Solo dive....plan for the really unexpected?
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How far are you willing to swim to shore?
So anyway, answer is "depends."
So anyway, answer is "depends."
LeadTurn_SD
Contributor
Disclaimer: I've never dove off a kayak. I've paddled kayaks, surfskis, OC-1's (one-man outrigger canoes) in open water, and have raced interisland in 6-man outriggers canoes....
I think (like halemano mentioned above) it completely depends on the conditions... but I think I'd apply the same rule I'd use to decide if diving off an unattended boat was "ok":
"If I surface, and the (boat, canoe, kayak, etc.) is gone, will I be able to make it back to shore?".
On a kayak, I'd choose dive locations where the answer is "yes, I could swim to shore from here".
On a boat, the same rule.
Best wishes.
Stoo
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I dive from a boat virtually 100% of the time and the vast majority of this diving is solo. However, in Tobermory, most of the wreck sites are part of a national marine park and it's actually illegal to leave your boat unattended. As a result, Mrs. Stoo tends. If she isn't willing, them by dive "buddy" and i will take turns tending while the other dives. This policy was probably a factor in my starting to solo dive ironically.
The odd time I have left the boat unattended I used two anchors and made sure that the primary one was seriously wedged before I strayed far. If the current is strong, I will often run a reel from my anchor line so I become aware if it drags...
The odd time I have left the boat unattended I used two anchors and made sure that the primary one was seriously wedged before I strayed far. If the current is strong, I will often run a reel from my anchor line so I become aware if it drags...
Two completely different things, IMO. I would dive solo, but I would not dive from an unattended boat unless 1) The boat isn't mine and 2) Shore is very easily and very readily accessible.
OP
porgyhunter
Contributor
Until I posted this ? I never gave it a thought about my boat being ''Harassed" in anyway. But after reading responses, it gives me cause for concern. Onry lobstermen, thieves, or just pranksters could put you in a bad place. 
I frequently dive solo so that someone can say onboard. I am far more confident that I can get back to the surface alone than my ability to swim faster than a drifting boat before crashing on the rocks.
not going to say do or do not dive from unattended boat its big boy rules
but you could hang a dry bag with comm gear over the side or pack a cell or radio in a small pelican box with you .
like I said this is just a possiable option should you need to reach out and touch some one lol. good luck
but you could hang a dry bag with comm gear over the side or pack a cell or radio in a small pelican box with you .
like I said this is just a possiable option should you need to reach out and touch some one lol. good luck
dumpsterDiver
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My last unattended, anchored boat dive.
My wife and I are invited to dive with another young couple to dive from a new 40 ft Sea Ray boat. The other guy’s wife was a very weak diver and I had seen her have a panic attack on entering 30 feet deep, crystal clear water in the past.
We were diving around Ft. Lauderdale in maybe 80 feet on the reef. I had assumed we were going to take turns driving the boat and towing a float ball (like sane people). For some reason, the guy wanted us all to dive together (maybe he didn’t trust me with his father in laws new boat)?
I was surprised, but he explains that that is how we dive here and I went against my better judgment and agreed to do the dive.
I asked him where the keys were to the boat and he told me to not worry, he hid them so nobody would steal the boat. I accepted this statement with no protest, possible the single stupidest move of my adult life. We suited up and jumped in leaving their stupid tiny white fluffy dog on board. We are maybe a mile or more offshore in an area I am unfamiliar with.
I sorta lead the dive and we have a moderate current and we try to dive up stream of the anchor. However, the reef is not linear and it is not a simple north/south reefline to follow, but broken scattered reef, Our dive is going Ok and we turn around at what seems to be the correct time and I signal to the other guy which way is back. I think I assumed he had a handle on navigation since it was essential we get back to the boat in this current. Instead he shrugs his shoulders and the foursome heads back down stream looking for the anchor line.
Some time later, his wife is way low on air, and we are lost. I don’t remember the details, but we ditch the other couple and begin to frantically search for the boat (we are now no longer hindered by the other wife who was weak). My wife and I are now alone and swim along the bottom for a while but soon we decide that the best thing to do is ascend fast, look for the boat, get a bearing and then shoot back down to 80 feet and crawl along the bottom. The current was too strong to swim against at the surface. This is a one shot deal.
We shoot up at probably 60 or 80 feet per minute, pop up, she takes a bearing; since she is a better navigator and we shoot back down to the bottom with maybe 500 psi. I think the boat was up stream and across the current maybe 400-500 feet away. We are both “good” divers, so we are pulling along the bottom, moving fast and efficiently and trying to conserve air.
Very soon I begin to really get worried and decide to ditch the wife as well. I figure I am stronger and I need to get to the boat to start the rescue and can’t afford to be held back by the weaker swimmer. I stop looking around for her without any signaling of my discontinuance of the buddy diving team. There was no time to communicate that anyway,
I swim like hell, skip breathing like a fool and when it gets hard to breathe, I watch the compass and do an angling ascent in the water column. Visibility is probably 70 feet, but I did not find the anchor. As I run completely out of air at maybe 20 feet depth, the anchor line pops into my view in the water column! The second attempt at navigation has been perfect!
