Solo Diving Pros and Cons

Up to a few years ago, solo diving was scuba’s dirty little secret. Anyone who merely mentioned the idea of a solo dive was deemed a heretic. Typically, they were accused of, amongst other things being irresponsible, promoting unsafe dive practices, and endangering the lives of other divers. Yet solo diving refused to go away, and with time it became accepted. In fact, the first agency to produce a solo diver course for recreational divers faced some backlash. So, what are the pros and cons of solo diving? Is it safe? What are the risks involved, and perhaps more importantly, is it something for You?

Lots of Divers Solo Dive All The Time

If you think about it, lots and lots of divers have been solo diving for a long time. Every time an instructor takes his open-water student for their first-ever dive, they are effectively diving alone. If an unfortunate event happens, there is little to no chance of the student providing any help to the instructor.

In the same vein, many underwater wildlife photographers are solo diving to get the perfect sequence of a sailfish hitting a bait bail or seals dancing around the kelp. More often than not, the cameraman is alone using a rebreather. Fewer divers in the water reduce the stress on the marine life, encouraging it to get closer, and the rebreather eliminates bubbles which is another thing most marine life finds disturbing.

You may have seen solo diving if you have ever been on a liveaboard at virtually any dive destination. When the boat arrives at a new site with a mooring, one of the guides will often jump in all alone and tie off to the mooring lines. Again, this is a completely accepted practice that raises no eyebrows and yet involves diving without a buddy!

Technical divers are virtually diving alone in most situations, even if they have a buddy with them. In most cases, there is a virtual overhead decompressing ceiling that they cannot cross with the risk of enormous injury or death. So even if a diver becomes incapacitated, his buddy can do very little for him. Taking someone with a decompression obligation directly to the surface will not end well for either diver; therefore, buddy or not, you are essentially solo diving to all intents and purposes.

There are many other situations where divers have been effectively solo diving. However, as they are commonplace, people don't see it as solo diving. Generally, it is just perceived as a small task, a job, or something along those lines!

The Main Risks of Solo Diving

Whenever solo diving is mentioned, an opponent will list potential risks and the potential disaster that could happen. So what are the real dangers faced when solo diving, and can they be mitigated?

Medical Emergency

The biggest issue raised is what happens if you have a medical emergency underwater and nobody can rescue you. While this is true, if you dig a little deeper, you can see some serious problems with the assertion. A brief chat with any physician will inform you of how rare it is for a young, healthy, fit person to suffer something that completely debilitates them suddenly. So, if you are healthy and fit (remember, responsible divers should regularly have an in-depth dive medical). The probability of such an event happening is so small for a healthy individual with no underlying conditions it is virtually negligible; if it were not, we would not be allowed to drive cars on the road without a buddy!

So, what if the worst happens? Sadly, things are not too rosy, even with a buddy nearby. Suffering an event that would lead to a cardiac arrest (fainting and drowning, for instance), the probability of survival is very low. So even if your buddy takes you to the surface virtually immediately and commences CPR, you have around a 1 in 10 chance of survival, if not less! Thus having a buddy present is not a great help!

Equipment Malfunction/ Air Loss

By far, one of the biggest issues raised is what happens if you run out of air, you need your buddy to provide an alternate air source. There are two sides to this argument. You are nowhere near ready to be solo diving if you run out of air due to not checking or inexperience. Solo divers should be experienced enough not to go “whoopsie” and run out of air accidentally.

The other issue is a catastrophic gas loss, from a failed piece of equipment, like a regulator first or second stage or even a tank valve. Every single solo diving course deals with this issue via a redundancy requirement and having an independent, alternate air source. This can be done in many ways. For instance using a pony bottle, sidemount diving with a set of doubles. In all these situations, gas loss due to kit failure becomes a non-issue! Also, solo divers tend to carry backups of other safety-critical equipment like lights and masks.

