Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by aw
diving solo must be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS."
Solo diving in caves is not for everyone......But done properly, It could be the most peaceful dive you will ever experience. :smt020
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by aw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_diving
OK . . I'm about to open up a whole can of worms. I know that. Many of you may have seen this. I don't know. As I said, I had not. I searched this Forum for any conversation about Wikipedia to be sure I wasn't about to beat a dead horse and found nothing. But for those who haven't seen it. . . One thing stated in the article about cave diving was this . . .
While the wiki artile still mentions "six general rules for safe cave diving" it now only lists 5. I'm assuming the entry has been corrected to omit the slanted opinion and seems to have been updated with more correct information.
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by aw
I was reading this news article . .
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...pediabiography
I had never been on Wikipedia before. So I decided try to see what might be there on cave diving. Since anyone can contribute articles, etc to Wikipedia, I thought it a great place the cave diving community could offer the general public some basic info about the sport/hobby/endeavor or whatever. Well, there was something posted about cave diving.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_diving
OK . . I'm about to open up a whole can of worms. I know that. Many of you may have seen this. I don't know. As I said, I had not. I searched this Forum for any conversation about Wikipedia to be sure I wasn't about to beat a dead horse and found nothing. But for those who haven't seen it. . . One thing stated in the article about cave diving was this . . .
"Solo: The recent death of a very experienced and knowledgeable cave diver has been attributed entirely to the fact that he was diving alone. After careful analysis, it was determined that had a dive buddy been present - a safe exit would have been more than likely. Due to this tragic loss of a cave diving pioneer and expert, the various training agencies are now publicly in unanimous agreement - diving solo must be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS."
We all know which accident this is referring to. Now, I could say a lot about that one paragraph. But I think it speaks for itself.
I am not trying to start a flame war, bring up past accidents, people, or anything else. I just wanted to bring this to our attention. More interestingly, if some of us could post purely factual info about the sport in general, it could be of interest to those using the website.
In any case. . . Just something to stir up the board on a Monday morning.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Last time I opened my N**CDS Workbook it explicitly states that solo diving should be avoided. GOOEY states the same thing and correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't NARCD state that in their literature also? If they are all saying the same thing then what is the problem with the guy's post on Wikipedia? You, or myself or other divers may have different personal opinions on Solo diving but I think an encylopedia entry should be devoid of them and should consist of "purely factual info about the sport"
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrebasso
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Last time I opened my N**CDS Workbook it explicitly states that solo diving should be avoided. GOOEY states the same thing and correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't NARCD state that in their literature also? If they are all saying the same thing then what is the problem with the guy's post on Wikipedia?
The new entry should speak for itself. It clearly discusses that NOT all agencies belive solo diving is bad. At least one British cave diving group teaches solo diving as a part of the course. My manual says nothing and my workbook (though likely older then yours) discusses the probable drawbacks - but doesn't at all forbid it.
In my opinion the new "rule" pushed through on solo diving clearly not a causal factor in anyone's death. (I challenge anyone to find a autopsy report saying some cave diver died of "loneliness"). It's not like running out of air due to improper reserves or getting lost (and running out of air) due to not running a guideline.
By some leap of logic being alone to some people will contribute to a diver dying or running out of air. This isn't the case - they still die of not running lines or of improper air reserves. However, an unfortunate consequence that the act of solo diving is a often frowned opon action places the diver in a group more likely to be found breaking other rules as well...
Thus those who made up this new rule mention it as a "contributing factor".
The solo diving rule was a belief or prejudice that was held by many that was pushed through DESPITE a lack of supportable evidence. With similar evidence we should be able to make a rule against wetsuit (or drysuit) diving, or any other common practice.
Death of a single member of the buddy team who got separated from the team an later died "solo". While those who oppose solo diving see this as support of their position (since they died after they became separated) I associate this with the inherent weakness of the buddy system IF/WHEN not all members of a buddy team are fully capable/participant in making the dive on their own.
Actually far more people die while diving with a buddy. There are a number of dive accidents where diving with a buddy has led to a double fatality. In a number of these cases diving solo likely could have prevented one or both deaths.
