Is limited solo diving completely insane for a new diver?

[NAM001]

I have made posts concerning this many times. My guidlines have always been.

Get past the point of making mistakes that are in the 99% catagory. lose tanks lost fins ect.
Set limitations for your self. Each to thier own................I do not dive solo and do:

Deep dives
unknown waters
currents
boat traffic
snag infested waters
low visibility (turbid)
(99% of he time) no night diving
help too far away if needed.
arduous path to water
deeper than say 40 ft

 

[Bob DBF]

Is limited solo diving completely insane for a new diver?

Dependant on the maturity and judgement of the diver, my opinion is no.

In 1962 I read The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving, and my "instructor" had several dives more than my zero. The only time we were in the water on scuba at the same time was practicing buddy breathing on a double hose reg, since there was only one set of gear. My first dives were solo, shallow, and benign. No BC or SPG.

I have acquired newer gear and have made my own rules for my solo diving. Some from foresight, and some from Murphy moments.

Over the years buddys have come and gone for various reasons. I continue to dive solo not because I can't find a buddy, but because I like it.

And yes, eventually I did certify OW.


Bob

 

[northernone]

Thinking about this... I know dozens of divers who went solo diving shortly after certification or without any certification at all. There are undeniably different risks solo diving as a new diver. We all talk about "you don't know what you don't know".

Here's some things about solo I'd want to know if I was a new diver:

Entanglement, sucks.
Running out of air, sucks.
Arriving lost at the surface, sucks.
Unable to find/reach bcd inflator, sucks.
Blown ear drum vertigo, sucks.
Cramping or vomiting, sucks.
Puncture injuries, suck.
Crawling to shore exhausted, sucks
Lost and questioning where is home, sucks.

Those are some things where sharing a dive with a buddy can make a bad day better. Solo equipment, contingencies and strategy can also adequately answer them.

Perhaps these considerations help you weight out your dive decisions. I, for one, won't say you'd be foolish to solo dive with your background and the parameters you described. I do have some cautions.

Cameron

 

[dhaines429]

Solo diving discussions always bring some passionate responses. So many divers don't believe in solo diving whatsoever. I just did my 99 and 100 today solo and they were fantastic dives.
I don't have self reliant c card as I just reached my 100 and honestly I don't plan on getting it as I don't see the value if the boats still won't let me solo with it. I am doing tech 40 which teaches a lot of skills that will make me a better buddy or team diver and also make me a better soloist.
I have on a couple of occasions now had to say to shop instructors I know that I don't want to hear about how diving is a buddy sport and it's dangerous to dive solo. At this point half my dives are solo.
Would I suggest it for someone only a dozen dives in, probably not. When is someone ready to go solo, some people might never be. It's all in preparedness. IMHO solo is safer than buddy diving sometimes.

 

[Bierstadt]

Where you and I disagree, @Bierstadt, is that I don't think mere application of time and skill will solve the buddy problem in all cases.

Not everyone lives in, for example, Key Largo.

You misunderstand, or I miscommunicated. I meant to expand on and explain what Marie briefly said to head off a possible war (thus saving millions of lives), and to encourage the OP to keep on looking for dive buddies even if he does take up solo training dives. But I completely agree with you that sometimes they are just beyond finding. I also am a strong proponent of continuing to do the things one loves even with a family. Perhaps in expanding on what Marie said I did not balance that; indeed, I obviously did not.

Ultimately though, I do think that any diver ought to be aware of all the arguments that are pertinent and make his or her own decision.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
So, back to the OP. It is human nature for members of any exclusive group to try to raise the requirements for entry into the group. Basic sociology. The world is full of examples. One of my favorites is the moderators (admins) at Wikipedia, who are constantly raising the "standards" for becoming a moderator despite the fact that they now have a shortage of them. And I think that's what we see with solo diving. Exisitng solo divers all seem to think that new solo divers should be better prepared than they were for their first solo dive. I'm not going to fall into that trap, so I'm going to say:

• Be sure of your skills
• Be sure of your equipment
• Have a navigation plan
• Choose a benign site on a day with benign conditions at first, then expand your limits gradually
• Be mentally prepared to call the dive if you need to
• Actually do gas planning

That's for a buddy dive. It's what you've already been taught, isn't it? .

Now, why do you suppose a solo dive is any different?

It makes sense to me to "raise the requirements" for entry into a hazardous activity if there are people available to learn from--people who began the endeavor with poor or no training because there was none available at the time, but who managed to survive and learn on their own. Cave divers are a prime example. I don't know anything about solo diving, but maybe it belongs in this category. Nowadays we have people to learn from--there is no need to rediscover the wheel, possible at needlessly high level of risk. I respectfully disagree and believe new solo divers--indeed, new divers in any genre from OW to the most technical--should be better prepared than their instructors were. Because they can. If there is a way to do something with less risk than someone before you did it, why not raise the bar for yourself? For me, I have decided that minimizing risk means buddy diving, but for those who choose the path of solo diving, why not seek out the training if it's available? Find an instructor who meets your needs, just as we are often advised to do for other types of diving beyond OW. Or does that present the same problem as finding a buddy: it's inconvenient. If diving were convenient, I'd be out there every day. Yes, it's difficult to find time, buddies, instructors, mentors, etc. Does that mean we should take shortcuts?

 

[tursiops]

I've taught the SDI or PADI solo classes a bunch of times over the years. One thing I always include is a self-bubble check, i.e. lay back, look up, stop exhaling momentarily, look for bubbles coming up from behind your head. Invariably, people say "That's cool! I never would have thought of that!" Years after they've taken the class, I still see them doing this self-check while with a buddy, on a simple reef dive.

Sometimes it is better not to try and reinvent the wheel.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I usually just pull out my signal mirror so I can visually inspect everything .

 

[kelemvor]

If diving were convenient, I'd be out there every day. Yes, it's difficult to find time, buddies, instructors, mentors, etc.

There it is in a short two-liner. The reason so many choose to do it the way they do. I share your opinion that a class would be a good idea but I think I can see the other side of the coin as well.

 

[2airishuman]

It makes sense to me to "raise the requirements" for entry into a hazardous activity if there are people available to learn from--people who began the endeavor with poor or no training because there was none available at the time, but who managed to survive and learn on their own. Cave divers are a prime example. I don't know anything about solo diving, but maybe it belongs in this category.

There is all kinds of evidence that cave diving is more dangerous than other kinds of diving. There is also all kinds of evidence that cave-specific training mitigates this cave-specific risk.

I don't believe that solo diving is hazardous. It is no more dangerous than buddy diving with a buddy of equal skill. I don't think there is any evidence that solo diving classes mitigate the purported risk of solo diving. I suspect that they build skills and confidence in a way that makes some of the students safer divers in general.

It's easy to pile on training and experience requirements. It sells classes, reassures insurance companies that Something Is Being Done (tm) and gives people another badge to add their collection. And it provides a convenient way to salt the statistics. The motorcycle lobby was hugely successful in deflecting safety criticism by getting motorcycle licensing laws passed because most motorcycle fatalities involve inexperienced riders. Most inexperienced riders don't get licenses, and the licensing process doesn't make riders any safer -- experience does. But now they can point to the statistics and say, "See! It's just the untrained scofflaws that crash and die."