When would you forego a solo dive?

[DennisS]

This is mostly a survey question:

I have cancelled a solo dive due to rough surf; not feeling well after arriving at the dive site, and just for a general 'not a good day to dive' feeling. How about you?

If the ocean isn't like a lake with good visibility, I'll pass for another day. It's not a big deal to wait another couple days for good weather. I didn't used to be so picky but I've mellowed out, it will be there tomorrow. No reason to lose masks and fins, face lousy visibility and have to crawl out on to the beach like an early life form.

 

[Jai Bar]

So I guess that "same ocean (or sea) same day" won't work in Israel.
ZDD

"Same Ocean Same Time" (SOST )is common practice- especially among photographers. However, a couple of divers usually won't start harassing a photographer with the "where's your buddy" signs, and there is some tolerance for them.

I guess that SOST is insurance-wise oriented. And, if questioned about "where's your buddy" you can always answer with "we got separated" etc. When you go solo it is more difficult to find this type of excuses

Anyway, ever since I swapped to side mount- a very rare practice in our waters- I look so strange to most divers that I am usually left alone...

 

[chile7236]

90% of the time, i will cancel if there are no other divers in the area...other than that, it's usually due to dive conditions or other extenuating circumstances (camera problems)...all of my solo dives have been for photography.

 

[cruiser]

I'll cancel a solo dive if I start to feel unwell.

I've cancelled many second dives because the water was cold and I couldn't warm up on the surface interval. If you get in the water when you're cold, it just goes downhill from there.

Seldom have I cancelled a solo dive because of weather conditions at the local quarry. Even during Hurricane Ike, the wind was blowing like crazy and the 24 acre quarry had whitecaps, but I dove it anyway. Underwater it was business as usual.

 

[sylpha]

i don't see any difference between solo diving & buddy diving if i want to cancel. I'm pretty hardy once i get to the site about diving, but i do my best to be sure conditions are right before i dive. if i'm buddy diving i won't be blackmailed into diving because the other guy is desperate to dive & if i'm solo diving & don't feel i want to dive then i don't.

there are many reasons i would cancel a dive, weather, vis, feeling unwell, but i deal with those before i set out.

would i give up a solo dive because someone else needed a buddy? that's a different matter, i can be a soft touch, i like diving I like to encourage others to dive so possibly i would.

 

[Walter]

Only for the same conditions I would cancel a buddy dive (weather, gear or personal health). Since I don't have to worry about my buddy and his gear, not very often.

I agree, but I'm more likely to cancel a buddy dive than a solo dive. While I dive with some excellent divers, from time to time, I dive with folks who don't have the necessary experience for conditions. In that case, I give them an opportunity to abort the dive. If they don't, I do.

 

[Vassilis Vlachopoulos]

I once cancelled a solo dive : While stepping down from my sailing boat (half way into the water) I found out that there was a problem with the ladder and I would, probably, not be able to climb up again after the dive ...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I called a dive off this morning. Got to the dive site at 5:30 AM, thinking to go see who was home in the eel grass beds before it got daylight. The tide was high ... which was expected. The waves were 3 to 4 feet ... which was not. As I watched the water slapping into the sea wall, and the logs that usually litter the beach rolling and bumping in the surf, I decided that that today wasn't a good day for a solo dive ... especially since at that time of the morning there wasn't another soul in sight.

Somehow the thought occurred to me that an old deadhead like me getting run over by an old deadhead log rolling around in the surf might be a poetic way to go ... but it wouldn't be a fun time ... so I got back in the car and went home ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[scubaAlan]

The beauty of solo diving is the ability to call a dive for any reason and not feel any remorse for doing so. I know that as a buddy team that ability is the right of either parties also, but there is always a silver of me that would feel bad if I had called a dive.