Buddies from heaven?

[vjongene]

I have seen lots of threads and posts about Buddies from Hell on ScubaBoard. How about some stories about the buddies one would want to dive with again any time?

To start off, here is a personal experience:

At the end of a business trip to China and Australia, I had booked a 3-day cruise to the GBR. During the briefing before we got on the boat, I noticed a quiet young man with a smile. I introduced myself to him, and it turned out he was French and travelling alone (I am a native French speaker). Since I was also by myself, we decided to bunk and dive together. I had over logged 100 dives, he was a bit more experienced.

The diving turned out to be a lot rougher that I had ever experienced. There were strong winds and rough seas throughout the cruise. The water was rather cold. This was my first time on a dive cruise in open seas. I made more mistakes than I care to remember. Forgot to put on my weight belt a couple of times. Tried to reach the mooring line by swimming on the surface (NOT a good idea in rough seas...) I also developed headaches during almost every single dive, probably because I was stressed and hyperventilating, and aborted early several times.

My buddy was evidently a lot more comfortable than me with the diving conditions. He was calm, supportive, and friendly throughout. He helped me in every way he could, although he must have cursed the day when he accepted me as a buddy. He never uttered a word of criticism, only tried to help me enjoy the dives more. His only concession to himself is that he finished a number of dives solo after he had made sure I was safely on board.

I can only thank him for having made what could have been a nightmare cruise into a very positive experience for me.

Victor J.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Good idea for a thread, I think.

My 2 usual buddies are my wife and son. No complaints with either.

I get a chance to dive with others fairly often and that usually goes well also. I think the trick is to brief well and get aquainted in the water on dives that are suitable for getting equianted and then debrief well after.

 

[drbill]

Yes, I have had several buddies from hell (one reason I prefer to dive solo), but have a number of regular buddies whose origin is from that "higher place." They are always a joy to dive with- even when we have an "eventful" dive we still come up smiling.

As for randomly assigned buddies, I did get one in Fiji at JMC's resort. After a real bozo of a dive buddy the first dive (arrogant, disobeyed all the rules and didn't care), the DM's assigned me to another. We had a nice dive although he was a Hoover and we had to call the dive early. He was so apologetic about it. I told him, when we dive as buddies, we dive our buddy's dive. I had no problem with this guy and enjoyed the opportunity to give him a good dive experience (with some of my biological knowledge). That kind of a buddy I can live with any day.

Dr. B.

 

[JRO]

I just returned from Turks & Caicos and was partnered up with a guy from Canada, actually I think the whole crew was from Canada....I kept hearing whispers of invasion..but they would become silent when I came around.

Anyway, we actually clicked pretty well right from the start. Our air consumption was almost identical and we both took our Nitrox course while there. Very nice person and a joy to dive with!

He even suggested that I bring my camcorder down on a night dive (I never thought to do that as I don't have proper lights) and that we use our dive lights for illumination. Although things didn't come out proffesionally, I did get some great footage. It has a "Blair Witch" feel to it, now I just have to pick the right music.

Back to the topic at hand...Glad to have met you Cliff, I had a blast.

Thankfully I have not yet encountered the "dive buddy from hell". Seeing as I meet a new dive buddy on every trip (my travel companions are never divers, I'll have to work on that) I consider myself to be lucky.

Jeff

 

[Wijbrandus]

My only dive buddies from hell have been in classes. Fortunately, they are other people's buddies.

My usual dive buddy is the guy I work with and certified with. We are still very inexperienced, but it's nice to go through all the motions you learn in class and not feel like a dork doing it. Seems like a lot of people just take the checks for granted.

He's even forgiven me for the time I accidentally turned his air "on" [off!]. I backed it off a quarter turn, so it was providing him pressure, but once we hit 20' it couldn't really keep up. I was nagging him about why he was doing a gear removal drill until I saw him turning his air valve, and got the single-finger salute. We still laugh about that dumb noob mistake, but I've always been damn sure about the air since then. I think one of us wouldn't survive a second mistake like that.

 

[ReefGuy]

The weekend after I got certified, I went to Key Largo for a weekend of diving. My LDS told me another of their clients was down there, and wouldn't mind me joining him, so away I went.

I did my checkouts in Devil's Den/Blue Grotto, so I'd never dove in salt water, and never done a boat dive.

Ron blew off his planned dives on the Duane and what would have been his first dive on the Spiegel Grove to hang out with me on the shallow reefs, so I wouldn't blow the 60' depth OW limit. He's a snowbird, and was headed back to Wisconsin the next week, so he didn't have a chance to do either of these dives for another year.

Did 6 dives with him that weekend, and he was not only tolerant of all of my newb mistakes, but very helpful with tips (we went over each dive afterwords, and he pointed out problems and gave advice on how to avoid them, etc). One of the best weekends of my life, and I left Key Largo very confident and with greatly improved skills.

 

[ChristasMOM]

My dad was an instructor and he taught me when i was 12. He was the best dive buddy i could ever have. He was so much fun. He was stern, but gentle, because he looked over me so much, and made sure i did everything just right. I haven't dove in about 4 yrs. (Im going on 22) MY husband is currently taking dive lessons, and i can honestly say, the only person i feel comfortable going with is my dad. I guess i'll have to get used to my dh, but im sure he isn't going to like me giving him orders, since im going to be the pro between us, LOL, just kidding.

Thanks,
Kayla

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

Being a very novice diver (10 dives to date) I have really only had one experiece with a "real" buddy, verse diving with a group of people. (Yes in those groups we were assigned a "buddy", but for purposes of this thread....)

Found a buddy on line last year when I had a trip planned to visit my daughter in Jacksonville, Florida. We decided via emails to hit Ginnie Springs. He was great. Picked me up in his truck from my hotel and drove to Ginnie. After about 5 minutes in the water my fin strap broke and he had the ever useful wire tie and fixed it. Had a very good dive. My first in water that was actually clear (not counting pools). Took our time and did the basin and the Devil's Eye and Ear.

When we first got there I had to get my C-card out of my luggage, so I climbed up into the back of his truck, got the card and hopped off the tail gate to the ground (~3 feet) and my knee went out (sideways) and I was in extreme pain. After I walked it off I went into the dive shop where he already was and let him know what happened and I decided to go ahead and dive, so he again was nice enough to even carry my rental tank to his truck.

I hope every buddy I have will be this friendly and helpful with such a newbie as myself.

And oh yea, that little jump off the truck popped my ACL and I ended up having surgery after I got back home!!

Jeff :dazzler1: