Diving alone

[misterlizard]

Yes, it's that old chestnut again.
I pretty much always dive alone as if I tried to arrange diving with other people then I'd never get in the water, I have to grab the chances when they crop up.
However, I only ever dive in water up to around 8m deep, I do long breathups and short bottom times which don't push my limits at all. I have a personal best breathold of just over 4 minutes, but I never spend more than 1 minute under water when alone so I return to the surface before I actually need to breathe.
Every other spearo that I have met so far dives alone most of the time for the same reasons as me, so I was just interested to see how many others out there do it. For me the choice is to hunt alone or pretty much never hunt at all.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm not condoning diving alone, of course it is safer to dive with a buddy, so if you're wondering whether to dive alone or not then the advice is not to. However, we all have to make up our own minds when it comes down to it.

 

[Sean Keenan]

Hi I was a "most of the time" kind of guys and feel I need to raise a point or two on this topic.

Point 1: If I am diving alone (no other friends meeting, kiting up together and entering at the same time) I stick to the shallows 5m or less and I don't push myself to hard. Like Misterlizard I never go near my max time.

Point 2: When I do go out with my buddies 2 to 4 of them we are never within 10/20 meters of each other so I feel I am alone anyway. Looking at a few others spearos recently at Weymouth/Portland this is a common practice.

 

[barny02]

Hi I dive alone alot mainly because people are busy etc. I am always very careful on my tod and always wear a computer to ensure I have good surface time to recover. I also keep my bottom times short. I would prefer to dive with a buddy. My biggest fear is always nets etc, around Portland I have seen gill nets just off shore. Problem is that a lot of people including myself end up pushing themselves that little bit to much ( now over 40 I am a bit more cautious ). My only advice is to get a good mentor (or get on a course for freediving) and listen to them I had a good mentor who I owe my life too.

 

[mirror]

Hi i dive mostly on my own,usually from a kayak in fairly remote spots on the coast,but never really push myself that much,usually less than 10 metres deep.I have seen many articles insisting you should only dive with a buddy,but that can create problems in itself (see my last post OOOPS! ) also in typical vis in this area a buddy close enough to keep an eye on you would be in range and/or scaring fish away, in the case of a shallow water blackout then surface cover as in scuba diving would be ideal. However spearos are few and far between so always having a buddy is unlikely.Also if another diver was in trouble ,unless you saw it actually happen,by the time you are sure they are in trouble and located them and effected any sort or rescue it could well be too late anyway,also one of the first rules of a rescue in any situation is not to put yourself in sufficient danger to become a casualty yourself !!! (i know that sounds a bit harsh but know it to be true in many cases)

 

[misterlizard]

This is all very interesting. Like most of you, I almost always dive alone, and as Sean pointed out, the very few times when I have dived with others we have been too far apart to give each other any safety cover anyway.
When I used to freedive regularly I used to do that with a buddy in a proper one-up-one-down system and felt good about doing that. But spearfishing is different somehow. I don't really want somebody within a couple of meters of me as they'll scare the fish away (or even worse they might shoot them themselves! rofl). And if they're any further away than that then they probably won't see that there's a problem before it's too late.
If I ever get round to doing some deeper spearfishing (like 10 - 30m) then I'll definitely only do it with proper buddying, but until that day I'll stick to my system of no hyperventilating, short bottom times, coming up at the first feeling of a need to breathe, long surface recovery time, and no deeper than 10m.
To be honest, a large part of the reason why I posted this thread was to reassure myself that I wasn't the only one diving alone most of the time as I was starting to scare myself by reading posts from all those people who say never dive alone or you'll die which I think is a bit unnecessary really. I'm glad to see that I'm very far from being alone (excuse the pun) and that there are other sensible people out there who weigh up the risks and decide that spearfishing is worth it and is safe enough if you're sensible.
Just to reiterate the important note to all readers: I don't condone diving alone, but I think that each spearo should make up his/her own mind about whether it suits them.

 

[fcallagy]

a lot of people end up doing it and for the reasons above. its not safe its just russian roullette and the odds are stacked in your favour ie five epty chambers vrs one full one. I do it myself so not giving out here. Most spearos practice same ocean buddy which is the same as being alone. a buddy 100 yds away from you will never find you if you bo etc or unlikely to in time anyway. I think the danger with spearing si temptation. You are down at the ned of your dive and have seen no fish worth shooting till you see that whopper and wait a bit more for him to come in, take the shot and the ensuing struggle and make your ascent, thats when the problem may occur imho. listen to your body is the only advice and do a course if you can.

 

[cdavis]

As someone who was a fanatic spearo, always speared "same ocean", had a friend B0 on a recreational dive(he was doing something stupid), learned how to buddy spear, then watched the same buddy B0 again on an easy dive well within his capacity, I suggest learning how to buddy spear, even if it is an inconvenient pain. I'm lucky, its clear where I dive, but spearing with a buddy is doable anywhere. You can limit your diving to "safe" limits all you want and bad things can still sneak up on you. fcallagy called it Russian Roulette, he's right. Be careful and maybe there is only one bullet every few hundred dives, but it can still kill you.

Fair warning, buddy diving can be addictive. Don't get your fix and you might not want to dive(personal experience).

Connor

 

[dom12]

I find spearing by your self is the best, yes its pretty unsafe because of a few things that could happen if you are unlucky. But i find the experience is always good alone.
You can focus just on your self and listen to your body so much better with no distractions.
You wake up, tell your self what you are ganna do, pick a nice spot thats not too deep and wont test your max, close to shore.
Get in the water, go into your own trance, no one else to scare or shoot your fish, no extreme breath holds, just whats confertable and enough for the fish you are shooting.
Although i have no one else watching over me, being so focused on myself and my surroundings with out any one else distracting me or making me worry about them, makes me feel safer and actualy makes it abit safer for me as ive got complete attention.

(not saying, every body go out by your self and it will be exactly the same and nothing will happen ... i just know myself/body, area and backup well ).

Dom.