“Buddy Diving is Safe.
Solo Diving Isn’t.”
I should tell you going in that I’m no fan of solo diving — chiefly because I’ve done so much of it. I’m not talking about my early commercial dives, where the visibility was so bad, you could not see a buddy if you had one (although you did have a surface tender with a line on you). Nor am I talking about my exploratory dives in underwater caves, using sidemount gear, where the passageways were so small and tight, the last thing I wanted was a larger buddy getting himself wedged into an opening and blocking my only avenue of escape.
No, what I’m talking about is all the dives I’ve made as an instructor, with up to half a dozen new divers who:
- Thought I was bulletproof.
- Wouldn’t recognize that I was in trouble if they saw it, and…
- Couldn’t help me if they did.
I always love it when instructors pontificate about the “evils” of solo diving. Doing so is so hypocritical. At least when you are solo diving, you can devote 100 percent of your attention to looking out for yourself. When you are teaching, your attention is devoted to everyone else’s safety. No one is looking out for you.
There is a hierarchy of diving safety, based on who you are or are not diving with. And, guess what? Solo diving is not necessarily at the bottom of the list. Case in point:
- Two competent divers are almost certainly safer diving together than one competent solo diver diving alone.
- A competent solo diver, however, could very well be safer than he would be if he had to devote his attention to the shortcomings of a less-than-competent buddy.
- A competent solo diver is almost certainly safer that two incompetent buddies diving together.
Of course, at the very bottom of the barrel is the incompetent diver diving alone — especially if that diver has an unjustifiably high opinion of his own abilities. (This is also known as “suicide through stupidity.”)
Obviously, I have no difficulty with instructors promoting the notion that competent buddies, diving together, are safest and have the most fun. I certainly have more fun when I’m with other divers and, assuming they are equally competent, I feel more comfortable doing so.
I just get bent out of shape when instructors point their fingers at those “evil” solo divers when, in fact, by diving with students, what they are doing is potentially more risky.
Think about it.
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