Dive Solo

[ChristianG 0]

No doubt the debate over the acceptability of solo diving will continue but my two pennyworth is that I'd prefer to actually not have any rules set in stone! The trouble is that whenever anyone gets things wrong or makes a mistake and pays the ultimate price, the general media is up in arms and we all suffer as restrictive rules are then enforced.

An admirable post.

 

Should we get back to basics? In relation to photographers?

 

* Even if you have a model, the reality is that the model is not your dive buddy

* Even if you have an assistant, a la the David Doubilets of this world, the reality is that this assistant is not your dive buddy

* Even if you are, as I, an average photographer, doing his/her own thing, the reality is that you have no dive buddy

* Even if you "buddy" with another photographer, the reality is that you have no dive buddy

 

Not if you accept that a "dive buddy" is as generally described which, in my not so humble opinion, is a rare breed indeed. What's more it has absolutely nothing to do with 99.99% of "casual" buddy set-ups, as in on a boat and you need a "buddy" - camera or not.

 

Please give my regards to Harald, hopefully he'll remember who I am.

 

Cheers,

 

Christian

[frogfish 5]

I would always prefer to dive with a retinue of servants. However, they often seem to become unpredictable once underwater! Is it because I don't pay them enough?

As I recall, John, you didn't pay us anything at all! All those peeled grapes, the swirling diaphanous fabrics barely concealing tantalizing wonders, the dancing maidens, the intoxicating potions. And us - all the craven newbies eager for nothing more than the opportunity to carry your housing and weights down to the tender, to test the temperature of the waters so that you might easily select the most appropriate items from the racks of test gear from manufacturers desperately hoping for the nod of your approval; all of us humbly waiting in the hope that you might notice those frogfishes and pipefishes which we found in the vain hope of possibly pleasing you, dreaming only of the opportunity to briefly hold in our salt-wrinkled palms a tiny share of your reflected radiance. (Or maybe meet a former Penthouse model.)

 

But none of that meant anything to you, did it John? So can you question now that we felt we had no choice but to rebel against that archaic and meaningless order? That some of us began to lean ever more to the dark side, threw away our McPADI manuals, made bonfires of those stupid WHEELs, ventured into the forbidden land of DECO, wandered ever farther from our decreed buddies underwater, experimented with exotic eastern gas mixes, and even secretly studied the unholy doctrines of DIR?

 

It's a new world now, John. No more kowtowing, no servants, and no more tugging of forelocks just because a big foot dive journalist from the UK heaves into view. To paraphrase the immortal words of B. Traven, slightly censored when they were delivered by the unshaven and irredeemable Alfonso Bedoyo to an unimpressed Humphrey Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre:

 

"Buddies, to god-damned hell with buddies! We have no buddies. In fact, we don't need buddies. I don't have to show you any stinking buddies, you god-damned cabrón and ching' tu madre! Come out from that sh**-hole of yours. I have to speak to you."

 

Yours,

[antacid 1]

In Singapore, we're law abiding citizens who follow rules obediently without question or risk getting slapped with hefty fines or carted off in the night (kidding!)

 

anyways, i do agree that more often than not, i'm diving almost solo when i have a camera. still, i don't think going solo is the way to go.

 

on leisure trips, i usually dive with a group of divers armed with cameras, and its a bit of a free-for-all. exept that we make sure we keep at least 1 person in visual contact. this makes it easier to 'pass' subjects to the next photographer, so we take turns. you do the nudi, i do the moray, she does the frogfish; then change places.

 

we're also all armed with tank bangers or shakers, so its easy to get anyone's attention when the manta goes flying by, or when you're in serious shit.

 

in a way, we dive solo, but in a group working together to get the most of the dive, while keeping safe.

 

let's put it in perspective: we're griping about being left behind, and other divers not being 'good buddies'. on the other hand, we're stuck at the same rock for 15 minutes and not being very good buddies with our eyes plastered round that weird looking aluminium can.

 

i usually lead dives for 2-6 customers at any one time, and don't have the luxury of camping for the perfect shot. in a weird sort of way, this forced me to get the shot i want in my head, go there and nail the shot in 2 or 3 tries before the customers start drifting away. by the way, i use a small compact with a strobe on such dives to get photos of interesting subjects and customers to share with them later.

 

i think the buddy system does have some merit, since two heads are better than one (that's why men rule the world), and having someone around does improve your chances of making it back from a disaster. even if your buddy is a complete newbie, at least there's a possibility that he/she might do the right thing and save your life. alone, you're screwed.

