OK, 'fess up.... the Dark Side of Solo...

[Nemrod]

You mean diving alone "completes" you? It's the Ying for your Yang? It allows you to become one with the sea?

No, I mean exactly what I said.

N

 

[Stoo]

The feeling was unreal and very liberating ... total freedom.

I don't remember my first solo dive, but I suspect it was on a construction project in a stinky harbour~

This past weekend, I was diving with a g/f who was getting back into the sport. On our fourth dive of the weekend, I went down first to check the anchor set, and waited for her to come down, as we had agreed.

After the dive, she was going on and on about how exciting it was to drop down 100' through murky water on her own. I think she'll be a convert before long!

 

[miketrance84]

I think diving with a buddy as your backup system is much more dangerous. There is only one buddy I can trust as a backup system, my wife. The bottom line someone you meet on a boat or dove with a few times may not be skillful enough or care enough to be a reliable back up system. Solo training and redundant equipment is much safer.
I would much rather have my alternate air on a necklace from a 40cuft pony than rototilling up the bottom. I've never dove with another buddy but diving is a relaxing experiance for me and when my wife is unavailable I would rather dive by myself than the crapshoot that is an instabuddy

 

[Stoo]

There is only one buddy I can trust as a backup system, my wife.

I would certainly "trust" my wife as my backup as well... But her skill and experience would minimize her usefulness. She only has about 100 dives to her name, and while she is quite competent to "dive", I wouldn't want to have to rely on her to save my bacon! (And if she ever reads this, I'm toast! )

 

[String]

It allows me to mess about with kit, practice skills and if i make a complete mess of them there are no witnesses

I can also do silly childish things like forward rolls, play dead on the bottom and various other things that would bore a buddy to death.

 

[Stoo]

I can also do silly childish things like forward rolls, play dead on the bottom and various other things that would bore a buddy to death.

LOL... If I was your buddy, I'm not sure I would find you playing dead on the bottom "boring"...!

 

[Ketos]

I'm tired of reading all these threads about the spiritual side of solo diving, and how diving alone somehow makes you a superior being...

Let's cut the crap and post the truth about why we like diving alone. I'll start...

If I want to, I can kick up a huge cloud of silt, just to see how big a mess I can make...

If I want to, I can stand on the bow deck of a 130 year old wreck and yell into my regulator at the top of my lungs, "Thar she blows Mateys.." (not-withstanding there never was much of a whaling industry in the Great Lakes...) And finally,

If I want to, I can call a dive when it's cold/murky/boring or I feel uneasy/cold/terrified and not have to justify my actions to anyone. In fact, I can lie through my teeth and tell anybody who asks that I just had the most amazing dive EVER!

Very well said, i got a good laugh out of that.

I love to spearfish though and buddy diving is a real inconvenience. I will only buddy dive with one person while spearfishing but that doesn't even mean we're together, we're just in the water together. We've been hunting together for about a year now, and we both know the system and the system seems to work very well. a.k.a- fish dinners all summer :ar15:

 

[Flightlead]

Fizzing Member

do you get one of these if your catheter is too tight on your deco stops?

 

[Captain Walt]

I go one way and my buddy goes the other. We meet on the surface. I can use my steel 120's the way they were intended.... the entire dive.

I am with other divers; all the time so when I get a chance to go solo....see ya. I can hunt better alone. I like being responsible just for myself. It is an escape from reality, nobody tugging on my arm for help.

 

[Wetsuit 4 life]

I can take my fins off and walk, and stay at whatever depth i want