How many of you dive solo?

[BgDadddy]

To all of you - Thank you very much for your concern and your comments. You've all raised issues that I am going to give some serious thought to.

Thanks!!

Rick

[Tegg]

To all of you - Thank you very much for your concern and your comments. You've all raised issues that I am going to give some serious thought to.

Thanks!!


Rick

I would dive with you, but then you would learn something and your instructor may take it personal and spread things about me because I was "stepping on his toes" by showing you something...

[DR2K]

If you are prepare to resolve any emergency that you might encounter, you are a solo diver (buddy or not).
I believe in solo diving and do it, but not in overhead enviroments (including deco dives)

Take care, safe diving and always start your dives with all the valves fully open (including the isolator).

ED

[Cave Ranger]

IMHO.
While I prefer diving with a trustworthy buddy or two, I believe it's healthy to develop a mindset of self-reliance, equipment redundancy and maintenance that treats every dive as if it were potentially "Solo". This is especially true in the Tech realm but I even approach a 60 fsw O.W. drift dive this way. I always practice redundancy so that an "emergency free assent" is never an option. If I have a problem underwater my intention is to solve it there. Too many divers treat the buddy system as their only Plan B.

[BgDadddy]

Diving with buddies is a strange thing. I've dove with mostly full cave people, but I've also dove with other intro folks. Honestly, I think I've enjoyed diving with intro folks more.

When I dive with full cave folks in most cases they forget that I'm a rookie and try to do stuff that I'm not real comfortable with (with one exception... I did 2 dives at peacock with 2 full cavers I met on this board and both dives were awesome... I felt guilty because I was holding them back, but they were both GREAT to dive with... Thanks guys!!).

I had a buddy stand me up at Ginnie a couple of months ago and ended up hooking up with a full caver that was going to do a solo sidemount dive. I told him I was intro and asked him if he would mind diving together. He agrees and starts talking about doing a traverse and jumping off into the white room so I say whoa!! Intro...remember?? So he says ok...we'll just take it easy... Just follow me.

Once he gears up we go flying down in the ear (I'm following) and first thing, he hooks a left and starts into the catacombs. No biggie, I've been wanting to go in there anyway. He doesn't run a line so I start to tie onto the mainline and he comes back and motions me to just follow him in. I ignore him, finish tying on and start following him running a reel.

So he goes flying thru there kicking up a mess of crap in my face and I'm trying to keep up with him, squeezing my big butt thru some of the tightest stuff I've been in so far. I wasn't liking it very much. Once we get back to the mainline and I tie off, we take off down the mainline to the bone line jump and he does a blind jump down there. I just hung out at the gold line till he comes back and I give him a WTF look. He reaches back and gets a spool and starts to tie into the mainline but by then I had had enough and I thumbed it. It was obvious that he wasn't happy about it, but he put his spool away, followed me back out and that was pretty much the end of it.

I know that for you full cave folks all of that would have just been a walk in the park, but I definately wasn't feeling it.

By comparison, this past weekend I buddied up with another intro guy and we did 2 dives at Ginnie and one at Peacock and had an absolute blast. He had a single so I was going to turn on 6ths, but we still had 3 good 40 minute dives. We poked along the mainline just checking things out and on the way back out looked in a bunch of the holes, etc... It was a good time.

That is what I was talking about when I said I was thinking about going solo. Just taking my time, starting in the cavern zone and learning the cave. Breathing off an AL-80, I'll only have 20 - 30 mins of air before I turn it with a good 90 minutes of untouched backgas for an emergency. I can learn the cave at my pace instead of getting in over my head like I did that one time.

However, having been lurking on the boards for a few months now I have a tremendous respect for most of you guys now and your experience so now I'm going to reevaluate my thinking and try to figure it all out. Thanks again!!

Rick

[Jason B.]

Intro...remember?? ........

So He had a single so I was going to turn on 6ths,

Aren't you suppose to always be turning on 6ths (with doubles) since you are an intro level diver?

[BgDadddy]

I normally do turn on 6ths or thereabouts, but I have to admit that it also kinda depends on who I'm diving with and where. High flow systems like Little River and Ginnie I usually won't do any more penetration after I reach 6ths, but I don't always head straight out either.

I started diving doubles right after I got my intro card and ALWAYS did 1/6ths for a while, but now I have a decent number of dives under my belt and sometimes relax it a bit when I'm diving with full cavers. Other intro divers whether they have doubles or not we turn on 1/6ths.

Once I start apprentice I'll be doing 1/3rds so I am kind of preparing myself for it I guess.

I don't think I've ever actually made it to 1/3rds yet though.

Rick

[curtschu]

Rick,

When I started cave diving I only would dive with my regular buddy for the longest time. We would team up with others but still always be the team. I think I missed out on alot by being this way. Like many have said be prepared to dive as a solo at all times, You never know when you might find yourself several feet away from your buddy and have to solve a problem on your own. Post when you are going diving on the buddy list on this forum. If you are diving a weekend you are sure to team up.
Weekdays are a little tougher. before you know it you will have a small group of people to dive with. Then the only problem is when everyone wants to dive at the same time.

Curt

[looseBits]

Wow, that sidemount story is scary. I'm currently at intro level and I know how you feel about feeling guilty when diving with full cave divers. My first dive in the Devil's was with a couple of full cave divers and they layed out their dive plan, it was to enter the ear, tie in and head up towards the lips and when I hit thirds (1st dive in there, they didn't expect me to make it much past the lips) head back, tie another reel into the mainline and run it out the eye to set them up for another dive. They would then head back in after dropping me off. At first I just kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to look like a whiny intro diver but then I started thinking this is the exact kind of thing that gets people killed, trust-me dives. Even though I knew one of these divers very well, I told them I wasn't comfortable with the plan since 1) I had no knowledge of the distance between the eye and the gallery and 2) the only line we would have on exiting the eye would take me back into the cave. They said no problem and changed their plans.

Point is when diving with full cave divers, you either follow your limits or you'd better be comfortable putting your life in the hands of a stranger. A good thing to use to overcome the peer pressure of diving with someone far more advanced is to think about the thoughts that will go through your head if the unthinkable happens: "I can't believe I'm going to die because I didn't want to look like a wuss." Remember, diving dangerously in a cave vs driving dangerously you'll likely have plenty of time to know you're going to drown and you'll be alone with your thoughts until it happens.

[jmaddox]

Hey there Rick. Im a dependable intro diver hopefully about to start my apprentice who, schedule permitting, will meet up with you and do some nice n' easy dives all day long. Thanks for the post, I too have run into similar questions about solo diving. It is an issue. I dont want to hold any of the "full" guys back, at the same time I value my @ss enough not to do dives, jumps, restrictions, sumps, no line etc. that im not qualified/trained for. That being said my last cave dive was solo, at Devils. I went just passed the lips after a very complete gear check. I had a great time and didnt really have any problem with it. However, it isn’t really something that I want to make a habit out of, at least at this point in my cave diving career. I need the practice so next time you want to go, PM me and we'll go do some divin. Just let me know.

--jm