So, when is the next...uh...I mean first... DIRF class coming to AK? Somehow I doubt they will find enough interest up here to make it worth the expense of a trip.... So in the meantime, I'll continue to be a non Doing it Perfect diver who dives with non Doing it Perfect buddies or better yet in some cases, I'll be imperfect by myself. In either case, I'll continue to do the best I can to keep improving my skills. I'll also keep diving with the attitude that I'll be the best buddy that I can be (which is clearly far from perfect), but as far as I'm concerned - I had better be able to extract my own self from any pinch I get myself into.
Beginning to understand why people dive solo
- Thread starter PA/NJdiver
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Phish-phood
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man I would hate to dive solo - I love having people around but maybe that's cause I am a new diver and love having people to share my excitement with when I see something new.
I have two regular buddies, one is my boyf and one is a mate of ours who I dive with most of the time. They are both excellant buddies with buckets of patience with me. I haven't ruled out diving with other people but if I do I would always downplay my abilities so that if surprised they would at least be pleasantly surprised. Many of the people that I know are more hacked off with the fact that you lie about your experience and lead them to believe that you are a better or more capable diver than you are. I find that when I tell people I am not very experienced and may need some help or do things wrong, they are really recpetive and a number of the more qualified divers will readily say 'that's okay I fancy an easy dive this weekend I'll dive with you and give you a few pointers'
I have two regular buddies, one is my boyf and one is a mate of ours who I dive with most of the time. They are both excellant buddies with buckets of patience with me. I haven't ruled out diving with other people but if I do I would always downplay my abilities so that if surprised they would at least be pleasantly surprised. Many of the people that I know are more hacked off with the fact that you lie about your experience and lead them to believe that you are a better or more capable diver than you are. I find that when I tell people I am not very experienced and may need some help or do things wrong, they are really recpetive and a number of the more qualified divers will readily say 'that's okay I fancy an easy dive this weekend I'll dive with you and give you a few pointers'
Gr8fldiver
Guest
all dive solo most of the time. Mostly everyone around here hunts, either with spearguns or for lobster and the buddy system just doesn't work well for that scenario. Of course again everyone dives all the time and is VERY familiar with the area and conditions.
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Guess I've been lucky ... I've been able to develop a great circle of dive buddies. Some interesting discussion I'd like to comment on ...
Kodiak ... you live in Vancouver and can't find dive buddies? That's like not being able to find angels in heaven. I know a great place for you to start ... there's a dive shop up there called BC Dive Adventures. Give them a call (Brent or James Mayall) and find out when their next fun dive is ... you'll end up meeting some really nice folks to dive with.
Snowbear ... your "buddy from hell" was diving EAN40 and told you he was cool to go to 120 feet? That's when I'd have informed him that doing so would probably give him oxygen convulsions, and asked to see his Nitrox card ... making the statement is a sure indication that he hadn't received Nitrox training. I'm currently in DM training myself, and often get paired up with the most inexperienced diver on a given trip. When it happens, I make sure we go through a dive plan carefully, and make sure my buddy knows that if we deviate from the plan I'll abort the dive immediately. So far, they've been really good about sticking to the plan.
Braunbehrens ... I'm not a DIR diver, but I have several dive buddies who are. I really don't know what all the fuss is about. Most of my DIR friends will dive with "DIW" types ... all they ask is that you are honest about your skills and dive safely. That's not an unreasonable expectation. Those few DIR divers I've run into who fit the "stereotype" usually aren't much fun to dive with anyway ... so no big loss.
Gr8fldiver ... cool ... a fellow Deadhead.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Kodiak ... you live in Vancouver and can't find dive buddies? That's like not being able to find angels in heaven. I know a great place for you to start ... there's a dive shop up there called BC Dive Adventures. Give them a call (Brent or James Mayall) and find out when their next fun dive is ... you'll end up meeting some really nice folks to dive with.
Snowbear ... your "buddy from hell" was diving EAN40 and told you he was cool to go to 120 feet? That's when I'd have informed him that doing so would probably give him oxygen convulsions, and asked to see his Nitrox card ... making the statement is a sure indication that he hadn't received Nitrox training. I'm currently in DM training myself, and often get paired up with the most inexperienced diver on a given trip. When it happens, I make sure we go through a dive plan carefully, and make sure my buddy knows that if we deviate from the plan I'll abort the dive immediately. So far, they've been really good about sticking to the plan.
