Have you experienced a negative reaction to your pursuit of solo diving?

[DaleC]

This is in response to another thread where there seems to be some debate as to whether solo diving is a taboo subject or not within the general diving community.
From your own personal experience, have you experienced a negative reaction when the subject of solo diving comes up?

For myself, I cannot discuss the subject at my local LDS or at my local club. Privately, several instructors, DM's etc... confess to doing it. Publicly however, they follow a "don't ask; don't tell" philosophy. Seems odd for a non taboo subject?

 

[Sas]

Well you already know my experiences DaleC from the other thread but I'll post in more detail here.

I have not had any negative comments about solo diving. On many dives I see people diving by themselves, particularly photographers. Most people I know say they solo dive occassionally and this includes people from various cultural backgrounds, not just Australians. I do not know any Northern American people locally though, perhaps it is more taboo there?

I know two people who will not solo dive and their main reasons are that they are not comfortable with it. I think this is a valid reason - some people are just not cut out to dive by themselves. I have had one argument with a buddy about solo diving, it is a long story but it involved him being left on the surface whilst two of us solo dived (was a zero viz dive to recover something). He felt responsible for us if something happened and we didn't surface. I think that is silly but I respect that he felt responsible for us and I did not want to put that on him. He is not against solo diving in concept.

The charters locally do not allow solo diving because of insurance reasons. If you get to know them they have a "don't ask, don't tell" kind of policy with solo diving. There are other things that are required by insurance that have a similar kind of policy such as when drift diving it has to be on a line and that everyone must carry a computer and a snorkel. I do not think insurance bans result from "taboos" though as drift diving off a line or diving without a dive computer or snorkel are hardly taboo (though people do debate them constantly on forums, but people argue about a lot of things in diving, solo diving is just another), and I put solo diving in the same category.

I mean, there is a Solo specialty. It can't be that taboo And even if it was, I really do not care what others think of my diving, other than the people I am diving with as if I buddy diving, I take watching out for my buddy seriously. DaleC, I hope this does not come out too harshly but you seem to have an obsession with the idea of solo diving being taboo - it strikes me as odd as you seem to value having an independent attitude but then you seem to care a lot about what people think of solo diving. Why would you care if people at your LDS or club complain about your solo diving? The two do not add up. Perhaps you can explain it further for me

 

[Sas]

Actually I think it might be useful if people post what things (as well as solo diving) that have caused a negative reaction. That might help gauge if solo diving is alone in how controversial it is, or whether it is just one of the many things that divers like to argue about. Anyway, I can start. As I have stated I have not had a negative reaction towards my solo diving but I have had negative reactions about the following:

-having a long hose primary + bungeed backup (my rescue instructor - he said he thought it an "inappropriate" setup that made ditching gear during a rescue difficult)
-having a one-piece harness on my BP/W (various people, mostly associating it with DIR and therefore "stupid")
-not carrying a snorkel (one of my early instructors)
-having my mask on my forehead (same instructor as the snorkel issue - said he couldn't wait til I lost it one day)
-doing comprehensive buddy checks (various people, mostly very experienced people who think it is OTT)
-having a neoprene drysuit (aparently this will make buoyancy control ridiculously hard - I can see arguments for both neoprene and trilamminate and am indifferent between both to be honest, but neoprene was cheaper)

People like to think their way is the best way, both when it comes to solo diving and also many other things that relate to diving. I do not think should lead to them being labeled as "taboo".

 

[almitywife]

hubby students have freaked out..... because generally hes just reminded them about "always dive with a buddy and buddy check" stuff and then i walk pass them saying "bye honey" as i head off for a dive on my own

otherwise ive never heard any negative comments from divers or lds employees that i frequent - mind their own business seems to be the general opinion from those that i know/dive with ect

cheers

 

[drbill]

I've had a few question it, but very few. After nearly 48 years of diving solo I've somehow managed to survive. Based on my history, I've had 20X more incidents diving with a buddy than I have diving solo. Seems to say something about the buddy system to me. Of course I always enjoy diving with my regular buddies... and always look for a lovely, intelligent lady-go-diver (especially if she has a healthy trust fund to finance our international dive travel).

 

[jridg]

I have not had any negative reactions to date. My wife worries at times, but that's her job. Most of my solo diving has been in Venice, FL where it's fairly common. I do enjoy diving with buddies I know and trust, I haven't had an opportunity to solo in SoCal yet - but if my regular buddies weren't available, I wouldn't have any problem soloing in areas I am familiar with.

 

[redacted]

I've had very few negative comments and tend to just ignore them. If folks would like to learn about it, I'm happy to discuss it with them.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

When I was a teenager, my mom would always demand that I tell her which quarry I would be sneeking into (and tresspassing to dive). She always would tell me that she wanted to know where they should look for my body. Is that a negative reaction?

 

[micklock]

I've had one instructor (PADI) from my lds shake her head at me but the lds owner never said anything about it, I think he understands I will do what I want anyways. My girlfriend said she would learn to dive so I wouldn't have to dive alone but I asked if she really wanted to dive and she said no, so I told her I didn't want her to dive and I was safer diving alone than diving with her or any other inexpereanced diver and I would rather have her stay on land or in the boat.

 

[Walter]

Solo is taboo in most circles. I don't advertise that I dive solo, but I don't hide it either. From time to time, people will tell me I shouldn't be solo diving. I listen politely and continue diving solo. In most cases, those folks are people who really have no idea what the risks of diving solo might be and I'm not concerned about their comments at all. Once, I was diving with a group of friends who were all buddied up. No one ask me to join their team and I thought I'd enjoy a little quiet time exploring the wreck alone, so I didn't ask to tag along with any of the groups. Everyone was happy until toward the end of the dive, some of them saw me coming out of the wreck. On shore, most of them acted like I'd betrayed them personally. They felt like I should be sticking with a buddy. I felt like it was none of their business. For the rest of the trip, they made a point to ask me to be a part of one buddy team or another, except when I was diving and no one else was around. I only got in 5½ solo dives on that trip after they got bent out of shape.