Bad Buddy... no cookie!

[BIGG_BUDD]

I'm on dial up! I've been buffering or transfering or something for 10 minutes!

They still offer dial up?

 

[scubarealtor]

if i've never had a bad buddy does that mean I AM the bad buddy?

kinda like the saying "everyone lives next to an idiot, if you don't have an idiot next to you then....."

 

[pwl]

worst buddy action i've seen was while DM'ing for a (fairly big) OW class. two new students - boyfriend/girlfriend, the girl obviously not at all comfortable in the water, and really struggling on her first OW dive. the boyfriend had powered ahead, much stonger & more able, so i stayed back with the girl & got her calmed down, etc.

when her "buddy" came back i almost wanted to clock him one i did some very good mime actions of "for 's sake stay with your ing buddy" at him & watched them like a hawk from then on.

i guess they were new, and he was just going with the flow, but it seems weird to me that he'd leave his gf without noticing - other people randomly paired up for the class were paying much more attention to each other :/

 

[cascbagrl]

We had a guy at Pt. Lobos ask us if he could tag along because he didnt have anyone to dive with and so we said sure, he had this pony bottle and was almost out of air and had to surface so we waved goodbye and sent him on his way, after we got out everyone seemed to warn us about this guy, so needless to say we don't do that anymore.

 

[boulderjohn]

Without question, my worst buddy was the photohound with the huge digital memory card who took 120 shots while covering about 200 feet of terrritory on a dive lasting over an hour. He never noticed that I attempted suicide several times during the dive.

 

[Eileentk]

My worst buddy was a fellow DM (back a couple of years) who informed me that part of his dive plan was to plan to share my air on the way back since he was an air hog. I dove with him anyway (not too smart on my part) and kept checking his air throughout the dive. Then I insisted that he ascend at 1000 psi (deep but no deco dive off the NC coast). When we got back on the boat he was really angry at me and claimed that he never ascended until he was down to 500 psi. Next dive (yep, I repeated my mistake) he led the dive and raced around the wreck at warp speed. I kept up with him but didn't enjoy the dive (missed a lot of the good stuff). Within 12 minutes he was down to 800 psi and headed up the line. Needless to say, I finally learned my lesson and will never dive with this DM again.

 

[SoggyShoes]

As for warning signs, as Doc said earlier “..listen to that inner voice”. On vacation I often need a buddy. I usually try chat with my new buddy. If the buddy comes across as arrogant or puts others/things down I would find a new buddy. If the buddy comes across as a jerk, doesn’t listen, or can’t pay attention I would find a new buddy. If the buddy wont seriously discuss what equipment we are using, signals, and the dive plan I would find a new buddy. I did this once and found out later that the guy I refused to dive with just about killed him and his buddy. I felt sorry for his new buddy but was happy it wasn’t me.

I also don’t feel that a new diver is not a bad buddy if they are trying and attempting to do what there supposed to be doing. I still feel that I am a newby and we all have to learn sometime. I dove with a girl that was on her first open water dive after completing her course at home. She was having trouble with buoyancy and we just stopped relaxed, worked on it, and adjusted her weight. After the dive she was so thankful. By the end of the week she did her deep-water certification and did great!

 

[DiverLS]

First she said "wow - this looks rough" I said once you got under the water, it isn't rough. Bad idea. So she jumped off the boat with me, decended immediately so all I could do was follow. I ususally use the anchor line. There was current so the free fall pulled us behind the boat. Then she wouldn't put a finger down to keep the current from pulling us further back. When we got back on the boat she told me she didn't want to harm the "reef." After that she saw a swim through and pushed her way through spreading rock & reef all over the place. So we ended up a good swim from the boat. The poor crew - I kept signaling OK and she kept signaling Help. When I couldn't tow her to the boat, they came and got us. I hate it when they come get me.

 

[Sasquatch]

We had a guy at Pt. Lobos ask us if he could tag along because he didnt have anyone to dive with and so we said sure, he had this pony bottle and was almost out of air and had to surface so we waved goodbye and sent him on his way, after we got out everyone seemed to warn us about this guy, so needless to say we don't do that anymore.

Why?

I mean, this was a bad buddy somehow? So, you waved good bye and he left and there were warnings about something from someone and now you won't dive with a stranger? Is that pretty much it?

I'm so confused...:11:

 

[trucker girl]

I also don’t feel that a new diver is not a bad buddy if they are trying and attempting to do what there supposed to be doing.

I dove yesterday and today on checkout dives for OW students. One had surprisingly good buoyancy control (I was kinda jealous, actually...) and the other was good for a final checkout dive IMO. The second was a 15-year-old who probably has a had time fitting in for reasons that don't really matter to decent people- but DO matter to other 15-year-olds... He displayed a lot of maturity in front of the two non-diving teens who came with us to snorkel. His buoyancy needed help. Okay, needed a lot of help, but I would dive with him again. With the understanding that it would be a very short dive for me and I would have 18-2000 left in the tank.

So, I would have to agree with SoggyShoes on this. What a strange sounding sentance that was. Hmmm...