[Scuba_SI 39]

If i'm working i have no problem buddying up with a newbie diver. However when i pay to go diving, i am not paying to look after someone. For me, that falls with the responsibility of the dive operator.

 

You wouldn't pay 3k for a skiing trip to be told you can't do the best runs because your tour operator wants you do ski a green-run with someone doing the snowplow. Buddying up newbies and experienced divers should only take place in a dive club with 2 willing participants, not when someone is paying big bucks for a vacation.

 

Last time i was buddied with a stranger on a dive trip it was not a bad dive, however he was on air and i was on nitrox.. Which i had suggested to the crew was a bad idea, but they knew best...

 

So, I set my comp to Air, and during the dive i'm looking at my computer, i'm down to 15mins No Deco and as i'd missed the previous few dives he should be closer to the limit than I, so i ask 'my buddy' if his computer is ok. He says yes and we continue along around the stern of the wreck and start to come up a little, when he notices he's down to 50bar and grabs the attention of a passing guide, i'd already sped up considerably trying to get him shallower in case my suspicions about the computer were true.

 

There is then a massive freak out underwater due to him having a lengthy deco obligation, which, in the end he completed on his own tank with no stage tank required (when will PADI teach people that a few mins of deco dealt with responsibly does not mean you are going to die...).

 

My Issue is not so much with the novice buddy, as we've all been there and made mistakes, it is the fact that the buddy rule does not work with strangers in most cases.

 

I have had a similar thing as just exploded in the posts above happen to me a few times underwater - you ask someone if things are 'ok' or try to help them and they get defensive thinking you are questioning their abilities/misinterpret what you are saying or doing. Then when you get to the surface you get a mouthful off someone who thinks you have 'dissed' them by asking if their computer is ok etc.

 

So, after a while, when buddied up with a stranger you keep things polite and give a few ok signals and thats it and try to do your own thing as much as possible (being a bad buddy).

 

I think these days diving is not the little niche market that it was 20 years ago, where everyone would look after each other and most people dived with a club. It is a big business with millions of participants, and as such it is much like walking down the street when on a busy divesite - unless someone is in serious trouble you are best served leaving them to their own devices.

 

Now, having said all that, i think uw photographers are a niche market, and as such we probably do look out for each other more which is good, and that 'looking out for each other' is often by being buddies who have a beer together in the evening, and hardly seeing each other in the water.

 

 

my 2p

[MikeVeitch 0]

i wouldn't dive with that SI guy...

 

[MDB 0]

I have been diving since I was 14 (back when getting certified that young was relatively rare) and due to the fact that no one in my family dives, I have been put into a large number of different buddy situations. Some buddies have been very good and some very bad. Overall I would rather dive solo than with a buddy I don't know.

 

I am not sure why some people are so opposed to experienced divers going solo. Well I guess I understand from the point of view of the industry since it creates new customers and shifts some liability from them to the buddy.

 

Is solo diving more risky than buddy diving, maybe but for me it is worth the risk.

[ChristianG 0]

we're also all armed with tank bangers or shakers, so its easy to get anyone's attention when the manta goes flying by, or when you're in serious shit.

I don't really get that.

 

Once upon a time, on a liveaboard in PNG, one of our number (six of us, which is all that that particular liveaboard acccommodates) had with him one of those newfangled underwater whistles (a hurricane was it?) which he used to distraction.

 

He got caught in the wreck of the S'Jacob, minimum depth about 50 metres and signalled for help.

 

Of course none of the rest of us took the slightest bit of notice so he had to dump the camera, struggle out of tank/BCD, extricate and then dress himself again, actually a significant achievement in self sufficiency.

 

He cried Wolf once too often and I have ever since suspected these "banger" things.

 

Cheers,

 

Christian

[ce4jesus 1]

"I don't really get that."

 

My wife and I started using some shakers about 3 months ago and wondered why we hadn't done this a lot earlier. Simply because we recognize the other is trying to get our attention. In short, we love ours and wouldn't be without them.

[antacid 1]

"I don't really get that."

 

My wife and I started using some shakers about 3 months ago and wondered why we hadn't done this a lot earlier. Simply because we recognize the other is trying to get our attention. In short, we love ours and wouldn't be without them.

 

 

yup, i agree being able to make 'distinctive' sounds underwater helps you recognise each other, especially at busy dive sites with 40-50 divers in the water banging away at the smallest nudibranchs and sea cucumbers.

 

ChristianG, i think that diver did himself in by using it to distraction as you said. maybe PADI should come up with a 'tank banging/ dive whistle specialty' to address that problem.

