How many dives did you have?

[Dive-aholic]

As you can see, there's a pretty wide range in the few responses you've already gotten. Pay close attention to Diver0001's post. It's not about numbers. It's about you and your gear. There are still times I do a solo dive now when I think about the what ifs and how I would handle it alone. If you never think about those things, or you begin solo diving and stop thinking about those things, then you shouldn't be solo diving. It's not about confidence as much as it's about respect - respect for the fact that we are humans placing ourselves into an environment that is not natural for us and things can happen to really accentuate that.

 

[SwimJim]

Around 120. (except for my very first dive ever - of course I had no idea what I was really doing at the time!)

Ha, same here. My very first dive was in '77 on a local wreck in 60 fow and it was solo. Steel '72, no spg. Other then doing alot of free diving and reading the how to books at the time, no training. Next solo dive wasn't until 2004 after being recertified in 2001 and having over a hundred dives since recertification. I have a couple full log books from '78 to '84 from the first time around, but thats ancient history.

Jim

 

[captain]

Considering when I started diving in 1957 there was no such thing as certification and scuba divers were as scarce as hens teeth most of my first dives were solo. Even later my best buddy and I were mainly same ocean buddies. I agree with Diver0001, it's not so much the number of dives but how prepared you are mentally.

 

[Kim]

Ha, same here. My very first dive was in '77 on a local wreck in 60 fow and it was solo. Steel '72, no spg. Other then doing alot of free diving and reading the how to books at the time, no training. Next solo dive wasn't until 2004 after being recertified in 2001 and having over a hundred dives since recertification. I have a couple full log books from '78 to '84 from the first time around, but thats ancient history.

Jim

LOL. Mine was off a beach in Shri Lanka in 1969. Got a tank, weight-belt and reg off some hire guy on the beach - he told me the coral started about 30 meters offshore - swam out, then down and followed a turtle for the next 30 mins in and out of the coral passageways with sand on the bottom. The dive finished rather suddenly when my air ran out and I had to bolt for the surface! I really had NO idea of the issues - no instruction - no books - no nothing! This is NOT something I recommend to anyone as although it was a totally awesome experience that I can still vividly recall more than 30 years later - I'm probably lucky to be alive!

 

[Rick Murchison]

Just curious... How many dives did you have when you first dove solo? When you first felt comparatively safe diving solo?

Hmmm.... dare I tell the truth? My first dive after formal training was solo, in the sorry vis of the Corpus Christi ship channel, looking for Jewfish. Lucky for me I didn't find any
Rick

 

[AttitudeAdjuster]

My first 48 were solo 49th with a buddy 50 - 54 solo.

 

[drbill]

Another vote for Diver0001's advice.

Most of my initial dives in the 1960's were actually solo, but under very controlled situations. None were "deep" (> 30 ft). They involved no redundancy, but I could easily surface from any of them. They were work dives.

When I moved from freshwater in the Midwest to the ocean off Catalina in 1969, I mostly dove with my students (I taught marine biology on SCUBA starting that year). In essence I was diving solo since I was the backup for the students in my class (some of whom were pretty good divers).

I started ocean diving solo here in the summer of 1970 when school was recessed. Since we subleased the school facility to a girl's camp, there were no other divers in my remote site back then so I had little choice. I still kept my solo dives fairly shallow, probably none below 50-60 ft during that period.

Today, after 45 years of diving, I greatly prefer solo diving unless I have one of my "regular" buddies available. My work is such that a buddy really can crimp my style. I do dive solo with redundant gear, although my solo dive to 182 ft last weekend with only a 19 cu ft pony was vastly stretching the limits of even my "sanity" despite my years of experience. Won't do that again without a tech buddy or better equipment.

 

[knotical]

Like some of the others, my first several dives were solo. No training beyond the booklet that came with the Aqualung. But I was conservative; and usually stayed within my gradually expanding comfort zone. Now I realize how fortunate I was that I didn’t have any serious problems.

 

[jvevea]

This is very useful information. I wonder if I might seek clarification on a few points?

There are several things you need to just do:
- get your gear sorted out for solo diving. Full redundancy

Does this imply gear beyond a pony bottle?

- think about your planning as more than just the bit under water, think door-to-door.

I think I'm missing something here. Could you elaborate on this?

That's a start. See where I'm going with this? You started asking how many dives you need but you don't need a whole whack of dives. Other qualities are more important and even some people with enormous numbers of dives don't have what it takes to dive solo. These two things are not even remotely related.

R..

I'm curious on this point: would you say that it is important to have experienced and solved a number of seriously problematic dives in a buddy situation before considering solo diving?


Thanks for your perspectives, all who've replied.

 

[gjm]

My first unintentional solo dive was my 5th. We rolled of the boat hit the bottom and then everyone went in a different direction and I was left alone at the bottom. So much for the buddy system.

My first intentional solo dive was my 55th dive in 20ft of water. It was during my decompression procedures class and I wanted to practice some of the skills before my next dive. Most of my solo diving is practicing skills.


Enjoy the dive

john