Being a single diver, I've had to dive with many strangers, a lot of whom are now good friends & dive buddies. The only bad experience I've had so far was my last dives at a local quarry last month. During the winter months the quarry requires a minimum of 4 divers to open up. I got on a couple of boards & advertised. I got a couple of guys from the LDS & then was contacted by someone on this board. When she contacted me, she made a comment that should have set flags up. She basically said she was interested in going with us so she could solo dive with out drawing attention to herself to the owners. At one time I had heard the quarry was considering implementing rules about solo diving, because of some near misses by some uncertified divers try to solo dive. But I had never heard if for sure the rule was set. I told her of what I knew & she changed her tune that she would hang out with us as I was wanting to practice a few skills in my doubles. That was cool, no problem. We got to the quarry & geared up. It was decided that I would go with one of the guys & this lady would buddy with the other guy. After we got split up due to low vis, we all found our way to a familiar training platform & met up & surfaced. At that point one of the guys (the one with the other lady) started having some equipment problems & decided to head back to shore & wait on us. So it was down to 3 of us. The guy I was with then asked about a dive plan. At that point this lady says that she is going to do her solo dive & proceeds to immediately descend, leaving the guy I was diving with & myself looking at eachother, blinking:w-t-f:. We then decided to follow a road down to the deep end & to a depth of almost 100ft. We did a 1hr dive & came out about 35 min after the lady had come off her dive. We then find out at that point that she was a relatively new diver with only about 25dives (I have 140 dives & still consider myself not all that experienced). Anywho, my buddy asked her what the deal was & she said that she had intended form the beginning to dive solo & only wanted to "be in our group" to fool the owners. Well this didn't sit well with my buddy or myself. She proceeds to pack up & leave, while the 2 guys & I continue to discuss what had happened. We decided it to be prudent to alert the owner as to what had happened. We explain & I also told them what she had told me online & that it sounded like she had changed her plans when I told her that I thought there were rules about having to be solo certified. Well, needless to say, the owner wasn't too happy about that & decided to put this diver on a watch list. Basically to dive there again, she will have to have a definite buddy & would be watch to make sure she stays with them. Other than that I have been blessed to dive with many strangers that have been excellent divers & some even taught me a little here & there.
