Solo Diving

[Kevin Carlisle]

I dive solo about 50% of the time, because I want too. I have some great dive buddies but I like to slowly wander the caves and have found some of the coolest features doing so. I will do jumps and scooter but I never dive thirds, even with a buddy. I just dont think that's conservative enough when things get real bad. Bob many of us will dive levels below Full cave. If I ever get to where I wont do cavern or intro dives then its time for me to quit cave diving.

[gschaut]

B-bob: I just got my Intro Cave in May, and this board was full of divers (with 2 r's, 2f's, pale red arrows) who were happy to offer a rookie Intro diver a partner. I have been open water solo diving (same-ocean, same-day partners) for over a decade. But here in caves, there always is someone willing to spend a morning showing a rookie around his/her favorite cave. All you have to do, is ask.

[Holemaster]

Send me a PM. Give me a couple day's notice, and i'll dive with you.
Figure you are probably safer than diving with future x -wife. ( I hope )

[FW]

... and this board was full of divers (with 2 r's, 2f's, pale red arrows)...

[DA Aquamaster]

Marci (babyduck) and I are normally willing to devote a day of a 5 or 7 day trip to diving with a an intro level diver at their level, and we've found we can usually introduce them to new intro level line they have not seen before. Feel free to send us a PM to coordinate a day on our next trip.

Prior to Marci, I had reservations with insta-buddies. Even now, Marci and I as a solid, well coordinated team, scale back our dives any time we dive with a third team memeber and in particular with a team mate who is an unknown quantity.

Based on risks imposed by less than stellar tema mates, in my technical diving prior to Marci, I tended to:

a) regard every dive as a solo dive - which is I think a sound practice for any technical diving to the extent that you carry your own bailout gas and regard yourself as having a 100% redundant self rescue capability, with the assets a team mate brings as being "extra", and

b) preferred solo diving in some of the more challenging penetration dives, in particular those where a less than wonderfully skilled team mate could potentially cause problems and "plug" the passage behind you.

There are pros and cons - you lose the redundant brain, but you also lose the neccessity of having to communicate with the redundant brain and that adds a lot more flexibility and the ability to immediately ammend the dive plan if the conditions are not as expected or exceed your comfort level.

In any event solo diving requires diving within your comfort level and it is not a good choice for method to conduct a pinnacle dive in your career.

And, I agree that solo cave diving is not a great idea at the less than full cave level.

[pink arrows]

I just got my Intro Cave in May

...Gary?

[gschaut]

...Gary?

Yep. Sorry we never hooked up. But you did offer, and I appreciate that. Will be back in the area in November, and I will stay in touch.

[Jay]

Solo diving is a great and rewarding experience. Those that dive solo in caves understand what I mean. It allows you to dive at your own pace and look around and check out things that you might not normally look at. There are a lot of features and interesting areas in the first 1000 feet of a lot of sytems that teams typically blow past on the way in or out. I find it very relaxing and a great way to warm-up if I have not been diving in a while. It allows me to take my time gearing and configuring, entering, going at my pace and maybe refreshing some line skills or trying a slightly different gear config or light mounting. It gets me 'tuned' and makes sure I have no gear issues that could hamper or call a dive with buddies. But not having a buddy really heightens my awareness of the cave and my gear. I find myself monitoring my surroundings and my situation just that much more when I don't have a buddy to rely on. That being said, for warm-up dives I typically stick to caves I know well and can exit easily and I dive SM.

For your experience level you should stick to the ballroom or some other cavern area with no temptation to do any penetration. Without you being full cave with a lot of experience there is no reason for you to be diving a cave solo.

[Wizard]

There are a lot of features and interesting areas in the first 1000 feet of a lot of sytems that teams typically blow past on the way in or out.

+1 on that!
I once made a 2 hr dive and never got to the lips, and there was a 1.5 hour dive just past the sign at JB. Lots of good stuff we normally blow past.

[wingman]

Just saw this thread. After some recent discussions I have become a bit concerned about liability issues involved in accepting a buddy relationship. Not being a lawyer and not having read any case law i am wondering about the risk of buddy diving. Maybe solo is the better way to go from a legal point of view. Anyone have any insights about this? Bill