What are the Essential Skills you need to have down before considering diving solo?

[TMHeimer]

That's a great point. I got caught up in fishing line while underwater metal detecting and had to remove my gear to cut myself out. Do everything you can to mitigate the possibility of entanglement, but realize the possibility is always there.

Here in NS I can't ever recall seeing any fishing line. I do, however stay well above the top of some really tall eel (sea) grass. There probably is no danger if I went down into it, but with no one else there I won't go anywhere near that.

 

[2airishuman]

what skills one should work on and have absolutely nailed prior to considering this type of diving?

That depends on the environment and the hazards it poses, and the kind of surface support you have available.

A good starting point would be the skills you need to dive with a buddy who has the same skills you do (rather than an instructor or DM). Beyond that, you would want to have the skills to use whatever redundant air you're bringing, and the skills to deal with problems buddies usually help with, such as donning and doffing your kit underwater, or dealing with a loose camband, or opening a cylinder valve.

There is also a mindset piece, and an underwater problem solving piece.

What gear choices should be considered?

I carry the same stuff on a solo dive as I do on a buddy or group dive, except for redundant air:
- linecutter unless prohibited
- two lights
- 3' smb
- 7' smb (except in dives in small bodies of water where I am confident I can swim to shore)
- mirror
- whistle
- compass

Whether the dive is solo or not, I always have a strategy for dealing with a 1st stage failure. This could be redundant air, or a buddy's reg, or it could be the surface (on a shallower dive).

Things like [...] someone on the surface to raise alarm if you don’t come back are obvious

What good is that going to do? The chances of someone from the surface rescuing you when you are overdue are basically zero unless you are planning your dive around the idea of rescue and have someone qualified with gear and spares topside who is monitoring your dive.

but what are some of the things one might not be aware of?

I think a lot about temperature and exposure and ability to survive on the surface of the water or on shore, especially if I don't have good surface support. What if you lose a fin? If you dive dry, what if your suit floods? No practical way to take spares in either case

 

[Kharon]

Get the SDI/TDI solo divers manual and study it. It covers all aspects, including, but not limited to, considerations, temperment, equipment, skills, and a lot more.

And, untill you have buoyancy, trim, and all the skills taught in OW developed to a reflex that you don't really need to think about, you shouldn't be diving solo. It's not when things are going fine and you can think about what you need to do to correct a buoyancy issue. It is when some problem pops up that is an additional task. Now you have too many things to think about all at once. If basic skills are a reflex, you only have to think about the problem at hand and how to solve it. Much easier, much less dangerous.

 

[johndiver999]

That depends on the environment and the hazards it poses, and the kind of surface support you have available.

A good starting point would be the skills you need to dive with a buddy who has the same skills you do (rather than an instructor or DM). Beyond that, you would want to have the skills to use whatever redundant air you're bringing, and the skills to deal with problems buddies usually help with, such as donning and doffing your kit underwater, or dealing with a loose camband, or opening a cylinder valve.

There is also a mindset piece, and an underwater problem solving piece.



I carry the same stuff on a solo dive as I do on a buddy or group dive, except for redundant air:
- linecutter unless prohibited
- two lights
- 3' smb
- 7' smb (except in dives in small bodies of water where I am confident I can swim to shore)
- mirror
- whistle
- compass

Whether the dive is solo or not, I always have a strategy for dealing with a 1st stage failure. This could be redundant air, or a buddy's reg, or it could be the surface (on a shallower dive).



What good is that going to do? The chances of someone from the surface rescuing you when you are overdue are basically zero unless you are planning your dive around the idea of rescue and have someone qualified with gear and spares topside who is monitoring your dive.




I think a lot about temperature and exposure and ability to survive on the surface of the water or on shore, especially if I don't have good surface support. What if you lose a fin? If you dive dry, what if your suit floods? No practical way to take spares in either case

I think those are very good points, but I would expand on the list of failures. I think you should be reasonably confident that your solo skills will allow you to survive the failure of ANY piece of gear, including the BC, lost mask, problems with ballast and also a muscle cramp etc. There are many scenarios you could formulate that you probably would not be able to handle if they occurred simultaneously, but "single" problems like entanglement or BC and air delivery problems should be within your grasp.

I personally think that scuba unit removal and replacement is absolutely essential, because it could address so many potential problems, not just entanglement.

 

[2airishuman]

I think those are very good points, but I would expand on the list of failures. I think you should be reasonably confident that your solo skills will allow you to survive the failure of ANY piece of gear, including the BC, lost mask, problems with ballast and also a muscle cramp etc. There are many scenarios you could formulate that you probably would not be able to handle if they occurred simultaneously, but "single" problems like entanglement or BC and air delivery problems should be within your grasp.

This is also true for buddy dives. Nothing to do with solo.

90% of being a solo diver is actually having all the skills you need for buddy dives

 

[johndiver999]

Well, the solution to some of those problems is different between solo and buddy diving. For many of those problems, if I were with a decent buddy, I would be first asking for help - even if I probably could deal with it on my own.

For example, a tank cam band pops open, it just makes more sense to ask a buddy to take a crack at it, even though I could probably take 4 times as a long and deal with it myself.

 

[Bob DBF]

Good judgement, without it all the equipment and procedures you have will do little for you. A high threshold of panic, and/or knowing where it is, helps as well.

My gear, with the exception of cutting tools, is dependant on the dive and can be as minimal as it was over 5 decades ago when I started solo. Because of the chance of entanglement where I dive, and the fact I have been entangled several times, I carry at least three different cutting devices on various parts of my body.

90% of being a solo diver is actually having all the skills you need for buddy dives

Couldn't have said it better. And I think that good judgement is the other 10%.



Bob

 

[decompression]

Confidence in handling multiple failures while remaining neutral and on schedule.

 

[Divectionist]

For me it is exactly the same gear as I use for buddy diving:

- Spare mask
- DSMB
- Signalling (light, whistle)
- Cutting tools
- Redundant air source

Skills are the usual plus knowing how to use the above under stress.

 

[happy-diver]

Solo is 100% controlling your solo thoughts and emotions able only to be practiced whilst solo.

a solo course and loading yourself up with extra gear is not dissimilar to AOW directly post OW

Here I am I've just completed a solo course ho ho ho got the gear more apprehensive than ever
before a dive, frozen standing at the entry point knowing zero more than I did before the course

Ho ho ho I'm solo

because it is impossible to learn solo from talking about it


Here I am dressed for a 40M plus techish dive that I conducted by myself from a boat, technically solo

but someone took this shot, amongst the almost 16 divers and crew, like a train station at peak hour

so although I spent the entire dive by myself on a wreck the crowd being nearby for the purist means


Not solo at all!