Stoo
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The MOST memorable? Can I get back to you on that... ?
Most Memorable solo dive
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Stoo
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That's a great story. Two friends of mine did something similar decades ago when they deflated their Zodiac and stuffed into the cabin of a sunk sailboat then used it to re-float the yacht.
Not a solo dive of course... which makes your story WAY more awesome! :cool3:
Avonthediver
Contributor
Ya know sometimes I have had my best dives while windy and raining....
But on the question of most memorable solo......I think my most fav is on a wall that I normaly goto when I just want to get away. It has lots of good over hangs and the fish are all over and right at the end of the wall a spector of a large pincale can be seen. And what I think is the best is that you can only do 30 ta 40 ft or 170 to the base.
Happy Diving!
r4e
Contributor
My most memorable solo dive was the one immediately after my SDI course.
The ice had already partially melted from the lake that I had dived earlier with buddies. This time it was for real, solo diving! I calmly went through all my predive checks. But, at the same time I was excited of the dive itself. When I slipped into water, it felt as good as the first time I had sex (none solo).
I followed the borderline of the ice and was careful not to venture to the side beneath ice. The water was cold but crystal clear. The dive itself was an easy one (for beginners), but I looked at everything through new eyes. No buddy to watch, follow, seek, communicate, to worry of, etc. At the same time I was much more attentive to the surroundings and my gear. It felt like a black-and-white film had turned into color.
The ice had already partially melted from the lake that I had dived earlier with buddies. This time it was for real, solo diving! I calmly went through all my predive checks. But, at the same time I was excited of the dive itself. When I slipped into water, it felt as good as the first time I had sex (none solo).
I followed the borderline of the ice and was careful not to venture to the side beneath ice. The water was cold but crystal clear. The dive itself was an easy one (for beginners), but I looked at everything through new eyes. No buddy to watch, follow, seek, communicate, to worry of, etc. At the same time I was much more attentive to the surroundings and my gear. It felt like a black-and-white film had turned into color.
r4e
Contributor
Or perhaps my most memorable solo dive was another one...
I had signed in for a normal boat tour to some wrecks. On the PADI release form I had filled in my C-card to be SDI Solo and I overruled the text about obeying buddy diving rules. Luckily the captain was a very understanding one.
On the way out, my buddy (somebody I had dived earlier as well), turned sea sick due to the rough conditions. Well, no problem, go solo! And I did.
On the way back the sea was even worse and almost everybody on the boat was seasick. We then arrived to a sheltered island for the second dive. This time, everybody else declined from the dive, so I had no choice but to dive alone. Lucky me.
At this site there were two wrecks, both close to a boat route with continuous boat traffic. The other wreck I knew well and knew how to find it. The other one was new to me and I was given quite vague instructions of its whereabouts. So I did a grid search underwater. After half of the dive time had passed, I gave up and navigated to the wreck I knew previously. It was easy to find because I knew which depth curve I had to follow. After visiting the wreck, I navigated directly to the boat and peacefully rose out of water just in front of the captain.
He had been watching my bubbles with amazement. When he had seen my bubbles going back and forth he was sure I had gotten lost. He was already considering sending somebody after me. Then he had wondered how my bubbles followed a nice ellipse curve to the second wreck. He just could not believe how exactly I found my way.
After the dive, I got a new nick name "Hans Solo".
I had signed in for a normal boat tour to some wrecks. On the PADI release form I had filled in my C-card to be SDI Solo and I overruled the text about obeying buddy diving rules. Luckily the captain was a very understanding one.
On the way out, my buddy (somebody I had dived earlier as well), turned sea sick due to the rough conditions. Well, no problem, go solo! And I did.
On the way back the sea was even worse and almost everybody on the boat was seasick. We then arrived to a sheltered island for the second dive. This time, everybody else declined from the dive, so I had no choice but to dive alone. Lucky me.
At this site there were two wrecks, both close to a boat route with continuous boat traffic. The other wreck I knew well and knew how to find it. The other one was new to me and I was given quite vague instructions of its whereabouts. So I did a grid search underwater. After half of the dive time had passed, I gave up and navigated to the wreck I knew previously. It was easy to find because I knew which depth curve I had to follow. After visiting the wreck, I navigated directly to the boat and peacefully rose out of water just in front of the captain.