Braunbehrens ... I'm not a DIR diver, but I have several dive buddies who are. I really don't know what all the fuss is about. Most of my DIR friends will dive with "DIW" types ... all they ask is that you are honest about your skills and dive safely. That's not an unreasonable expectation. Those few DIR divers I've run into who fit the "stereotype" usually aren't much fun to dive with anyway ... so no big loss.
Gr8fldiver ... cool ... a fellow Deadhead.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I have my dive buddy horror stories as well. Some, in retrospect, where my responsiblity as much as theirs as some of these occured when I first certified and would show up for shop "fun" dives past the point when the DM felt the need to buddy with me to keep me safe. So, I was in the "knew just enough to be dangerous" part of the new diver learning curve. I learned a lot from those dives and took the requisite courses to improve my diving so that I didn't have to depend on the skills of my dive buddy.
In the Caribbean, I essentially dived solo and met the DM at the end of the dive. It had nothing to do with "bad buddies." We were all photographers. Rather than have two or more people blowing bubbles and scaring away wildlife that we wanted to photograph, the LDS owner and I split up (I am also one of his DiveCon candidates, a straight DM or AI dive can be a glorified solo dive as I can't always count on my "buddy" in those cases. I am there for them, moreso than they are for me.) and took our pictures. I didn't see the LDS owner until I got back to the boat. He was shooting video and like me didn't want a buddy to scare away his subjects.
I don't make a habit out of solo diving and wouldn't dream of it in cold water. But when one is single (no regular dive buddy there) and with very few connections, solo diving would appear to be preferable to the dive buddy that is the last one in line and whom I don't have a clue about.
In the Caribbean, I essentially dived solo and met the DM at the end of the dive. It had nothing to do with "bad buddies." We were all photographers. Rather than have two or more people blowing bubbles and scaring away wildlife that we wanted to photograph, the LDS owner and I split up (I am also one of his DiveCon candidates, a straight DM or AI dive can be a glorified solo dive as I can't always count on my "buddy" in those cases. I am there for them, moreso than they are for me.) and took our pictures. I didn't see the LDS owner until I got back to the boat. He was shooting video and like me didn't want a buddy to scare away his subjects.
I don't make a habit out of solo diving and wouldn't dream of it in cold water. But when one is single (no regular dive buddy there) and with very few connections, solo diving would appear to be preferable to the dive buddy that is the last one in line and whom I don't have a clue about.
Yup. I did tell him I was not comfortable with that PO2 in a dive buddy. Although I did not say it in my story above, I told him I wasn't interested in dealing with a Tox Siezure if it could be avoided. That's why I suggested the 80' limit. As far as a cert - the shop where he got the tanks filled is the same one I use. The owner requires a Nitrox card to get a nitrox fill. I did not verify that he had one.
This guy was the MOST experienced diver on the trip (with the exception of the instructor). I was assigned to him because the instructor/boat captain was skeptical about his self-reported skills. I'm not going to intentionally abandon a buddy, even if s/he's being a jerk. The exception of course is that I will not intentionally risk my own life to follow a buddy. In this case, I was on air and with 120cf in my main tank and 30cf in the pony I was not worried so much about myself as I was about a self-admitted air hog with 80cf of 40% gas rapidly approaching 100' and already well past the accepted O2 exposure limit. To turn the dive I had to catch the guy. He never once looked back to see if I was behind him until I tugged his fin.
In the future I believe I will follow your advice about discussing with a buddy that I will abort the dive immediately if the plan is deviated from!
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I disagree Ron, when I dive with my checkouts I am not solo. If I don't trust a student to do the right thing if I am in need of assistance then they won't be on my checkout. I was told to sign off a cert when I would feel comfortable taking that person as a dive buddy, not before. That's just my point of view.
ibnygator
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I was diving this past week with a group of very experienced Florida divers down in Key Largo. When not hunting, they were very attentive buddies. On the dives when they were hunting, it was up to me to keep an eye on them and stay close if I wanted to because they were off on a mission. And I was OK with that because I knew it going into the dive. I chose one other diver to stick close to, stayed above and slightly behind them and enjoyed the show...
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