Scuba Diving Earth

Scuba Diving Blog & Forum

Can You Scuba Dive By Yourself? (Is Diving Alone Safe or Illegal?)

Can you scuba dive by yourself - Is diving alone safe or illegal large

If you would like to know whether you can you scuba dive by yourself. Plus whether or not you need a dive buddy to go scuba diving, this article is for you.

Can you scuba dive by yourself? You can scuba dive by yourself, as there are no laws to stop you from doing so, but one of the main scuba diving safety rules you learn in diver training is to never dive alone.

The best way to do more diving and avoid having to dive alone, is to book yourself on a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on liveaboards using the following window:

Is it illegal to scuba dive alone?

Many ask the question “is scuba diving alone illegal“. Whilst it’s not illegal to dive alone, it doesn’t mean you should.

You could ask the question “can you jump off a building by yourself?” The answer would be yes. But then you’d be foolish to do such a thing. The same applies to scuba diving.

Whilst you can scuba dive by yourself, you learn in your scuba diver training about the dangers of diving alone.

All diver training is taught on the buddy system. This means that divers should always dive in pairs for safety. This applies whether you get certified to dive with PADI, BSAC, NAUI, SSI or with any other scuba diving organisation.

More Reading: PADI vs SSI vs NAUI vs BSAC (Differences & is one certification better?)

Can you dive alone with PADI Open Water?

PADI diving instruction teaches you to never dive alone.

When you qualify as a PADI Open Water diver, you’ll be taught the dive buddy system. This means that you are always pair-up with another diver on a dive.

This means that you are there to look after your buddy and watch out for them and they do the same for you. If you were to run out of air, they are there to give you their alternative air source or ‘Octopus’ air supply, and visa versus.

More Reading: How deep can you dive with an open water certification?

Liveaboard.com search worldwide destinations

How old do you have to be to scuba dive alone ?

There is no age limit either to how old do you have to be to scuba dive alone or not. Buddy diving applies to divers or all ages, both young and old and to beginners or experienced divers alike.

To enrol on a PADI Scuba Diver course (or Junior Scuba Diver course), you must be 10 years old or older. But even at this young age, these junior divers will be taught the safe buddy diving system too.

More Reading: How do I get a dive buddy? (5 easy ways to find a dive buddy)

How to gain further dives as a newly certified open water diver

If you’re a newly certified open water diver. But also if you think you have no means to gain further dives, unless you dive alone, please think again.

If you live somewhere cold like the UK, Canada or in regions of America where the waters are cold, save your money to go on a dive trip somewhere warm and sunny.

Wherever you live in the world, your best bet to gain more dives is to book yourself on a liveaboard trip.

On a liveaboard you’ll meet other divers. You’ll be buddied up with other single divers and you’ll do more dives per day than any other dive trip. If you don’t have a dive buddy, and if you’d like to get more bottom time, go on a liveaboard dive trip for beginners.

More Reading: Liveaboard Diving For Beginners (10 Top Liveaboard Destinations)

I hope you enjoyed this article about can you scuba dive by yourself

I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about can you scuba dive by yourself), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.

Have fun and be safe!

More Reading: Best Places To Scuba Dive For Beginners (The Best Beginner Scuba Destinations)

Can You Scuba Dive By Yourself? (Is Diving Alone Safe or Illegal?)

Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to top