This does not mean diving with a buddy is less safe or that solo diving is more safe. A dive buddy with the skills and experience to complete the dive on his own is one of the best things you can have for most dives. However, when not all members of the buddy team are on that level that the result can be (and sometimes are) worse then when diving alone. Also there are places and conditions where a buddy can be a liability.
In short: proposing that the "various training agencies are now publicly in unanimous agreement" on the solo diving issue is clearly untrue - nor is the "at all cost" reference agreed on. It is likely that the various training agencies agree on very little outside the 5 central rules of accident analysis - and the solo diving rule is not one of those 5. Even the reference to the death of "a cave diving pioneer and expert" is not agreed on by everyone except those pushing this silly rule.
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrebasso
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Last time I opened my N**CDS Workbook it explicitly states that solo diving should be avoided. GOOEY states the same thing and correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't NARCD state that in their literature also? If they are all saying the same thing then what is the problem with the guy's post on Wikipedia? You, or myself or other divers may have different personal opinions on Solo diving but I think an encylopedia entry should be devoid of them and should consist of "purely factual info about the sport"
No one said he was wrong. But, Solo diving has not been adopted as a rule by any agency so it's inacurate, saying it sould be avoided is like saying avoid silt out, drinking and doing drugs before diving etc. Some sort of politital statement had to be made by the agencies. It was not even in the book for years. I'ts a cover your A.. thing. The open water agencies started buddy diving so an instructor could train more than one student at a time. In open water it's practical to expect contact with a buddy. In cave environments it's simply not always something that is practical. That some people feel safer with their own skills than others is just a sign of the inate independence of people drawn to cave diving. Quoting agencies is not always a good thing to do since each of them has a different way of doing things. GUE also does not believe in Side Mount diving, ie because most of the time you have to solo dive to Side Mount. It is a system that was developed for smaller caves. You can go your entire career doing things the GUE way and there is nothing wrong with that. I perfer my way. Remember there are no set of laws for cave diving, no cave cops. There is a suggested set of rules and some things that make common sense that were developed to help people dive safer. No matter what agency you use or set of rules you will never by SAFE in a cave. That's something we all deal with in our head, where hopefully we are always solo diving. Sheck Exley also had a quote "If you stay in cave diving long enough either someone you know or you will be killed in a cave." It's part of the deal. I know people who have died in caves that were solo diving, buddy diving, with cards, without cards, scooter diving, fat, skinny, and just plain unlucky. We are entering into a environment that is not compatable for life for human beings, all we have is some gear, our minds and our training. Past training there are no rules other than the ones we make the choice to obey. If you want to stay alive you obey the ones that make sense to you. Cindy :D
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrebasso
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Last time I opened my N**CDS Workbook it explicitly states that solo diving should be avoided. GOOEY states the same thing and correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't NARCD state that in their literature also? If they are all saying the same thing then what is the problem with the guy's post on Wikipedia? You, or myself or other divers may have different personal opinions on Solo diving but I think an encylopedia entry should be devoid of them and should consist of "purely factual info about the sport"
From the brand new NACD 2005 workbook, p118.....
"Solo diving - The NACD does not condone or disapprove of solo diving and believes that individuals have the right to make decisions to dive within their limitations in the manner they choose as long as other divers and the environment is not damaged. The NACD believes there are many ways to dive safely, and in the freedom of each diver to make decisions regarding his own well-being"
Nice to know there's still a voice of reason out there... :D
Safe diving,
Rich
Re: Wikipedia & Cave Diving
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
From the brand new NACD 2005 workbook, p118.....
"Solo diving - The NACD does not condone or disapprove of solo diving and believes that individuals have the right to make decisions to dive within their limitations in the manner they choose as long as other divers and the environment is not damaged. The NACD believes there are many ways to dive safely, and in the freedom of each diver to make decisions regarding his own well-being"
Nice to know there's still a voice of reason out there... :D
Safe diving,
Rich
well, I did say correct me if I'm wrong... Thanks for the correction. :oops:
Why Solo Diving is Appropriate in UK Sumps
Why Solo Diving is Appropriate in UK Sumps
David Brock
5th May 2005 (published in CDG NL 157 October 2005 page 1 - reproduced by permission of the author)
Cave diving in the UK can trace its roots back to early dives by Graham Balcombe and Jack Sheppard in Swildon’s Hole in 1934. The procedures developed in the 30’s were formalised by the founding of the Cave Diving Group in 1946. A constant theme throughout the existence of the CDG has been to adapt materials and methods to the job in hand and to be open to continuous improvement.
