Your first solo dive...do you remember it?

[corvettejoe]

did my first solo Cave dives last weekend.
Jackson Blue Spring and Vortex Spring.
Both dives were fun, I enjoyed being alone, but missed not having anyone to BS with while gearing up and driving to/from the sites.


Jackson Blue would have been nice to have a buddy for, the flow was kicking hard and running lines and such would have been easier with a buddy. Plus it was my first time there and I didn't know where the gold line started.

Vortex was as smooth as can be. First time there too. I followed the pipe in (ran my primary line all the way down beside it) and tied into the main line just past the gate. Went several hundred feet past the gate before turning. Finished off with some deco and swam around the main pool area for a while. I had quite an enjoyable dive! I didn't use my stage bottle, so I just jumped in with my monkey harness on for a second dive and dove around with it for a while, swam through all the fun "playground" that is the main Vortex pool.

 

[fsardone]

did my first solo long time ago and it was an eye opener.

Somebody dropped a full fishing net on me. It was dusk and low vis. I had to ditch my signal (entangled and I was afraid I might get caught in the net.
I keep diving solo but not really. When I am under alone, there MUST be somebody up there keeping an eye on my bubbles.
My do not cross line is now at no solo diving from shore without surface assistance.
Fact is good surface assistance is even harder to get :depressed:

From that time I dove solo a lot but just because is fun, relaxing and really good buddies are hard to come by.
Cheers

Fabio

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I'm trying to remember when my first solo dive was; it was probably my first open water dive in Lake Oswego, Oregon when I was about 14. A guy had a single 72 tank with an Aquamatic regulator (the first single hose) on it. I asked if I could take it down, and got permission. Visibility was about 1 foot, so I stayed down about 15 minutes is all. That would have been in about 1959.

I then used my berry and bean picking money to buy a double hose regulator, Healthways SCUBA, and a 38 cubic foot tank. I took it into the North Santiam River with my neighbor, David Hadeen as a buddy. That did not last too long, as I had no wet suit.

The next purchase was a wet suit, a custom-made White Stag wet suit.

The following summer, my family went to Elk Lake, and this was either 1960 or 1961. My parents had a 7 man life raft, from which they planned to fish for trout. I decided to dive. I was down about 30 feet, with as much visibility, and having a blast. The bottom was mud, and I simply hovered over it, stuck a finger into the muck, and watched the crayfish and small fish. I saw a few trout too. The sun filtered through the lake's surface, putting the raft above me in silhouette. Unknown to me, my Mom and Dad, and my Grandma, were in the raft. After I was down about 10 minutes, my Grandma got really worried and said, "Tell him to come up, tell him to come up!" My Dad simply said, "How?" I did come up, but I had about half an hour down. Grandma was really happy to see me when I did finally surface.

In those days, we could dive without certification, and we formed a high school dive club, so I did not dive solo too much. But buddy diving had not taken hold in the early 1960s, as some of my diving was buddy diving, and some solo. I was completely comfortable solo diving, as I had been swimming competitively for years, and felt at home in the water. I finally got certified in 1963, LA County through the dive club (Salem Aqua Club, to which our Salem Junior Aqua Club was affiliated).

I went on to join the US Air Force, became a USAF Pararescueman and a graduate of the U.S. Naval School of Underwater Swimmers. As a Pararescueman, we learned parascuba jumping, and it was assumed that we would be alone at times in the water (it's not possible to make a "buddy" parascuba jump). When we worked out of helicopters, we regularly entered the water alone. I had one mission in Korea picking up two dead Korean Air Force pilots out of the Yellow Sea, and that was a solo affair.

In 1973 (I think) I became a NAUI scuba instructor (NAUI #2710) and wrote an article on fresh water diving, and I think on solo diving, in the late 1970s or early 1980s (I'll have to look them up).

After that, I have continued diving mostly solo, as diving is the only one of the skills I practiced in the USAF that I continued after college and marriage. I continue to dive solo now, at age 67, and am comfortable doing so. I will dive with a buddy, but most times I want to dive, a buddy is not available. I dive one spot on the Clackamas River, and know it pretty well. I enjoy underwater photography, and have provided some of my photos that I took solo diving. I also have a discussion about a scuba system I worked out with the A.I.R. I regulator attached to two first stages that we are discussing currently, and you can see me as of about three weeks ago. I have another photo of me in the Alsea River in the 1980s.

SeaRat

 

[Michael Guerrero]

My first solo dive was dive 6. Second was dive 7. I bought some gear from my friend, got a couple tanks, and went to a local lake. I really enjoyed the quiet and freedom to do what I wanted. Saw some fish, saw some sunken Christmas Trees, and shot some video.

I was also able to focus on training my skills, monitoring my breathing, and feeling out my trim. Having been a water polo player and swimmer, I was very comfortable in the water and enjoyed it. These days I solo 70% of the time. Most people don't want to go with me on a 130'+ dive a 52-degree lake in December or to work on skills like holding deco stops, back kick, and sharing from a long hose. When I can dive with my buddies that do this kind of diving I always do. Bottom line is lots of divers don't care to, or don't know how to, become more proficient divers, and so don't see a lot of value in the diving I do.

 

[drbill]

My first solo "dive" was in the winter of 1961-62, but it was in a pool (since diving outside in Chicago that time of year was out of the question). The only thing I remember was that I could see through the underwater window and noticed girls watching us (the swim team) practicing. Have done thousands of them since then, most recently last night.

 

[justcallmecam]

I remember it was in Tulamben in Indonesia, Remember gearing up and taking tanks in the morning, I know it was one of three sites but can't remember which. funny that.... was not that long ago.

 

[mudchick]

Like others here I enjoy diving with my buddies and I often take my pony bottle diving with others anyway. But really enjoy the challenge of solo when others aren't available. Catalina Island is where I did my first solo dives a year and a half or so-still memorable. You always have those images in your mind like the massive kelp leaves and dozens of lobster all trying to hide in one little crevice.