Solo Diving – The Forbidden Fruit?

Forbidden Fruit? – Solo Diving

The ‘never dive alone’ ultimate rule in scuba diving has been seemingly apparent all these years. Over and over again, our diving instructors have been warning us about solo diving. Experienced divers everywhere have become so used to the buddy system that most of them never even dared to dive by themselves. Suddenly, during your open water course, you spot a diver going solo. You then ask your instructor about this and he shrugs you off acting like he didn’t hear a damn thing.

Solo Diving

Solo Diving is no longer Taboo

What used to be a taboo in scuba diving is now a recognized practice in the sport. Solo diving is now done by many professional and experienced divers. This activity is very dangerous and must be executed with extra precision and safety. Those who venture into solo diving do so because of specific needs in their purpose the activity. A great number of solo divers are underwater photographers and videographers. Capturing the perfect underwater moment takes tremendous amounts of time and effort, thus creating the need of diving solo. Others are mostly professional instructors that have their own work-related reasons for doing the activity.

Solo Diving Considerations

Before attempting a solo dive, there are a ton of factors to be considered. The risk and demands of this activity are extreme, so it is of great importance to make sure that your reasons are valid. Diving solo for the purpose of showing off is a definite no-no. Such an extreme undertaking requires the diver to do everything by himself as there are highly specialized skill sets to be mastered if you want to survive alone in the deep waters.

Preparing for Solo Diving

The aspiring solo diver might also want to reconsider this if he/she has medical conditions that would be costly in doing the activity. Also, if you’re having second thoughts on your ability to do dive solo, completely dismiss the idea at least for the time being. Serious mental and physical preparations are very important for solo diving as well as the credibility of your confidence in your training and experience. Diving experience alone does not necessarily translate to the ability of solo diving. A diver who has done about a thousand dives still might not be suited enough for the activity.

Solo Diving Training

A thorough rationalization and continuous preparation is only the first step for the attempting solo diver. Some scuba institutions provide extensive training for expert divers needing to venture in solo diving. It is still advisable to do scuba diving with a buddy. As for some extremists, I just hope that they are fully prepared for the activity and aware of its dangers.