Other Problems

A host of other issues can be raised as pitfalls of solo diving, such as navigation failures or even panic! In almost every case, the issues raised are caused by inexperience, lack of focus, and in some cases, poor judgment by attempting something outside of your comfort level. When it comes to most solo diving, it should only be attempted by experienced divers, diving within their comfort zone in sites they are familiar with. In that situation, almost all other issues will simply vanish!

The Rewards of Solo Diving

Solo diving can be very rewarding but may not be for everyone. The first and most apparent reward of solo diving is convenience. If you live a busy life and have limited diving opportunities, throwing your gear in your car and heading out for a dive is very convenient. You are no longer restricted by waiting for a buddy to be free or the right time of day! If you have a couple of hours spare and live near the coast, then off you go without a worry in the world.

The second reward is psychological and is the satisfaction of solitude. Many people love to hike or ski alone. Being alone allows you to enjoy nature while ordering your thoughts and feelings. Diving solo is no different; being alone in the underwater world gives a perfect sense of solitude, allowing you to enjoy the world and center yourself.

Thirdly diving alone is perfect if you need time! A classic example of this is photographers. Who may want to spend 10 or 15 minutes in one spot while they take the perfect macro image. Having a buddy who wants to dive makes this situation unsustainable. That is why lots of photographers and cameramen, as mentioned above, tend to operate as solo divers.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are many other benefits and rewards to solo diving. So many, in fact, that an entire article could be written about them. However, the above are the standout three reasons.

A Lesson from Diving History

If you want to see the trajectory solo diving is taking, you needn’t look far. There is a clear pattern in diving history; the perfect comparison is Nitrox diving! If you have learned to dive in the last 20-odd years, the virtues of nitrox diving will have been pressed upon you from day one of your open water course.

However, this has not always been the case. Anyone who was an active diver in the 80s and 90s will tell you so. There was a huge backlash when Nitrox started to creep in from the technical diving community during that era. If you read an op-ed in any scuba mag, you would have seen the warnings about the disaster of nitrox diving and how fatalities would skyrocket as divers exceeded their limits (none of which happened). Nitrox was so frowned upon by some that it was initially nicknamed “the Devil’s Gas” due to the falsely perceived danger.

Moving forward twenty-plus years, you can combine your nitrox course with your open water certification. The course is a dry course that takes about half a day, and you are certified. In contrast, some of the first nitrox courses took a couple of days and required a minimum of 2 dives plus. Solo diving seems to be on the same course as Nitrox, from resistance to begrudging acceptance, followed by being the norm!

Should You Solo Dive?

Should you solo dive is the million-dollar question and involves a massive conversation with yourself. You should first consider your level of experience and comfort in the water. Without impeccable dive skills, total comfort in the water, and several hundred dives taking up solo diving may not be the greatest idea. The key thing to remember is that, generally, solo diving allows you to do dives that you would typically do with a buddy by yourself. You do not indulge in solo diving to go and do dives that are too risky or exploratory to do with your normal buddy.

The most important question you need to address is your psychological comfort being in the water alone. Being mentally aware and prepared for being alone in the water is key to happily solo diving. It can be a very surreal expense diving solo, especially if there are no other divers around. Unless you are sure that you have the mental discipline and resilience to enjoy and feel comfortable in this situation, solo diving may not be for you!

If you do decide to dive solo, it is wise to push your boundaries very slowly. Start with shallow shorter dives in easy conditions and gradually build up the challenge, depth, and durations of your dives as your comfort levels increase.

Final Thoughts

The truth of the matter is that solo should not be stigmatized. Like many activities done responsibly, it is perfectly safe within reason. The initial hysteria about solo diving caused it to go underground, becoming an unspoken secret within the community. Openly talking about the pros and cons of solo diving lets divers make informed choices. Shining the light and putting any subject under scrutiny can only lead to positive outcomes in the long run. Ultimately individual divers need to make their own minds up about solo diving!