No dive buddy

[Chavodel8en]

As for finding buddies, you may meet some in class. There may be a dive club in your area. I agree with the suggestion of FB dive groups and/or dive pages - its how I arrange buddies. There is also Meetup.com, which may have dive groups in your area.

 

[nolatom]

Don't feel you have to have a ready-made buddy-- show up early at the dive boat dock, let them know you need a buddy, and be candid about your newbie-ness. I've found the Captains and DMs who match you up if you don't do it yourself, have been pretty good at it in my humble opinion. "Instabuddies", though frequently referred to on message boards with disparagement, can be okay, or good, or better than good. That's been my experience so far, I'm typically alone and get matched up on-site.

Hint-- early on, scout out dive boats going to dive spots that aren't someplace "special" to dive--stick to the good old "normal" sites that are not too deep or difficult, and it'll be easier for you to snag a decent buddy who won't resent your newness, and be willing to do it for the good of the sport, since it's a routine dive he/she has done many times, and not someplace new and precious and challenging where they understandably don't want a newbie who might hold them back and use air too quickly.

 

[nolatom]

A quick PS to mine above: once you've got some experience and confidence thanks to your early-on buddies, it'll be your turn to buddy with the newbie. Diving in groups is pay-it-forward.

Best Wishes and Good Luck, it'll work out fine.

 

[NothingClever]

I think it’s a mixed bag. I’ve been insta-buddied with some real dorks. I’m sure there are some dives where I was the real dork, too.

I think @nolatom gives great advice about arriving early. That gives the DM time to assess skills, go through some basic matchmaking and provides time to both parties to get to know each other. The more seasoned diver can proffer some pointers to the new diver and the new diver has time to absorb new information.

When buddies are assigned at the last second is when both parties feel burdened. The experienced diver feels like his dive profile just got compromised with an unknown variable that will require baby-sitting and the new diver, full of cheer and excitement, now feels like he is just that, a burden.

I think experienced DMs get in front of that stuff early to prevent disappointment. I think being a DM should be very personal with lots of eye contact, listening and pro-active problem-solving.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think it’s a mixed bag. I’ve been insta-buddied with some real dorks. I’m sure there are some dives where I was the real dork, too.

I think @nolatom gives great advice about arriving early. That gives the DM time to assess skills, go through some basic matchmaking and provides time to both parties to get to know each other. The more seasoned diver can proffer some pointers to the new diver and the new diver has time to absorb new information.

When buddies are assigned at the last second is when both parties feel burdened. The experienced diver feels like his dive profile just got compromised with an unknown variable that will require baby-sitting and the new diver, full of cheer and excitement, now feels like he is just that, a burden.

I think experienced DMs get in front of that stuff early to prevent disappointment. I think being a DM should be very personal with lots of eye contact, listening and pro-active problem-solving.

I agree. But on the 20 some charters I've been on the others usually were already paired up. So it may be me and one other "single" person. Arriving earlier at the dock won't help the DM change that situation. But, I've generally been very lucky with instabuddies.

 

[Antient Marriner]

Since you show the apparent interest and ability, go forth and get certified, THEN hunt up a partner. Here is my 'short story'; I was certified, fell out of the sport, now at 71 yrs. I am back into the Sport. I made mention of this hobby to my adult grand daughter, and she is taking the course {I bought the gear for her}. Soon I'll have a dive buddy. Just of it!

 

[NeilA.]

I didn’t enjoy scuba at first, it took a while. I got certified and dove primarily for social reasons, -girlfriend at the time enjoyed diving, as well as her family and friends. Now I am back into scuba (8yrs. later) and am enjoying it. I am more and more comfortable, and gain additional familiarity and confidence on every dive.

 

[Esprise Me]

Finding buddies sometimes takes work. But this is less of a problem with diving than it is a solution to a problem everyone faces--the difficulty of making new friends as an adult. Use all available channels: exchange contact info with the other students in your OW course (and consider additional courses after that), try to find some dive clubs in your area to join, sign up for dive events/trips where you'll be paired with someone, use this board and other social media to connect with others, and don't get discouraged if it takes a while.

I talked 3 friends into getting certified with me so that I'd have dive buddies, and I volunteered to collect email addresses and send around photos to the other 9 people in my OW class in hopes we could stay in touch. I never heard back from any of my other classmates--half of them did not finish the course when I did-- and my 3 friends didn't dive for at least 6 months after (one has not dived at all, almost three years later). Having no one to dive with, I took a solo day trip to Catalina and paid for a guide to get some experience, then took two solo trips to Mexico for some more diving (it was winter and rather chilly here, and I wasn't properly attired/acclimated.) I joined this board and started asking questions and chatting with people near me, though the actual dive plans never quite came together. I signed up for a cleanup dive event and was buddied with 2 other divers, who were pleasant enough but didn't seem keen to keep in touch. I signed up for some local day boats and met some nice people, but some weren't local, and others bailed on future plans. With more experience, I was gradually becoming a less dreadful buddy, but I still hadn't acquired any actual buddies.

But I didn't give up. I found a listing of local dive clubs and started showing up, and that's where things started clicking. I met experienced divers willing to invest in helping a noob like me develop, as well as other noobs who lived in the area and wanted to get something regular going with a peer. At another cleanup dive event, I met an instructor who organized regular events, and I started coming to those, too, and met more people. I became a regular at the local dive shop and met more of their regular customers. I made plans with one new friend, who sometimes brought another, and then that friend sometimes became my friend too. And eventually, 2 of my 3 friends who had gotten certified with me drifted back into it. I even began hearing about other friends who had been certified before but never dived locally, but were game to try with me, now that I knew the scene.

These days, I have enough dive buddies to fill a private charter, which I did, and in fact I struggle with occasional feelings of guilt that I can't include everyone I want or accept every invitation I get. But that's the social/emotional equivalent of a first-world problem!

It's a bit like dating. Some lucky bastards grow up next door to their soul mates, or marry their perfect dive buddies. Others of us have to subject ourselves to the indignities of speed dating and instabuddies, over and over, with nothing to show for it but some hilariously horrible anecdotes to share over drinks, until finally we find our partner/buddy. Your tribe is out there. Go get certified and find them!