Cave diving has become extremely popular throughout the world. Florida is one of the regions blessed with many cave diving sites of outstanding quality and easy access. Consequently, there has been an explosion of popularity in cave diving in the USA. It is estimated that there are as many as 20,000 cave and cavern divers in Florida alone. These divers are organised into a number of national bodies including the National Speleological Society, Cave Diving Section and the National Association for Cave Diving. The generally agreed advice from this wealth of experience is that cave diving in the USA should be conducted by teams of divers in a buddy system and that solo diving introduces an unnecessary level of risk. Despite this advice the Cave Diving Group continues to recommend solo diving as the safer alternative for diving in the UK. Why is that?
In 1997 the Health & Safety Executive commissioned a report into the risks of diving, looking at more than 1,000 incidents [1]. One of the recommendations for cave diving in that report is to “not enter spaces which restrict movement to the extent that assistance to a buddy would be impeded”. As there are no UK sumps that allow unimpeded buddy diving, the recommendation suggests that it is unwise to do any UK sump diving using the conventional buddy system of diving. Yet over the last 70 years the CDG have published reports of over 4000 cave dives in over 1300 sites and have conducted many more unpublished dives. This suggests that there is a substantial body of cave diving that is being conducted outside the recommendations of the conventional buddy system.
The first key point cited in the 1997 Health & Safety Executive report [1] is:
“1. There are a small number of repeated causes associated with the majority of fatalities. If these causes are eliminated then the number of fatalities would have fallen from 286 to 8. Since all of the procedural errors are avoidable by a well trained, intelligent and alert diver, working in an organised structure, it may be concluded that the low accident rate in scientific diving, in the fire service, police, coastguard, etc., who all use SCUBA, is due to this factor.”
The CDG believes that their cave diving procedures, developed by continuous improvement over 70 years, represent the best way to produce a well trained, intelligent and alert diver, working in an organised structure hence represent the safest way of tackling UK sumps.
There are many hazards associated with cave diving. Some, but not all, of the hazards of cave diving have been identified by the CDG in the Statement of Inherent Risk [2]. The buddy system was introduced in open water diving to minimise the risks associated with open water diving hazards, but when applied to the UK sump diving situation, buddy diving introduces additional risks. Some of the advantages of solo cave diving over buddy cave diving are cited in the essay “Cave Diving - British Style” [3]:
• There's no-one to get physically jammed in the passage behind you (thereby blocking your exit).
• There's no-one behind you who may get tangled in the line, and have to cut it - leaving you with no guide home.
• There's no-one to accidentally disturb your 'out tags' at line junctions (e.g. in one cave there are 10 branch lines off the main line in the first 500m of passage).
• There's no-one to cause silt problems (but yourself).
• There's no chance of being called upon to share air - in small passages.
• There's nothing to get confused about - communication in sumps varies from the difficult to the impossible.
• There's no-one to provide you with a false sense of security.
• There's no-one to worry about, but yourself - you can concentrate on your own safety.
Solo diving mitigates the risks introduced by buddy diving. One of the objectives of the CDG is to develop diving practices that enhance the safety of solo cave diving.
Cave Diving has a relatively small number of participants in the UK and although it has developed over a period of 70 years, there are insufficient incidents of failure to conduct a robust quantitative analysis of failure patterns. Outside the UK there is more information on failure patterns available, however the difference in the nature of the UK sump environment and the non-UK sump environments do not permit direct comparisons. With this caveat in mind, it is still useful to look at cave diving fatalities outside the UK.