 

i usually carry a spare steel carabiner so i can pass it to my buddy (whoever i'm stuck with) to use as a signaling device so he/she can get my attention. who knows, she might just spot something really interesting?

[hoovermd 0]

...My wife and I started using some shakers about 3 months ago...

 

We are actually reluctant to share "our system" while on the boat.

Too many shakers and it might get confusing.

We have developed (as I'm sure you have) a simple code system.

[ChristianG 0]

yup, i agree being able to make 'distinctive' sounds underwater helps you recognise each other, especially at busy dive sites with 40-50 divers in the water banging away at the smallest nudibranchs and sea cucumbers.

 

ChristianG, i think that diver did himself in by using it to distraction as you said. maybe PADI should come up with a 'tank banging/ dive whistle specialty' to address that problem.

 

i usually carry a spare steel carabiner so i can pass it to my buddy (whoever i'm stuck with) to use as a signaling device so he/she can get my attention. who knows, she might just spot something really interesting?

I really, REALLY, don't like your irony.

 

Good one.

 

Cheers,

 

Christian

[ce4jesus 1]

"Too many shakers and it might get confusing." I found some really small ones that make a very distinctive sound. We've yet to run into divers with them but it would be a bit distracting if more people had them. I guess we could always develop a little rhythm to our shake...haha

[John Bantin 101]

What's wrong with yelling the name of the person you want to attract? It has the advantage that others do not recognise the sound as a a name. It works for me!

[NWDiver 42]

You should NOT be solo diving if you CAN'T remove and replace your BC in tight quarters, wetsuit or drysuit.

[Paul Kay 62]

It could also be argued that you shouldn't be solo diving if you dive in tight quarters where you might have to remove and replace your BC, wetsuit or drysuit or come to that neither!!! I'd be pretty worried about putting my camera somewhere that I might not be able to reach too.

[fdog 3]

<snip>My wife and I started using some shakers about 3 months ago and wondered why we hadn't done this a lot earlier. Simply because we recognize the other is trying to get our attention. In short, we love ours and wouldn't be without them.

Yes, but that's because your wife knows what you're interested in, so you are always excited by what she's found.

 

The other side is a whole boatload of folks that believe what they have seen/found/etc is worth tearing you away from whatever you are working on. I hate the cacaphony of quacks/shakes/clanks/squawks.

 

All the best, James

[ChristianG 0]

What's wrong with yelling the name of the person you want to attract? It has the advantage that others do not recognise the sound as a a name. It works for me!

Yup,

 

Works for me as well. If the person is in visual distance, wait until they have breathed out. It's actually amazing how well this works. I'd rate it in (almost) the same category as listening for your buddy's exhaled breath - if you can't hear it that person is not anywhere close enough (and I'm in deep responsibility sh!t).

 

Cheers,

 

Christian

[ChristianG 0]

It could also be argued that you shouldn't be solo diving if you dive in tight quarters where you might have to remove and replace your BC, wetsuit or drysuit or come to that neither!!! I'd be pretty worried about putting my camera somewhere that I might not be able to reach too.

Absolutely!

 

This guy, then about 70, is an ex Italian Navy diver. Carlo knows exactly what he's doing, except that he tends to get carried away by "the latest toys" which he also happens to sell.

 

Having said that, this WAS Papua New Guinea and neither a wetsuit nor a drysuit were a consideration. Nevertheless your comment is very valid. However, I, for one, don't dive with a BCD (of whatever ilk) in that circumstance anyway.

 

In that situation there were six divers (the maximum guests that that boat takes) and "buddying" was never a consideration amongst any of us. On several trips.

 

YMMV, cheers,

 

Christian

[diverdon 1]

Bummer. Would be easy to avoid by being properly kitted up to start with, though: I always use a lanyard attaching the camera to my BCD (one of those spirally things which can extend). That way I can just drop my camera in case of an emergency, and it will still be there when I recover. Mabye with a scratch or two, but it sure beats drowning. And no, the lanyard does not interfere with taking pictures at all.

 

Anyways, I once heard a saying that applies very well to solo diving: When in doubt, don't do it. This not only goes for the solo diving itself, but also for "should I go a little deeper?", "should I stay a little longer?" etc. Certainly a good rule for solo divers.

