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1. "When you use redundant equipment, you do not need a diving buddy" This statement is often heard among technical divers. I accepted it when I just finished my technical diving course. I did two solo dives until I started to think more about the safety aspects of solo diving. Just like most divers, I copied the behavior of the divers around me, before I started to develop my own judgement. The use of redundant equipment, like a twin-set with independent regulators, two dive-computers, a spare-mask, etcetera, does not compensate completely for a diving buddy. For example, what do you do with a severe entanglement in a fishing net? Who helps you when you get "deep water blackout", when you faint underwater? Who corrects you when you make a mistake and stop following the dive-plan? In all these examples a good diving buddy can help out, and your redundant equipment not. If you look at it this way, a good diving buddy is the most important "piece of equipment" you take with you on a dive. 2. "Unknown and inexperienced diving buddies can be more of a problem then a solution" Especially when you go on diving vacations alone, it is not always easy to find a good diving buddy. On the boat you just get paired with another diver, and off you go. And when you then have negative experiences you can start to think that a diving buddy is a problem, instead of a solution when you get into trouble. Being prepared and looking for a good buddy is in the case a far better solution than solo diving. You can hire a private guide, choose diving operators who have smaller groups and more attention for individuals. You can use the Internet to look for a like-minded diving buddy, there are plenty of forums for divers available. No matter what your level of experience and your interests in diving, you can always find people who want to dive the way you want to dive. Putting in this extra bit of effort to be better prepared and find better buddies will pay off. Most people who have good buddies do not even think anymore about solo diving. 3. "I simply enjoy diving alone" There are divers who are aware that solo diving in general has higher risks then diving with a buddy, but are willing to accept the risks because they like the solitude of solo diving. This is a difficult situation. If our society accepts it when people work themselves to death, or engage in other high-risk sports for the adrenaline kicks, can we then prohibit solo diving if an adult is willing to take the added risk? I do not think we will ever be able to do that, or even should be able to do that. But everybody who thinks and acts this way should realize two things: that every diver is a role-model that will be followed by other divers, especially the instructors among the role-models. And that whether you dive solo or not, you are still part of the diving community. Your safety standards will always affect the sport as a whole. Most people who dive alone enjoy their diving more when they find the right buddy to share their diving experiences. 4. Solo diving is being marketed, creating new markets. It is still true that every beginning diver has to follow the buddy system. But solo diving courses are being offered now. And that means that it is not unlikely that in the future people can also start with a solo diving course. Marketers loves to create new markets. And they change the idea the general population has about diving. Imagine someone entering a diving shop, with a question about beginners courses, and the dive center manager asking: "Are you interested in diving with a buddy, or are you looking for a solo-diving course?" This is the next "logical" step organizations promoting solo diving will take. Because if you defend solo diving as a serious option, then why not start with it? It will mean that a certain group of people, not interested in the social aspects of diving but only interested in diving alone, will be added to the potential customers of the diving industry. It means that, after children and people with mild forms of asthma and diabetes, now people who are too individualistic for buddy-diving will be targeted by the diving industry. Marketing is very powerful. If you can spend millions of dollars you can make people believe the world is flat, if you want to. I think that industry-supported solo diving will only stop when governments make regulations against it. That an increase in solo diving will lead to an increase in diving accidents, followed by changes in regulation by governments.
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