How many dives did you have?

[Azza]

exactly.....and I'm still diving solo.Maybe my breath smells horrible

Ahh well. Good buddies are hard to find

 

[budgy]

The wouldn't teach me at 11 for some reason, which still doesn't seem that logical as they were teaching smaller people who didn't have my swimming ability. My first dive was solo and that was over 20 years ago.

 

[Petedives]

My first dive was #6, just after PADI OW certification. I sort of knew the
reef, and where I could explore. This particular reef has a lot of overhead
tunnels running through it. I only got myself slightly stuck once, and while
I got a little stressed for a second, I managed to get my octo out of the crack
it was stuck in, and made it out more than alive. I generally don't go through
anything I can't back out of, even if not so terribly gracefully, and I also, like
someone else mentioned, just kept diving to the limits of my personal comfort.

I would also say that I'm the type who keeps his head when something goes wrong,
and am better prepared mentally for dealing with my own emergencies than the
frantic panic of a buddy. Since the rescue class, I can deal with that to some extent
as well, but if someone really wants to die, I probably won't die with them.

All in all, the bulk of my diving has been solo, and to this day, I prefer it for the
most part. As I mentioned in another thread, I almost got killed by a 'buddy' in
my recent rescue class who decided to rip the regulator out of my mouth at
bottom lung because of an easily resolvable bouyancy issue.

Experiences like that lead me to have a hell of a lot more faith in a pony
bottle than a buddy's regulator.

Peter

 

[Tagerisatroll]

My first solo dive was #5 I serously only got my OW certification so I could buy my scuba gear, I had been snorkling in the river delta, and was tired of choking on water. After I got certified I got a bunch of used gear and went to town, basicly snorkling with scuba gear in 15ft of water didn't really start to dive any depth or even log dives untill I moved to michigan.

Here I dive mostly store dives with buddys but still dive solo with a Pony as AAS about once a week, when i can't find a buddy.

 

[ApexLongimanus]

I had some 150 dives under my belt.....

 

[sandjeep]

My very first dive after OW was solo. I enjoyed it very much. I don't get to do often, basically I don't want to limit an insta-buddy and cause them not to dive because I'm a loner.

However, I did solo this past weekend during a sorta drift dive and its ever so peaceful!!

 

[serambin]

I had about 5. My training at the time was first rate and my early solo dives could have been made with a snorkel. Having said that, when you "know" that you will dive safe and have the necessary equipment to feel comfortable, you're ready.

Stan

 

[CJ Waid]

I don't remember how many dives I had, but I did within the first couple weeks of being certified, Several times.

 

[Tod]

I had around 20 dives or so. The first solo dive or two was just with my normal gear I collected soon after my OW certification. I decided I really wanted to get into solo diving as it really appealed to me in a number of ways. So I did a bunch of research, worked on my redundancy, acquired more equipment, and just worked that into my program.

After about 80 dives or so, I enrolled in a class for a solo certificate and finished the class well before my 100th dive (which was the required number to hold a card). For me, the class didn't really "teach me" anything new - as I am fairly resourceful and looked into the topic. I cannot say this would be the same for others.

I concur with one of the first replies to this topic... be prepared. It is not for everyone.

 

[nice-diver]

about 20 five feet of water fixing the end of an irrigation pump.

regular basis around 50-70