Should You Consider Solo Cave Diving?
Just like deciding to cave dive, deciding to cave dive solo is a personal choice and decision. Not all cave divers will decide to become solo cave divers, just like not all scuba divers will become cave divers. This choice is reserved for those with the skill, training, redundancy, and experience. I think the 1% rule applies again here. While 1% of the entire scuba diving community has the skills needed to cave dive, so too I think that only 1% of the cave diving community possesses what is needed to safely cave dive solo. If you are in this 1%, you should communicate your decision to your family; and, your family should respect that decision should something happen to you. Although some sites prohibit solo cave diving, there are plenty of caves where you can. So how do you decide if you should consider it or not?The concept of a ?buddy? when you dove was taken from the YMCA rule to never go swimming alone. Since then, especially in recreational diving, it?s become the norm. But over the past years, we?ve started seeing people begin to question that standard. And I think rightly so. There?s even been a book or two written on the subject. One training agency even has a specialty certification now for solo (TDI - Technical Diving International).
It just befuddles my mind that we can drive cross country solo, pilot a plane solo, take a boat out into the ocean solo, swim solo, go hunting solo, go shopping solo, go anything solo, but when it comes to putting your head under H2O, it?s just taboo. I can honestly say I enjoy diving with a buddy more than I would diving solo, but does that mean that there is NEVER a time to solo? I wouldn?t go so far as to say that.
Solo cave diving may be preferable under several circumstances. Some explorers (including Sheck Exley in Caverns Measureless To Man) say exploring far reaches, low areas, extremely low visibility, great depths, long durations, or sumps often doesn?t allow for many people specially skilled enough for that level to accompany you. And there are places like sumps where having to be distracted by keeping up with a buddy can actually be a negative rather than positive. Another instance is perhaps in surveying. Maybe other divers just don?t want to hang around hardly going anywhere while you take data points. Maybe that?s boring to them. If you want to do some detailed survey maps, then it may be better to do it alone. Another instance might be when you have an opportunity to go diving and none of your buddies are available. Does your dive schedule have to be dictated by other people?s schedules? Just picking ANYBODY may work OK in the open water environment, but when you start talking cave, most people won?t just dive with anybody, especially including WKPP?rs.
There have also been many documented instances during an emergency when a dive buddy was either of no use, caused the emergency to begin with, or made the emergency worse by overreacting or panicing. I do think to some degree, many (but not ALL) opponents of solo may not be comfortable with the idea for themselves and therefore project their fears onto others. Then again, there are some who are very against it, but have impeccable skill. WKPP and DIR proponents, for example, do not advocate solo diving, period. I do personally solo cave dive from time to time.
Taking a quote from Stephen Covey, interdependence is something we should all strive for, but is only an obtainable goal for those who have already become independent. Put another way, as a person matures, he goes from dependence to independence and then hopefully to interdependence. The individual cave diver MUST already be at the independent level to do ANY cave diving, buddy or solo. If you are relying on anyone else to save you, then you are dependent and have no business being in a cave. Being that most cave divers are already independent, I think is partly the reason many don?t mind diving solo. Because when they dive, whether with a buddy or not, in their minds, they are prepared to dive and rescue themselves if necessary. Each cave diver is a complete & redundant unit in and of himself. A buddy is nothing more than additional duplication. That having been said, the only thing a solo diver can not duplicate is his mind. That is when a buddy CAN come in handy. But I did say CAN. If he is incompetent to handle the particular emergency then he?s going to be a false sense of security and an additional liability. If he forgets which direction is exit and you two start arguing over it, this can be a REAL problem. Two heads aren?t ALWAYS better than one. Experience is the ONLY thing that can thwart panic.
One thing that chaps my butt more than anything else is for a non-cave diver to have an opinion about whether or not a cave diver should ever consider solo cave diving or diving solo in open water, for that matter. A non-cave diver has NO knowledge base from which to pull when making such a statement. Most likely it's from an emotional state of mind than anything factual. These people have never gone cave diving. They don't know what it's like, how the conditions are so different in many different caves, how solo procedures could be utilized to minimize the additional risk, etc. A non-cave diver communicating a negative opinion of solo cave diving is like me communicating a negative opinion for the latest procedure in neurosurgery. What the heck would I know about neurosurgery? - and likewise to the non-cave diver.
I do believe solo cave diving has its place in the cave diving community. But this isn?t necessarily a goal very many hope to achieve, nor should they. Just like special ops are needed at times in the military, I think solo is a needed component of a complete arsenal a diver should have access to. But if you do choose to dive solo, there are some things to consider.
Diving solo does add a level of risk to an otherwise already risky sport. But I think that additional risk can be managed just like the risks in buddy cave diving are. I would not advocate a newly certified cave diver attempt solo. Experience is one of the primary criteria I think should be evaluated. I also believe there are some caves that are acceptable for solo. Given you have experience in the system, a cave with high flow, low silt potential, heavily dived, or multiple exits are good places to consider. Places that come to mind are Jackson Blue, Little River, Devil?s Ear, Telford, Madison Blue, etc. I also think Peacock is OK, however they don?t allow it. I?ve dove Peacock so many times, I could find my way to the exit like I were driving home. I?d feel very comfortable solo diving that cave.
Another thing to consider is additional redundancy. I?d bring at least one extra back-up light (4 lights in total) and a stage bottle (full AL80). Many people would do the same, but I think many of them have the stage bottle thing backwards. I would breathe the stage and leave the backgas untouched. This way if something happened, I could drop my stage that?s now nearly empty and creating extra drag. Being more streamlined now, I can make a run for the door slick and maintain a redundant system (my doubles). Those who have it backwards suggest leaving the stage alone (for emergency use only) and only diving doubles. But this doesn?t make sense. You are saying that in the event both posts on your doubles fail, you are left with nothing but a stage bottle. This stage has only one reg (no extra redundancy). Furthermore, you?re saying that you are going to reserve your last working reg that will save your life the FARTHEST from your mouth, stowed on the side of the tank with it turned off. Doesn?t make any sense to me at all. Granted, we are talking about multiple failures on the same dive. Something that 99% of the time will never happen.
It is noteworthy to point out that at least one training agency is considering adding solo diving to the five rules of accident analysis, making it the six rules. But as of this writing, I don?t think it?s been formalized. I think one of the reasons is that although solo diving itself does not KILL you, it has been a contributing factor in some accidents in the past. They usually had to have done something else wrong before the absence of a dive buddy had any impact. Then again it?s also been said that the very fact of having someone else there with you when an emergency develops has a psychologically calming effect, even if the buddy can?t help you.
I?ve heard the comment being made that those caves have been there for thousands of years and they?ll be there next weekend. While that is true, there is no guarantee that you won?t die before the next weekend gets here, for whatever reason. So there are many things to consider before saying with absolute certainty that solo cave diving is taboo. As I said, I think it has its place, but should be executed with additional planning and equipment to keep the additional risks to a minimum.