I have no idea where my wife is now for several minutes and just hope she also went up when it got hard to breathe. I crawl up the anchor line. I look around for a moment and she is not 15 feet behind me. Thank God she used to do 50 mile bike rides with me (back then). I never did ditch her, she just followed from 20 feet back.
We get on the boat and the stupid dog is yapping like crazy and we get binoculars and can barely make out two divers far downsteam on the surface. The wife says “let’s go get them”, since she assumed that I was capable of operating the boat. I explained about the “hidden key issue” and I am very worried about the lost wife’s safety since I have seen her freak bad over uneventful baby dives. We were ready to call for help on the radio, but we see two fisherman in a small old piece of crap boat.
We scream and yell and wave and they make their way over to us “rich people” on the big new boat as we frantically scream for help. We ask if they can head north about a half a mile and when they get there they could possibly pick up two drifting divers? (since we don’t have a clue how to operate the boat we are on)..
Within 20 minutes they are back on the boat, she is a wreck (and had ditched her belt).
I am one of those people that seems to have to learn things the hard way.
Don’t dive from an unattended boat unless you don’t need it to be there.
My wife and I are invited to dive with another young couple to dive from a new 40 ft Sea Ray boat. The other guy’s wife was a very weak diver and I had seen her have a panic attack on entering 30 feet deep, crystal clear water in the past.
We were diving around Ft. Lauderdale in maybe 80 feet on the reef. I had assumed we were going to take turns driving the boat and towing a float ball (like sane people). For some reason, the guy wanted us all to dive together (maybe he didn’t trust me with his father in laws new boat)?
I was surprised, but he explains that that is how we dive here and I went against my better judgment and agreed to do the dive.
I asked him where the keys were to the boat and he told me to not worry, he hid them so nobody would steal the boat. I accepted this statement with no protest, possible the single stupidest move of my adult life. We suited up and jumped in leaving their stupid tiny white fluffy dog on board. We are maybe a mile or more offshore in an area I am unfamiliar with.
I sorta lead the dive and we have a moderate current and we try to dive up stream of the anchor. However, the reef is not linear and it is not a simple north/south reefline to follow, but broken scattered reef, Our dive is going Ok and we turn around at what seems to be the correct time and I signal to the other guy which way is back. I think I assumed he had a handle on navigation since it was essential we get back to the boat in this current. Instead he shrugs his shoulders and the foursome heads back down stream looking for the anchor line.
Some time later, his wife is way low on air, and we are lost. I don’t remember the details, but we ditch the other couple and begin to frantically search for the boat (we are now no longer hindered by the other wife who was weak). My wife and I are now alone and swim along the bottom for a while but soon we decide that the best thing to do is ascend fast, look for the boat, get a bearing and then shoot back down to 80 feet and crawl along the bottom. The current was too strong to swim against at the surface. This is a one shot deal.
We shoot up at probably 60 or 80 feet per minute, pop up, she takes a bearing; since she is a better navigator and we shoot back down to the bottom with maybe 500 psi. I think the boat was up stream and across the current maybe 400-500 feet away. We are both “good” divers, so we are pulling along the bottom, moving fast and efficiently and trying to conserve air.
Very soon I begin to really get worried and decide to ditch the wife as well. I figure I am stronger and I need to get to the boat to start the rescue and can’t afford to be held back by the weaker swimmer. I stop looking around for her without any signaling of my discontinuance of the buddy diving team. There was no time to communicate that anyway,
I swim like hell, skip breathing like a fool and when it gets hard to breathe, I watch the compass and do an angling ascent in the water column. Visibility is probably 70 feet, but I did not find the anchor. As I run completely out of air at maybe 20 feet depth, the anchor line pops into my view in the water column! The second attempt at navigation has been perfect!
I have no idea where my wife is now for several minutes and just hope she also went up when it got hard to breathe. I crawl up the anchor line. I look around for a moment and she is not 15 feet behind me. Thank God she used to do 50 mile bike rides with me (back then). I never did ditch her, she just followed from 20 feet back.
We get on the boat and the stupid dog is yapping like crazy and we get binoculars and can barely make out two divers far downsteam on the surface. The wife says “let’s go get them”, since she assumed that I was capable of operating the boat. I explained about the “hidden key issue” and I am very worried about the lost wife’s safety since I have seen her freak bad over uneventful baby dives. We were ready to call for help on the radio, but we see two fisherman in a small old piece of crap boat.
We scream and yell and wave and they make their way over to us “rich people” on the big new boat as we frantically scream for help. We ask if they can head north about a half a mile and when they get there they could possibly pick up two drifting divers? (since we don’t have a clue how to operate the boat we are on)..
Within 20 minutes they are back on the boat, she is a wreck (and had ditched her belt).
I am one of those people that seems to have to learn things the hard way.
Don’t dive from an unattended boat unless you don’t need it to be there.
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