He had been watching my bubbles with amazement. When he had seen my bubbles going back and forth he was sure I had gotten lost. He was already considering sending somebody after me. Then he had wondered how my bubbles followed a nice ellipse curve to the second wreck. He just could not believe how exactly I found my way.
After the dive, I got a new nick name "Hans Solo".
Ghosting through kelp off Catalina Island, watching kelp shark, seals and garibaldi.
I had heard that between the island and the mainland things got a little deep. So I headed east and down to see what it looked like. It got dark and deep pretty steadily. By the time I passed 160 fsw things were consistently pretty boring so I turned around and began my ascent and then idled reasonably in the shallower regions to be sure the dive boat didn't leave without me. I had an arrangement with the dive master, a sort of barter arrangement where I occasionally would babysit some of his OW divers and otherwise kept an eye on things. Then, occasionally, I would "check out", making myself scarce. We even had a hand signal for it.
ScubaSaipan
Contributor
My best was my first. It was at Obyan Beach, Saipan early one morning. I was a little nervous and kept looking for the PADI Police to coming in with lights and sirens, they never came. I was the only person at the dive site and the reef, before the tourists arrived, seemed especially lively. My solo dives are by far my favorite.
My first solo night dive. It was fantastic. I was completely at peace. I could see other divers off a bit. I just stayed around the bottom of the wreck, finally settling down to watch the sea go by. It was amazing watching all the fish, crabs, and cuttlefish appear in my light and just wander through. It was what I always wanted to do on a night dive, but couldn't because of my buddy moving, shining light all over, getting bored....... Not me. It was awesome.
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I wrote one and promptly remembered more. This one was very dark. Inside a very tight, closed space, filled with silt and already small by design. One of those places most folk just don't go. The entrance was a small rectangular cut in a steel wall barely larger than myself. I left everything except a single side-mount steel 120. A hard left inside the hull, moving over a silt mound left visibility at near zero. Wires were hanging from above, with other larger obstructions. I looked down and saw white/yellow objects below at about the time an unseen obstruction tugged the regulator from my mouth. I recovered it and continued, but was not feeling much joy. Vis was near blown despite my best efforts at strict horizontal movement. I reversed and slowly extracted, finding my way back out through the gloom and then finally following my line through that blessed rectangular hole and into the blue water of the gulf stream. Once there I rested for a good few minutes, enjoying the water and open spaces, glad to be alive. I remounted my bottles, finished my bottom time, waited until everybody was back up the line, then untied and freed the hook, then began my ascent.
Zodiacdiverdave
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Well just want to say hi to all, I am new to this forum but not so new to going it alone. My buddies and I have been solo diving for over 20 years with hundereds if not over a thousand solo dives each. Of all these dives the most memorable one happened last winter. Water temp was around 34 deg. F so I were in full 1/4" drysuit and 3 finger mits (this is standard rig for most diving here), vis at the surface was around 2-3 ft. and I was diving in close proximity to a very large floating dry dock. this thing lifts large ships out of the water so you don't want to end up underneath this baby, you might never find the way out. You really have to get good compass bearings and dive the plan. I was supose to drop to the bottom at 75 ft. and head south, so over the side I went and started a free fall to the bottom. By the time I got to 75 ft. the vis was almost nill and no sign of the bottom I slowed my desent waiting to feel the bottom, 80 ft. 85 ft 90 ft, where is the bottom. Finally at 95 ft I hit the silt, I could see the numbers on my computer when I put it close to my mask but when I looked at my compass there wasn't enouph light to get a reading. I knew that I had landed in a hole and that these are not that large, so I though that maybe I could just swim out of it and get back up to 75 ft were there was good enouph light to read my compass and continue my bottle dive. I started swimming in the direction that I thought was south but I really knew that it was just a shot in the dark and I really didn't have any idea which way I was going. After about 5 min. of swimming I felt myself get snagged on something I felt around and my reg on my pony had come loose and the second stage was cought on something, a piece of cable or some harbour junk. I could not see a thing at this point so I had to do it all by feel, after some feeling around I managed to get myself clear. It was so dark down there I started to think that maybe I had managed to get under the dry dock. Now I don't abort too many dives but by now I must admit that I was getting a little freeked out so I headed back up my line and was pleased to see that I wasn't under the drydock and when I broke the surface my tender was right there to pick me up. Truly a dive I wont soon forget.
ZDD
ZDD
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