy entry, pretty fish. Did that myself a couple years back, just for fun. You showed yourself the added risks what with your equipment loss and retrieval. Good for you!
Of course, now that you've posted it with a min dive count, get ready for the criticism! Either way, it's all good. You expanded your horizons, maybe learned a lesson or two about risks, and had fun. I'm not sure I would have done it this soon, but it was a pretty benign choice.
Welcome to the club! Just keep diving!

 

[NatureLVR]

Awesome that you got back on the horse and are now trying your hand at solo diving. If you decide to get some training and/or continue solo diving, you will find our just how handy it is for testing new gear and configurations.

A familiar and benign area is much better for testing than having just paid for a charter and being in the middle of the ocean while trying to test new equipment.. Better to be all set with new gear/configurations before going out on a boat or other important dive.

 

[Nick Steele]

Got to give you a hand for going back so soon and as a solo diver!

I’m with everyone else get a pony if you continue to solo dive. Also be comfortable in your gear. Practice don/doffing and see if you can swim it up from depth (with someone there!).

Stay safe and have fun!

 

[Aloha Joe]

Thanks everyone. I’m open to criticism, that’s why I’m on a Scuba forum.

I practiced using my smb and also a folding “stick flag”. The swim back to shore was warm, easy, and very calm so I took off my mask. I guess I got a little board and decided to roll up my smb and stow the flag while finning back on my back (wing). At some point I dropped the mask.

I don’t plan on much more untrained solo diving. But I do feel like I’m on a solo dive on just about every charter. I feel like there’s a false sense of security with random divers. At leas on my solo dive I knew where my emergency air source was and it wasn’t swimming away from me.

I think needing 100 dives just to take self reliant is BS. I believe I need those skills now based on my comment above.

 

[DiverDownD3]

Where you diving with a pony? If not, where was your emergency air?

 

[Nick Steele]

@DiverDownD3 His emergency air was 26 feet max away on the surface.

If I’m honest here there have been a dive or two where my emergency air (dive buddy) was over 20ft away. If I knew my rig well I would be comfortable in 20-30ft solo dives but my girlfriend has asked me not to solo dive and I will comply.

@Aloha Joe im with you that a # of dives doesn’t mean anything I think it’s more mindset/skill based.

 

[oldschoolto]

Where you diving with a pony? If not, where was your emergency air?

25' up...... And my first 100 dives we're solo.. maybe more... I started diving at 12 with a used Auqa-master and steel 72 with a J valve... Take your time and remember to take baby steps.. Before you know it, You're at 170+ feet in a wreck in the cold waters of the north east solo removing brass port holes and stainless steel prop shafts...


Jim...

 

[lowviz]

(I kind of feel like I did something wrong since I’m not trained nor had a pony tank, but it was SO much fun!) ...//...

I won't disagree with your feelings about that experience. If I'm diving, odds are great that I'm diving solo. Just don't be led down the path by getting away with it unharmed. Obviously, everything that can go wrong has to be fixed by you alone and you seem to indicate that you have much to learn about solo diving. I recommend solo diving. No buddy reminders, no cheat codes (EVERYTHING is on you, straight up), no human backup of any kind. Your life is 100% in your own hands and nobody to sue.

Not so long ago, anything solo was discussed in an opt-in Solo Diving forum. You had to explicitly join the forum to see the threads. We all had a big back-and-forth as to open it up to both the SB community and the public. I was one of many against it, we lost, oh well. It is now an open forum. I do note that a member who was a proponent of opening the solo forum up to everyone suggested moving this thread to the solo forum. So there are reservations about discussing solo in "New Divers and Those Considering Diving"?

So far, this is a polite and informative thread containing good information, but leaving it in this first taste of scuba forum just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Marie13]

@lowviz

I think we should have reservations about discussing solo diving for new divers. There is frequent mention of the “normalization of deviance” in diving, bad/unsafe practices becoming common. I think new divers thinking solo diving is acceptable practice is one of these.

I’m not against solo diving. I’m planning on going for my solo cert next year. I am against new divers doing it. I think it’s foolish at best and reckless at worst. I don’t care if conditions are the most benign possible - warm water, great viz - and the dive is a bimble on a shallow reef.

New divers thinking solo is just peachy simply because they can’t find a buddy or buddy cancelled on them is not a good idea, IMO. People will do what they want, but telling new divers, hey, go solo! Nope. There’s a reason 100 dives minimum are a prerequisite for a solo diving cert class.