Solo Diver

[Laurie S.]

It all comes down to doing your research, and I do a lot before I pick a company. I've been diving throughout the Caribbean and Mexico and French Polynesia for the last three years and have dived during cruises in 31 ports. I've done five ship's excursions, three of which were good, one was bad, and one was abysmal. One of the good ones was due to a small group, and two were good because the dive shop let us dive away from the group on our own.

 

I won't do a private excursion, if it's going to be a cattle boat and I make that very clear when I contact a company. I think the most divers I've ever had on a private boat was eight, which didn't matter since we already had arranged to be allowed to do our own thing and not dive with the group once we arrived at the dive site.

 

I've also done one ship's dive where there were only five divers. That was great, but also very unusual. Every other time, it has been a cattle boat, mostly loaded with beginner divers. We had a cattle boat in Nassau last month, but fortunately, most of the divers were experienced and we had no problems. I'm an underwater photographer and need to be away from the other divers to have a chance at getting good photos without the visibility being ruined.

[CalaDragonflyLady]

My experience as a solo diver leads me to believe that you better be prepared to the the one following people around as your dive 'buddy' will wander off the instant you turn to look at a fish.

 

That happened to me the last time I dove Cozumel! My dive buddy just took off and the dive master was wildly waving his hands at ME when he found me without her. I'm still a little ticked about it! :p I tend to keep track of everyone for the most part, but especially the DM, even if I've been paired with someone else.

[BillOh]

BUt I really don't think anyone really wants to be a buddy with a first time diver so I'm not sure if I want to look for buddy.

 

 

 

I understand the logic of that, but you maybe surprised, you might come across an experienced diver who enjoys helping others and if you appear intelligent and in control it may not be so bad. When I did my certification dive I was teamed with a gentleman who was going for the next certification and we got along great.

[BillOh]

two ways to approach this

 

1. Just tell the crew/DM that you are a newbie and solo and a GOOD DM will just tell you to hang with them

 

2. on the ride over/out/upto whatever, look for what appears to be a pair of experienced divers - a man/women husband/wife team is best - then simply introduce yourself and ask if you can buddy with them. Worked for me MANY times.

 

A friendly experienced diver is happy to have a novice along (so long as they don't seriously screw up the dive aka YOU HAVE GOOD BASIC SKILLS)

 

I'd buddy up with you if asked .....

 

I thought that was a well worded message. I'd like to think I fall into the good basic skills category. My only other thought is while I'm in overall good shape (ran a couple of marathons and 1/2 marathons) in my newbie state I'm a bit of an 02 hog and I think in my certification dives, I ran low first. My scheduled upcoming dive is a 2 tank dive, so hopefully that will help for whomever gets paired with me.

[Dabaras]

I avoid getting the "new diver" as much as possible. I don't want to get sued if he kills himself (as a DM, I might) and as a photographer, I make a pretty lousy buddy. I'm more of a "same ocean" kind of buddy when I'm diving for myself. If I am there to be a DM, it is a different story.

 

In general, the bigger the camera a diver has, the worse he is as a buddy...

[Laurie S.]

I avoid getting the "new diver" as much as possible. I don't want to get sued if he kills himself (as a DM, I might) and as a photographer, I make a pretty lousy buddy. I'm more of a "same ocean" kind of buddy when I'm diving for myself. If I am there to be a DM, it is a different story.

 

In general, the bigger the camera a diver has, the worse he is as a buddy...

 

I'm with you, I'd rather dive solo than with an instabuddy. If I'm on a cruise, I'm not working as a DM and I do carry a big camera. ;)

[Mykal]

Believe me, the dive shop will not send you in without a dive buddy.

[Laurie S.]

They won't send a beginner or intermediate diver in without a buddy. I've dived solo with several shops.

[Capt_BJ]

people with cameras make poor buddys

 

this from one who had a camera along for every dive for a number of years. at that time, dw was my buddy and she KNEW she was 'my wing man' .. but I was not watching out for her . . .

 

The time she was trying to get my attention to tell me a LARGE green moray was what was tickling my inner thigh as I tried and tried to get just the right angle for a picture is one to remember. When I finally looked down between my legs .. !!!!!!!

 

I was a solo diver many many times when on R&R stops and so I'm very willing to be your buddy .... but I will assume you have zero open water dives and be very very cautious. That's OK with me, I'm happy just to get wet.

 

I'm off to Cayman for a week with dd very soon - newly certified I'm gonna teach her how to be a good diver and good buddy.

 

Sunset House here we come . . .

 

(DW is a tax CPA and so dad and dd have done spring break trips as a 'bonding thing' forever . . . mom is happy to see it and be able to work the extra hours with no guilt. what's not to love?)

[Laurie S.]

Same here, I'm almost always with my camera rig when diving. If I don't have that, then it's a spear gun, but not on a cruise. My fiancé, who is an MSDT, is my dive buddy and I know he's always watching me when I'm diving with my camera. I feel very safe. If I'm solo with a camera, then I'm a lot more aware and watchful of everything. But I won't buddy with anyone else if I'm photographing because I won't be watching them, and I'm very upfront about that when on a dive boat.

[Dabaras]

My wife usually functions as my spotter. She stays right next to me. Last trip to Bali we got a dedicated DM, which was helpful since I was there with my daughter (didn't reserve one, it was just the way they did it where we were staying)