What Kind of Insta-buddy Experience Do You Prefer

[Trailboss123]

I read and re-read all of your criteria a number of times and the following point is what helped me make a decision:
4.) All divers on the boat are as capable or more so than you
Given that criteria, as well as the others, I'd probably choose to try and find a compatible buddy to share the dive experience with. I enjoy making new dive friends and sharing experiences. That being said, in reality and the real dive world I live in, criteria #4 is very rare for me. Thus, I choose to dive solo and enjoy everyone's company on the boat ride out, back and the surface intervals.

 

[Darghu]

I am still a big newbie but I pretty feel that "Team diving" and "Panned Solo" are really interesting.
You trust in someone who got similar common training and / or you trust youself and only yourself.
I know that Team diving might not be compatible with Solo diving but both give a decent complementary behaviour.

 

[chrisch]

I am still a big newbie but I pretty feel that "Team diving" and "Panned Solo" are really interesting.
You trust in someone who got similar common training and / or you trust youself and only yourself.
I know that Team diving might not be compatible with Solo diving but both give a decent complementary behaviour.

Team diving is a state of mind. IMHO you can be a team diver without having the same agency background as the other team members. Often you can see that divers who are "team" oriented will have very similar equipment.

Comes down to trust at the end of the day.

 

[EricTheDood]

#6, solo.

Trust no one.

It's a diver-eat-diver world.

 

[AdivingBel]

For me it depends upon the dive. If it's a relatively shallow reef bimble, I'll #3 with just about any insta-buddy and have done so on many occasions. I prefer to not have them "up in my grill." 10 to 20 ft. is close enough and if they want to explore the other side of a coral head, as long as I can see their bubbles, it's fine with me. If things really get dire, and I can't get their attention (or vise versa), there is always the big air tank in the sky.

Generally I won't do a more challenging dive with an insta-buddy, though it doesn't take a ton of experience diving with someone for me to absolve them of insta-buddy status (obviously seen from my perspective). If I'm dive traveling, I'm usually there for a week or so, so many times I'll dive with someone a few times. If they have their s**t together, I'll do more advanced dives with them. The more advanced the dive, the more I prefer tighter buddy coordination. We'll have a more in depth chat prior to splashing on those types of dives.

This is all high viz, "tidy bowl," rec diving. It's not a perfect world and this reflects the reality of my experience with this type of diving. If the dive briefing is done well, I prefer to do my own navigation rather than follow a guide (unless mandated). Some group diving is o.k. but it has a higher propensity of turning into a "monkey f**k." I hate wasting good dives without a good reason. All that said, since my wife now dives, my insta-buddy diving is far more rare and I prefer it that way. Good dive buddies are a treasure. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[Schwob]

@drrich
Simple, but quite interesting survey!

 

[glassbottom]

I voted before I've seen your conditions. Under your stipulation, close buddy pair would be my preference. in real life I'm working to get down to option 6.

Ditto. I prefer #2 and with my regular buddy that's how we dive. If we are spear fishing, only one of us is hunting and the other is on watch of the hunter.

In reality I assume in an instabuddy situation I'm diving #6. I do have a 19cu pony and spare reg which is fine for my depth experience. I practice with it in springs whenever I can as well. I have not needed it for myself but had had someone in a group dive go ooa because he paid no mind to anything (his partner was actually under weighted and didn't dive and he never even noticed) need air and I handed it to him. He still does group dives with my group, but he'll never be my buddy.

 

[nolatom]

I would rather dive solo than with a "loose buddy" or "same ocean" buddy. And I don't particularly want to dive solo, just in case something went south and no one's near.

So I (who typically takes an insta-buddy) want to know (especially on first dive) what buddy's rate of air usage is. You have to stay close to know that, or be good at agreed-upon hand signals if you're "sorta close". So we will compare pressure readings while still on the boat, then I'll know at 2000psi signal if we differ much. And on that, depends when we are going to turn the dive. I don't see how you can buddy if you are so far away that you don't do that, because you won't have a dive plan, nor sufficient communication to carry out one even if you did have a plan.

Second dive, it's easier since we're more familiar. Maybe then I'd settle for farther apart.

 

[OMANDIVER]

Pretty relaxed but no photographers ( i dont mean a little compact). Period.

 

[divenski]

#3, assuming everyone is at least as good a diver. Or at least has decent bouyancy and situational awareness. More often end up #4 when I do a trip without a known buddy. I like to share a dive, finding critters, and know that someone has my back if needed.