Posted by Max Bottomtime on September 01, 2000 at 14:58:26:
In Reply to: Criteria for Solo Diving posted by Ken Kurtis on September 01, 2000 at 11:15:53:
I love solo diving. When I dive with my wife or one of a few buddies that have similar experience and gear configurations, I tend to relax too much and not pay attention to them as they all have doubles w/isolation manifold, seven foot primary hose, etc. Sometimes I don't see them until the deco stops. When diving with lesser experienced buddies I refer to it as "babysitting". Then I'm a great buddy as I rarely let them out of my sight and constantly monitor their gauges. Solo diving gives me the chance to explore, shoot some video or just be one with the marine environment without worrying about where my buddy is. My only restrictions as far as the dive go are the conditions and how comfortable I am. I've had very relaxing solo dives to 200 feet and at the same time aborted dives as shallow as 20 feet due to anxiety over conditions. I don't worry about gear failure or a fatal mistake on my part because unless your buddy is looking right at you during an emergency, you're on your own anyway.