DBPacific
Contributor
Hello all,
I hope I'm not transgressing in this section of the forum since I've never dove solo, but I'm curious as to how you all went solo? How did you train, who with, what skills were emphasized and actually set you apart from buddy divers (beyond complete redundancy and familiarity with gear/gear removal and replacement)? I'm a pretty inexperienced diver, less than 100 under my weight belt, but I have no dive buddies outside of work and at work, our dives are more or less self-sufficient. My buddy and I are just within eyesight of each other, each working on data collection and measurements, and we're just in our own separate worlds with the understanding that once he reaches the agreed upon air reserve, we surface. He is one of only two buddies I've had that I actually felt okay with - one diver at work actually scares me because of her ability to reduce a 20ft vis day into 0ft vis and she doesn't even bother to keep her buddy in visual range. I'd like to practice drills and neutral buoyancy outside of work but all of my work buddies are otherwise occupied or have no interest in practicing drills, plus once the school year starts again everyone's schedules will be filled with work and classes and I can't imagine being dry for an entire academic year until someone might be free to dive. Everyone I know in person has a very poor/angry attitude towards solo diving, so I'm worried to ask them. All I really want is to practice so even with a buddy who makes me blind I'm self-sufficient, and I can just pack up, grab tanks, and dive when I need to destress from physics. Any advice, beyond that I shouldn't ramble so much?
I hope I'm not transgressing in this section of the forum since I've never dove solo, but I'm curious as to how you all went solo? How did you train, who with, what skills were emphasized and actually set you apart from buddy divers (beyond complete redundancy and familiarity with gear/gear removal and replacement)? I'm a pretty inexperienced diver, less than 100 under my weight belt, but I have no dive buddies outside of work and at work, our dives are more or less self-sufficient. My buddy and I are just within eyesight of each other, each working on data collection and measurements, and we're just in our own separate worlds with the understanding that once he reaches the agreed upon air reserve, we surface. He is one of only two buddies I've had that I actually felt okay with - one diver at work actually scares me because of her ability to reduce a 20ft vis day into 0ft vis and she doesn't even bother to keep her buddy in visual range. I'd like to practice drills and neutral buoyancy outside of work but all of my work buddies are otherwise occupied or have no interest in practicing drills, plus once the school year starts again everyone's schedules will be filled with work and classes and I can't imagine being dry for an entire academic year until someone might be free to dive. Everyone I know in person has a very poor/angry attitude towards solo diving, so I'm worried to ask them. All I really want is to practice so even with a buddy who makes me blind I'm self-sufficient, and I can just pack up, grab tanks, and dive when I need to destress from physics. Any advice, beyond that I shouldn't ramble so much?