21 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

The diving alone post has generated some good discussion so I wanted to go a bit farther regarding if people have or haven't dove by themselves before. Thank you for participating in this poll.

[Diver Ed]

I have dove alone. Sometimes it is just me in the water. Sometimes it is a group going left, so I go right. Sometimes it is me staying 100 feet or more behind the last person in the group. A lot of my diving is done knowing that other divers are in a particular direction, but I can not see anyone. Of course, I do not recommend this style of diving. I just get distracted easily, and lose everyone.

The diving alone post has generated some good discussion so I wanted to go a bit farther regarding if people have or haven't dove by themselves before. Thank you for participating in this poll.

[MNJoe]

Kamala,

I do not have a good fit for your last question, but the poll doesn't allow me to leave it blank.

When I do solo dive, I am very familiar and comfortable with the dive site and the depth, whether it be from a boat or the shore. And it is only because I don't have a buddy at the time, I am not avoiding diving buddyless, I am just avoiding not diving because I am buddyless.

And the first 3 questions would be answered: Yes I dive solo. No, not by accident. Yes, by choice. No, I haven't had any solo training.

Keith

[ThatJoeGuy]

I dive alone because "OOH LOOK! FISH!" Take a large quantity of pictures, and the group has moved on. Oh well, I'll catch up eventually.

[TCdamsel]

On several occasions, I've had instabuddies or was a third and ended up alone. While it wasn't what I'd wanted to happen, I feel competent and never felt panicked when it did. Interestingly, the others didn't seemed too concerned about my well being. I go into every dive ultimately responsible for myself and don't depend on anyone to "take care of me". I realize this isn't exactly what you asked, Kamala. But I kind of had to throw my 2 cents in.

[TCdamsel]

I dive alone because "OOH LOOK! FISH!" Take a large quantity of pictures, and the group has moved on. Oh well, I'll catch up eventually.

What Joe said :-)

[Diverrite]

Yep, quilty. Do it most of the time when spearfishing or just site seeing.

I remember one dive on a bridge span out of Panama City FL. I hook the span with the anchor, when I get to the span I take the anchor chain and wrap it until I like it.

Do the dive and come back to the chain, unhook it and hang on to do a nice drift dive. Nothing really special but just a nice dive. Also have a friend who pulls me aroung

when we suspect a site or somthing is lost.



But always looking for a new dive buddy.

[WreckWench]

I'm guilty too...and though I am trained...(both solo certification and tech diving...with tech being overkill for what dive ops want from the solo cert) I do not carry a redundant air source like I should. MOSTLY because I am near a group BUT its just that laissez faire attitude that will get me into trouble...

Just need to figure out how to carry one more reg/pressure gauge and a pony bottle on top of everything else I have to carry...

I guess I could carry a spare air...its only good for about 3-5 breaths if panicked but that is better than nothing...

[grim reefer]

I have adv trimix and full cave training. Although, I am trained in self-suffciency, dive planning, gas management, redundant equipment, emergency procedures and the like, I strongly prefer having a buddy since it's more fun. I don't want just any buddy however; I want a buddy that is on the same page and who is completely capabale of doing the contemplated dive. Barring that, I will dive alone if I have to. I never dive solo without proper equipment. If I am diving below 30-50ft I have a redundant airsource- that redundant air source could be a competent buddy.

Edited by grim reefer, 28 September 2012 - 11:25 AM.

[drbill]

My first dive back in the winter of 1961-62 was solo... because we only had one set of gear. The vast majority of my dives since then have been solo, largely because buddies were not available or diving with a buddy distracts me from the focus of my diving... underwater videography or research. I've been diving Catalina waters for 43 years now so I'm pretty familiar with the sites I dive. However, when I dive sites in new destinations, I always dive with a buddy.

While diving solo I almost always have a redundant air source (pony bottle).

Edited by drbill, 13 October 2012 - 09:22 AM.

[Jay]

Not something I practice. Pretty anal about team diving. I've been thru the Self Sufficient Diver cert, GUE tech1, and dive with redundant gas sources, but if/when stuff happens that can't be solved solo, my well trained dive buddy is my lifeline. I like the thought of remaining a vistor underwater and not taking up residence.
I do know a few people that do dive solo, it's just not part of my plan.

The safety aspect aside, it's a whole lot more fun diving with someone to enjoy it with.

[WreckWench]

Well said Jay!

[Jerrymxz]

I dive alone on occasion. When diving NC, I'd rather dive solo then play insta-buddy. But my "standard" rig is double 100's and a 30 or 40 stage bottle. Not much could go wrong I couldn't deal with without endangering someone else. Way to many instances of dual fatalities when things go wrong both buddies die. When diving a single 80, a single reg with an octo, if something goes wrong you don't have many options. How many people do you know who uses their octo just to develop the muscle memory on how to deploy it?. And to ensure it functions. I check mine twice before every dive and switch to it for several minutes on the vast majority of dives. I enjoy diving in a group and with a buddy, but I also love the absolute freedom of diving solo

[WreckWench]

That is a great reminder Jerry of something EVERYONE should do regardless of the venue and that is practice using and ensuring your octo works well. We are in Dominica and a diver almost aborted a dive because the primary was not working correctly. I advised he use his octo and look at it after the dive.

The point is we ALL should not only practice using our octo but make sure it is working properly. If you offered a person your octo and it did not function properly and they were already starting to panic because they were out of air then EXPECT that they will grab your primary and you'll be the one dealing with the poorly functioning octo. And in some cases if the diver is already spooked because they are out of air and they don't want to risk whether you have a properly functioning octo or not...they will simply take your primary and leave you the octo in the first place. And understand this is perfectly ok because this is what our training has set us up for...we are the spare air for a diver in trouble.

That is why divers like Jerry and myself dive with a VERY long hose on our primary regs and we dive a short hose on our octos which you find around our necks. This allows us to 'deploy' or give you the primary reg we've been breathing off which you KNOW is giving up good air and we take our octos. This is also why we buy higher quality regs for our octos since we know it will become our primary either during drills, in the event of emergency etc. Its a bit more expensive to do it this way but the first time you are panicing trying to breath off your own octo when your primary starts taking in water you'll be pretty thrilled you've previously checked it out. Otherwise you may end up in a dual panic situation I watched a diver in NC face. Primary reg failed and when they went to breathe off the octo it was breathing moldly slimy water with every breath. They must of forgotten to service it or being plastic which 95% of the octos are...it just didn't perform when it was needed. So as a result they started doing an emergency ascent to the surface as they could not breathe. And all of this could have and should have been avoided.

So check your regs including your octo and practice diving your octo...see how it performs during a dive. Like it? Great! Don't like it? Then realize in the event of an emergency either yours or a dive buddy near you...you will probably end up diving it anyway so consider a new upgraded octo for Christmas this year. It could be the best present you've ever gotten!

[Jerrymxz]

Well said WW