In 1999, International Underwater Cave Rescue & Recovery published an Accident Analysis on 478 cave diving fatalities [4]. Of those 478 only 47 were cave trained. This emphasises the obvious need for adequate training. Of the 40 cave trained fatalities where a cause was determined, the top most frequent causes quoted were, in order:
1. Depth
2. Training
3. Adv equipment
4. Line gap
5. Solo
6. Maintenance
7. Gas mixture problem
8. Entanglement
Due to the relatively shallow nature of UK sumps, depth and gas mixture are unlikely to be the major hazard in the UK. Solo diving is an issue outside the UK but this is because the non-UK cave diving training schemes do not prepare divers for solo diving. From this information it is probable that the most significant hazards in UK sump diving include, in no particular order:
• Training
• Equipment
• Line management
It is relevant to show that solo cave diving does not aggravate the risks associated with the major hazards of cave diving where buddy diving might mitigate the risks.
Training is a key part of the CDG’s approach to cave diving. The CDG contributes to this area by the production of The Cave Diving Group Manual [5]. Additionally, the CDG has issued a Training Standard [6] to help guide both internal and external agencies in their delivery of suitable training for UK conditions. The CDG is a relatively small organisation with a limited capability to deliver training directly. It does however have a very strong ethos of training by example or mentoring more junior divers. This philosophy is described in the Cave Diver Education programme [7]. There is no evidence that buddy diving has a significantly beneficial affect on the delivery of effective training.
Controlling the hazards and risks associated with cave diving equipment is the responsibility of the individual diver. The CDG’s training and mentoring philosophy provides individual CDG divers with a large resource of experience to draw on when selecting and maintaining their equipment. This area is essential to safe cave diving and is strongly emphasised by the CDG. There is also a strong philosophy of complete redundancy for all critical systems. There is no evidence that buddy diving has a significantly beneficial affect on the safety of diving equipment.
The third major hazard area is line management. The difficulties of laying and managing good lines to guide divers in UK sumps are enormous. Over the years this area of UK cave diving has been extensively researched. The first comprehensive review of this area was published by the CDG in 1981 in “Line Laying and Following” by Geoff Yeadon [8]. This pivotal reference has formed the basis of modern line laying and management. This is an area that is constantly evolving and new methods are regularly published in the quarterly CDG Newsletter. There is no evidence that buddy diving has a significantly beneficial affect on the safety of line laying and management.
The first British Sump Rescue Symposium held in 1986 looked at the issue of cave diving safety [9]. The published proceedings on Safe Cave Diving identified the technique of solo cave diving and strongly advocated “the need for the cave diver to learn independence and to feel, when he is diving, that he is entirely on his own.” The advantages of buddy diving derive from promoting mutual self-help and aiding safety via the surface. Neither of these advantages is applicable to UK cave diving. The symposium advocated an intelligent approach to cave diving; “The most important piece of equipment the diver has is his brain. If he fully understands the implications of a dive an experienced diver will either take the necessary precautions or postpone the dive until he has gained the required knowledge, equipment or skill”.
Diving with multiple concurrent divers does have a role to play in UK cave diving. There are certain tasks, such as underwater construction, that benefit from more than one diver being present at the same time. Additionally, there is a social dimension to recreational cave diving that results in more than one diver entering a sump at the same time. This is particularly likely if a caving project is conducted beyond a sump where mutual support may be critical to the success of a task. The overriding philosophy of the CDG remains that once you enter a UK sump you bear the full responsibility and accountability for your own actions. As such there is a deeply ingrained belief that a philosophy of solo diving is an essential requirement for safe sump diving within the UK. Multiple concurrent divers are effectively a team of solo divers, where each individual diver must be considered by all of the divers as a potential source of hazard. This form of diving is more accurately thought of as team solo diving.
Buddy diving is very different from team solo diving. In buddy diving a pair of divers are considered to be a unit and thus share responsibility and accountability for their actions. Buddy diving has been developed and modified for many different environments including some cave environments. It would, however, be a grave and possibly fatal error to use an unmodified buddy diving system in the majority of UK sumps. Similarly it would be incorrect for a diver familiar with team solo diving to consider themselves fully conversant with buddy diving or to consider that solo diving is appropriate for all forms of diving.
