Was this a 'solo' dive?

[Mat K]

(This is my first post so please forgive me if it's not in the correct place.)

After many (many) years of waiting I finally found the time and begun my diving training last year. Long story short; I'm hooked and am planning dive trips every few months.

My question comes from my AOW course a couple of months ago. I'd competed the OW course in November with no problems and had received very good feedback (aparantly the hours spent reading this forum showed...) I was set to do the navigation dive which was to be a shore dive with a max depth of 9m. Weather conditions were not great; strong winds meant 1-2m chop and visibility around 3m.

The instructions were clear regarding the 20m (out and back) task and the 20m 'square' path task. I completed these find however it occurred to me that the instructor was well out of sight and I was alone on the task. Nonetheless, I felt comfortable and completed them. No problem. A little later the instructor and I did become separated. I remembered the drill, noted the time, spent 2 mins looking for him and surfaced. (I did have DSMB/reel (did I mention I read this forum a lot?)) I felt calm and comfortable, but it dawned on me that maybe this wasn't 'by the book' instruction. I'd appreciate comments as I'm trying to choose where to do my Rescue Diver course.

 

[w3dge]

You completed the swims (reciprocal and square) on your own, with no buddy within a couple of metres? If so, I'd say yes, you were alone and I'd agree - it probably wasn't 'by the book'.

 

[tbone1004]

@Mat K I'm not sure which agency you were with and what their specific rules are, but here's my take.

If you did not have an active "buddy" then it was a solo dive. That simple. that said, you may have been under direct supervision and not realized it. As an instructor, we know how to "hide" so you are still very close to students and with the ability to help them should the need arise, but stay in a position where they could have sworn you were on the other side of the ocean. Not to say that was the situation you were in, but it is possible.
We train our assistants specifically on how to do this with buddy pairs where you are above them and depending on the situation slightly ahead or behind them, completely out of sight. Unless one of the buddies rolls over, they have no way of knowing you are there

 

[The Chairman]

Yeah, you guys were "SOB"s... Same Ocean Buddies! It's a real grey area in training and you should have had a buddy. When I know my student will be out of sight for even a few moments, I make them learn how to carry and then carry a pony bottle when they do their search and recovery. Yes, if I'm diving solo, then I also carry the same.

 

[Mat K]

Apologies - I could've been clearer. The instructor was clear that he would remain stationary and would not be tracking me. It was for a PADI cert.

 

[tbone1004]

Apologies - I could've been clearer. The instructor was clear that he would remain stationary and would not be tracking me. It was for a PADI cert.

not familiar enough with PADI to comment on that, but I don't believe I'd be allowed to do that with NAUI since you have to be under direct supervision. Would have to check the S&P's, but the reason I'm not 100% sure is because I wouldn't ever do it like that...

 

[jfe]

Yeah, you guys were "SOB"s... Same Ocean Buddies! It's a real grey area........

Hahahahaha that is an excellent description, especially true for us guys spending 90% of the time looking for that one good shot during a dive, fixated on flash positions, appatures ect. ect. Majority of my dives are with these "S.O.B's".
Saying that, nothing out of the 15m "breath hold" swim.

 

[Patoux01]

Apologies - I could've been clearer. The instructor was clear that he would remain stationary and would not be tracking me. It was for a PADI cert.

If he indeed did that (who knows, he might have lied, some of them are sneaky), I'd probably not recommend training with him again.

While the conditions were benign, it's still a fairly bad idea to dive without a buddy when you don't know the proper procedures. You should have been able to figure it out by yourself if something went wrong, but every now and then we read stories about "but I saw her go to the surface, how come we found her dead 30 minutes later?!".

I don't mean to scare you in any way, but that's just my view on it.

 

[mi000ke]

I had the same experience doing my nav div as part of AOW, but visibility was 100+ feet, so I was out of buddy range but not out of sight (thank you James Brown).

 

[Steve_C]

For this type of dive in similar viz, as part of AOW, or part of a NAV course or part of a search and recovery course, I have always seen one diver shadow and provide a buddy for the diver completing the skill.