Solo diving

[bassps70]

In my limited SCUBA experience i have done a few solo dives. These were in places that i have free dove many times before. So i was very familiar with the area and it was very moderate depth. I do enjoy diving with a buddy but the serenity of being alone under water without having to worry about holding my breath is a pleasant change. I'm perfectly comfortable under the water, but until i gain more experience with the equipment and have some redundancy i won't dive anything solo that i couldn't do with just fins and a mask.

 

[protohuman]

Recreational diving is more fun if you share the sights with a buddy. In places like the Cooper River or Delaware Bay every dive is a solo dive unless you are tethered, but you can still share the experience after the dive by comparing sharks teeth or lobsters, etc.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Interesting read for anyone who wants to know what others are thinking when diving...

I am always a solo diver. I will dive with anyone at least once (Walter... often... lol). In my dive time, there was only one person I refused to dive with a second time. That person even showed me their "Instructor card"...

I dive with a camera 95% of the time. When I dive with a buddy (which is often) I include the extra task of looking for my buddy after every photo session (meaning after every series of photos/subjects) and re-connect with them. That might be 5-10 minutes depending on the subject (usually, I try to limit that when diving with a buddy). If I am confident in my buddy's skills I will send them up the line before I assend (sometimes 10-20 minutes before I assend)

I insist, on the other hand, that my buddy understand that we might be in the same spot for a lllloooonnnggg period of time. They might want to find a subject they want to view during that time. If not, they WILL need to watch for me, unless they consider themselves a solo diver too...

Example:
Today I was a solo diver making a beach dive from LBTS. There was a group of 12-15 and I let everyone know ahead of time that I would be diving solo. Another diver with 75 dives asked if he could join me (and, he would bring his own flag & camera in case we were separated). Of course, I agreed (insta-buddy aplication). During our swim out, I attempted to assure my "instabuddy" that he was able to swim away from me whenever he felt comfortable. In the first 5 minutes of diving I evaluated his comfort, trim and skill level... and decided he was comfortable in this 21' max depth situation. After that I simply watched for his bubbles every once in a while. I told him ahead of time this would be a 2.5 hour dive for me. He let me know his max would be 1.5 hours...

After one hour of diving I asked for his remaining pressure? He let me know he had 2000 psi remaining. I signalled that at 1500 psi, he should begin to head in... He acknowledged... 15 minutes later, I simply headed for the 1st reef (knowing he would be following me)...

When we hit the first reef, I signalled him that "at this level, when you hit 600 psi, head west to shore" He signalled that he understood and went on his way... I didn't see him again until I surfaced an hour later...

If I was not sure he was comfortable in the situation, I would have trailed him to shallow waters. Would I still be diving solo? Yes. His condition was not part of my condition, only in that I wouldn't feel comfortable as a solo diver diving with another solo diver who wasn't comfortable in that situation.

Each diver dives to their own comfort level. Those who dive solo further than the average diver, only do so because we are confident in their ability to overcome any issue that should happen at depth. If we aren't confident, we shouldn't be diving solo

 

[shawrg]

I prefer solo diving but I'm actually doing it less and less. Someone said they liked the "Zen" feeling it provides & I agree with that very much.

 

[heavyjeffd]

I prefer solo diving but I'm actually doing it less and less. Someone said they liked the "Zen" feeling it provides & I agree with that very much.

I prefer buddy diving in general, but I also agree with this 100%.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The more I dive and as the years go on, the more I like to solo dive. Solo diving to me is something that becomes comfortable over time. When I started diving I did solo dive on occasion but had trouble relaxing and enjoying the dive. I tended to be paranoid and overly cautious. Now I am the most comfortable while solo diving and enjoy being free from having to keep track and worry about someone.

Lately I have become less and less tolerant of other peoples styles, phobias, quirks, personalities, schedules, etc.
My time is extremely precious. When I do finally get to dive I can't afford to have someone ruin my day with some sort of drama.