There are clear additional hazards introduced by buddy diving and yet there is no clear reduction in the risks from the major hazards in cave diving gained through buddy diving. The Cave Diving Group recommends that solo and team solo diving are appropriate techniques for use in the exploration of UK sumps.
References
1 - Contract Research Report 140/1997, SCUBA diving, A quantitive risk assessment, Prepared by Paras for the Health & Safety Executive
2 - Cave Diving Group Statement of Inherent Risk, 11th October 2004, http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Ar...herentRisk.pdf
3 - Cave Diving - British Style, Brian Schofield and Dave Ryall, “9-90 - UK Diving in Depth" magazine - Volume 3, Issue 6 (2002). (available online at: www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Essays/Scoff.html )
4 - International Underwater Cave Rescue & Recovery Accident Analysis, 1999, www.iucrr.org/fatalities.pdf
5 - Cave Diving – The Cave Diving Group Manual, Mendip Publishing, ISBN 0 905903 14 5.
6 – The Cave Diving Group Training Standard, 13 March 2004, http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Ar...ngStandard.pdf
7 – Cave Diver Education, 10th October 2004,
http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Ar...cation_1-0.pdf
8 - Cave Diving Group Technical Review No. 3 (1981) Line Laying and Following by Geoff Yeadon.
9 - The First British Sump Rescue Symposium. Cave Science Vol. 14, No.1, April 1987, Transactions of the British Cave Research Association pages 7 – 30.
Re: Why Solo Diving is Appropriate in UK Sumps
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duncan Price
From this information it is probable that the most significant hazards in UK sump diving include, in no particular order:
• Training
• Equipment
• Line management
As such there is a deeply ingrained belief that a philosophy of solo diving is an essential requirement for safe sump diving within the UK.
It would, however, be a grave and possibly fatal error to use an unmodified buddy diving system in the majority of UK sumps.
There are clear additional hazards introduced by buddy diving and yet there is no clear reduction in the risks from the major hazards in cave diving gained through buddy diving. The Cave Diving Group recommends that solo and team solo diving are appropriate techniques for use in the exploration of UK sumps.
Maybe we can update wiki with the following 4 major risks:
• Lack of Training
• Poorly Maintained Equipment
• Poor Line management
• Use of (or dependence on) Buddy Diving
:D
Re: Why Solo Diving is Appropriate in UK Sumps
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay
Nice read Duncan!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by eramosakarst
Excellent post Duncan!! Comprehensive as always
The credit should go to David Brock who wrote it and has posted on CDF above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary
Maybe we can update wiki with the following 4 major risks:
• Lack of Training
• Poorly Maintained Equipment
• Poor Line management
• Use of (or dependence on) Buddy Diving
All of the above factors can be lumped together under the umbrella term: STUPIDITY - which translates into insufficient experience or inappropriate equipment. Line management and teamwork (even for a team of one) is a skill that comes with experience.
Cave diving is a mature sport, the risks are largely known and mitigating actions well-established. Sadly, all the cave diving incidents I've ever heard of can be analysed and prevented post mortem (especially over the internet). Never let the risks outweigh the rewards.
I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.
Duncan
Beware the personal Ethos
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Brock
Of more importance to a solo diver is the development of a personal Ethos. You must understand WHY you are doing what you do otherwise you will end up "doing" and then wondering why.
What you say I find to be somewhat true. Solo diving is an advanced technique in many ways requiring the diver to have the responsibility and redundancy of two divers. Like most advanced techniques (like sidemount, scootering) it should not be attempted by those who's awareness of the cave and basic skills are not well developed.
Many who have spoken to me about their first solo dive have noticed how very AWARE they felt the first time they were in the cave alone - almost paranoid. Without another diver nearby breathing and providing a second light it is peaceful, quiet and dark. Everything is "at your own pace" and every action is done BY you and not just observed or verified by you.
A personal ethos obviously develops here in the US and is the very root of the "contributing factor" thing. Since solo diving is not taught and is generally discouraged or disallowed in the US the solo diver often is in a grey area where the rules seem almost broken already.