 

Chris

 

I have a Subal D200 Ikelite system depending on how it is set up for that dive it can be perhaps 10K. I would never use a lanyard. Its not hard to hold the system in either hand or between my knees. In my thousand or so dives I have never been close to panic. But if I were to get into a panic situation the camera is just another ditchable weight. If I were ever doing a CESA from 100 or more feet I may not bring up a camera! If it gets to the point where I am in doubt of my ability to reach the surface I may drop the camera.

 

If I am still capable of rational thought through out the process of the emergency it is my plan to hold my camera in my right hand and pull the right hand 4 lb weight from my BC as I begin the CESA. If it starts to look like I might not make it drop the weight. If it starts to get really scary release the camera. On the other hand most accounts I have heard from people who have done it are that its not that hard to do with out dropping wt and that the most likely out come is that by the time you get to the 20 foot point you I will be able to see that I will be able to make it easy and may even be able to slow the accent a little in the hope of avoiding deco illness.

Edited September 21, 2007 by diverdon

[Steve Douglas 16]

When I started diving in 83 my buddies were all hunters shooting fish for dinner, popping abalones and catching lobster. The word of the day was always, same day, same boat, same ocean but get the heck away from my area. Stopped hunting sometime in the early 90's when the waters were running out of game but applied the same stalking skills to videography. That changed but the mantra hasn't. Nothing worse to be filming and have someone else's flash going off or kicking up silt. If a clip is ruined let it be my own fault and not someone elses. Granted, you can't always avoid others in the water but when I can, I do. A trained diver is a self reliant diver. Just my thoughts.

Steve B)

[derway 2]

Even solo diving is SO much safer and more fun than driving on rush-hour freeways. What's the problem? If you gotta die some day, I'd rather die diving, than in a car crash!

 

The odds shift a small amount, for solo versus buddy diving. For me, the shift is small, since I've always been a water person, since 9 months old. I've never panicked in my life, even when others have. I'd rather be solo than with a panicking buddy.

 

So still, I am so much safer to go diving than driving on the freeway, where is the big deal about solo or buddy? I know I'm safe doing this.

[Timmoranuk 10]

PMFJI but I've only recently subscribed to Wetpixel.

 

The only occasions when I feel a buddy is required is in reduced visibility when it may be possible to become entangled or other adverse or marginal conditions. Otherwise, recreational or technical depths are both open to solo diving. In fact, technical depths may be 'safer' solo that recreational depths as some or greater redundancy will usually be carried.

 

My other sporting passion was skydiving - a few thousand freefalls too. Each and every one was a 'solo' and I was totally responsible for my equipment and my performance. I don't see any difference when diving...

 

Latterly, I have taken to using the same fleet of liveaboards and inevitably I have got to know the dive guides and crews very well. When buddying up at the beginning of the safari, the guides usually say "and Tim will buddy with me". Most of the other punters think its because I'm a newbie diver. In fact, the only time I usually see my 'buddy' is on the dive deck... I think its really worth while to frequent the same fleet as I get cut all sort of slack.

[lauri 0]

This might sound a bit impolite, but what the hell... This far I have thought that solo diving is generally a result of poor diving skills, poor social skills or lack of thought, or combination of all. This thread hasn't really changed my opinion. Not having a qualified buddy or team for the planned dive is a reason to change the plan, not to go solo.

 

Consistently failing to find buddies or failing to co-operate with them should prompt a look in the mirror.

 

//LN

[Glasseye Snapper 47]

Hi Lauri,

 

We don't change our dive plan because solo diving is the plan, whether or not a qualified buddy is around. Staying close to and paying constant attention to your buddy just doesn't work when you are a serious UW photographer and asking a buddy to hang around for minutes while trying to set up a shot is also not a way to become popular. Not asking a buddy to come along is really the social thing to do.

 

Bart

[tdpriest 115]

I've seen the odd professional at work, and they often look like solo divers to me...

 

I have to say that two photographers make lousy buddies, unless one is modelling for the other.

 

At Ras Mohammed in 2006 my buddy (he knows who he is) and I were swept around Shark Reef in opposite directions, to meet on the far side, on more than one occasion. We were using single cylinders at 11-20m depth. I swam onto the hangar deck of the USS Saratoga at 35m as a planned solo dive with manifolded twin-cylinders and independent regulators, a dive-plan having been discussed beforehand. Which was more dangerous?

 

Ras Mohammed

 

I don't think that a total reliance on buddy diving survives contact with the real world of underwater photography. I REALLY think that leaving your buddy unexpectedly is the very height of antisocial behaviour. And as for diving skills: cave diving and advanced technical diving courses teach self reliance, dive planning, equipment configuration... and solo diving.

 

Tim

 

B)