It's not that I have anything against buddy diving, it's just that most of the time I need my space and need my alone time.
When I do buddy dive we actually both are solo diving, we just happen to be within eye shot of each other.
I do insist now that anybody I dive with be completely self sufficient and comfortable in case we get separated.
When I take my boat out and dive some of the deeper offshore spots I take people. But the people I take are very good divers with years of experience.

I'm done with clingy needy divers that constantly crowd you and bump into you and freak if they get more than 5 feet away.
I'm sick of constantly being flashed by someones light.

 

[dktexas54]

I agree completely on this theory. I have been a US Army Soldier for 13 years, and one of the things I have learned during my career is that we should always train to the higher standard. Training divers to be self-reliant, as well as to perform rescue diver skills would result in safer divers all-around, whether they chose to dive with a buddy or solo.

Dooga,

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I also was in the service, (circa 73-77) US Navy, Sea & Air Rescue Corpsman. The civilian certifying agencies in my humble opinion operate on the paradigm of the lowest common denominator. They teach to sell equipment and trips. Thats there business and they do a real good job at this. The proper real cost of getting a diving license should be $2,000-3000 i am guessing. This might be 50 dives and a level of confidence equal to rescue level training, solo training, nitrox, wreck, etc. Of course this is not feesible because it would kill sales. Years ago I go my private pilots license. I needed around 50 hours i think. It was a long time ago. I spent back in the 70's around $3,000 to get my pilots license. I love diving but I can tell you it can kill you just as quickly as an airplane. Why would you put a young pilot with only 5-6 hours of flying in a plane by himself. The answer is you would not. So why do we put new divers in a position they are not trained for.?

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

My limits for solo diving are the same limits I have with a buddy. If I wouln't dive it solo, I wouldn't dive it with a buddy.

Pretty much the same for me.... except there are dives I do solo that I would not do with a buddy.... the really shallow ones just looking at and for small critters for example, that would bore a buddy to tears

Best wishes.

 

[TerryC]

One of my biggest concerns for years was "not knowing what I don't know." Those are the problems that catch you and can bite you big time.

Redundancy, planning, practice, and awareness are all there, and if you don't have the experience, you're just not aware of what you might be overlooking, either equipment, environment, or situationally.

And then there's knowing when NOT to do a solo dive. Do I call the dive? Not unusual. Most times it means limiting to depths that I could CESA from.

I truly enjoy the quiet of a solo dive puttering along slowly checking out things at a pace that would drive most buddies around the bend. But I knew that this wasn't something I should be doing until I was truly comfortable with doing. In my case several hundred dives before I felt it was appropriate.

Pearldiver, I think your comment is 100% spot on. "Not knowing what you do not know", how many people have got into deep S**T by forgetting that one. (and I do not only mean divers).
By the sounds of your last paragraph, you and me could solo dive together and always be a buddy pair!:

 

[Stormingheaven]

I'm a newer diver and I've been thinking about solo diving as a way to get the chance to dive more often.

I spent 8 days in Roatan at FIBR earlier this year and one of the things that struck me was I was solo most of that time. Sure there were other divers in he water but most were 50' or more away and they were certainly not paying much attention to each other. I've helped out a local instructor by placing buoys and the like while he was on shore with his students. I feel very comfortable underwater but I'm pretty conservative when it comes to my diving.

I've been a Paramedic for the last 20+ years and don"t get worked up by emergencies. I have a pony bottle and plan to do some solo diving on our lake with the wife on the surface just keeping an eye open. I know the lake very well and the depths are only likely to run a max of about 40' so I'm pretty comfortable making these types of dives. If I don't learn to dive solo I'm mostly not going to be able to dive. Buddies are hard to come by around here and when I do find one scheduling is often an issue. I've been holding out for someone to dive the Cedarville wreck in the Mackinaw Straits with but after trying for the whole summer no takers. So in my case it's going to be diving solo in my lake or not diving at all till I'm back in Roatan next year.

Safety is a concern of course and a solo dive is not one I plan on taking lightly. However trying to rule out all of the risks in life is impossible and frankly a bit dull too. I skydived for a number of years and all you can do is minimize the risk to an acceptable level. After all if something goes wrong on a jump there is no one around that is going to be able to help you and just like diving you need to "think" your way out of the problem.