The solo diver by the act of taking up solo diving is in a group of persons that is open to questioning rules and is ready to break the rules they do not understand or agree with. Why limit themselves to just the buddy rule? What about running lines all the time or since they don't need to supply a buddy back they might not see much harm in pushing thirds a little. Maybe they question the training organizations who they feel are picking their pocket and unable to agree on anything anyway and feel the next level of training is unnecessary - and/or they take the training and don't care to take the instructor’s criticisms and advice to heart.
For some people wandering into the grey area makes the other rules and input much more important for others each rule broken and survived justifies questioning the next. In von Mier's book Solo Diving: the Art of Underwater Self Sufficiency one phrase stood out in my mind: "Those who break the rules must stay honest". For von Meir writing the book was one way he was "staying honest".
Not only must you "understand WHY you are doing what you do" but you must honestly access the risk it poses, seek to mitigate those risks as much as possible, and take actions to add safety in other areas.
Taking honest assessments of your condition and environment accessing the dangers it imposes and taking actions to minimize and counter those risks is an important skill. Even as a buddy diver and honest adherent to the 5/6 rules of safe cave diving. If you are likely to encounter restrictions and low visibility will you have extra air or will you be close to the limit of your available gas? Are you in a public place where help is readily available? Do you carry a med kit and emergency O2? Do you carry a phone in case of emergencies? Does anyone even know where you are, what you are doing, or when you might be expected back? If something happens and you dive is longer then expected do you have enough deco gas?
Everyone has some sort of personal ethos. Some people use thier head to find ways around the rules or justify that they are safe because they haven't broken any of them, others not only obey the rules but find ways to be safe in other ways - taught but not actually listed as risk factors.
For the solo diver already in a grey area to be cutting back on safety in other areas is a real danger sign. There was a solo diver at Little River many years ago (SEP 93) that took the time to explain how he had calculated that he could get out on 800 psi from anywhere in the cave thus he could breath down his tanks past normal 3rds to 1600psi and still get out in an accident. Ironically he died the same dive after explaining his method to a cave class prior to entering the cave - getting in a silt out and lost off the line ( http://www.iucrr.org/aa_misc.htm ). At least one of the two buddy divers who died together in last year's Eagle's Nest tragedy was also known to frequently stretch the rules and push safety limits on multiple fronts at the same time. Even though he never solo dived and was technically diving within the 5 rules of safe cave diving his ethos led him into frequent danger and proved just as deadly.
It is important to choose a safe and honest personal ethos.
Re: Beware the personal Ethos
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Brock
Of more importance to a solo diver is the development of a personal Ethos. You must understand WHY you are doing what you do otherwise you will end up "doing" and then wondering why.
What you say I find to be somewhat true. Solo diving is an advanced technique in many ways requiring the diver to have the responsibility and redundancy of two divers. Like most advanced techniques (like sidemount, scootering) it should not be attempted by those who's awareness of the cave and basic skills are not well developed.
Gary/all
Please don't get forget the differences in style between UK sump diving (in which Dave and I have some expertise) and Florida Spring diving (which we've both enjoyed but cannot really comment on in detail).
The reason that the CDG advocates a self-sufficient approach is one of practicality. Caving is a very social activity (as is open water diving) and we chose to dive independently not because we don't have any friends, but because a conventional buddy system does no work effectively in a confined low visibility sump. For many CDG members its the only method they know (I hold no open water qualifications - I don't know about David) and I guess that we have very poorly developed buddy skills as a consequence. The "team solo" approach is widely used in many UK situations whereby a group of divers will operate as a team to achieve some combined objective beyond one or more approach. We will help one another between sumps and at the water's edge when gearing up. Underwater we give one another enough space to ensure that we are not a hazard to one another.
If I lived in Florida, I would prefer to dive with a buddy for the simple pleasure of sharing something that I enjoy with another human being - in particular, to have someone to go for a beer with afterwards. I would think it was a bit sad to swim around a cave on my own when I didn't need to.
Edited in: Actually its against my agency's rules to dive on my own - I should always have someone on the surface looking after me - http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Ar...afetycode.html
