Buddy ditches the dive plan

[Charlie99]

I've had lots and lots of buddies CHANGE dive plans underwater. I've only had a few that VIOLATED the dive plan.

To me at least, changing the dive plan due to unexpected conditions, critters that are spotted, or just because we feel like it is acceptable provided that we all AGREE.

What's unacceptable is changing things without some sort of agreement. What's unacceptable is continuing to descend when a buddy has leveled out. It doesn't matter whether the shallow buddy has decided to dive shallower than agreed, or whether the deeper buddy has violated the agreed upon depth, to me at least the problem is that they have purposefully separated.

Same concept on horizontal buddy separation. Swimming away from a buddy is not acceptable. That's not a dive planning issue. That's a buddy skill issue.

It's pretty simple: Both divers have the responsibility to stay aware of the other.

 

[GuinnessDiver]

Well there I was …. Early March, Key Largo, diving the Spiegel Grove. I showed up first thing in the morning and asked the boat captain a few questions such as what kind of tanks I needed. I have a set of double 130s and a couple of Al 80s. He told me they only want us to do recreational diving (no serious penetration and no deco) so leave the 130s behind and just dive the AL 80 or rent the LP 85s they have on the boat. I dove my AL 80s.

I am diving by myself so the dive-master links me up with two others on the boat who are also single divers. Both happened to be named Greg. One is a photographer and the other is from Canada. Canada Greg is from Ontario, from around the St. Lawrence River, and we talk about several wrecks from up there we have both dove - I’ve made a couple of trips up there. He sounds like he has experience. The dive-master pulls down the schematic of the wreck and gave us a briefing separate but in addition to the briefing that the rest of the boat got. Photographer Greg went back to his equipment as soon as she was done with the brief. Canada Greg and I discussed the dive. He wanted to do some of the swim-throughs around the bridge area and then work his way down towards the well of the ship. I suggested we start with the well area (around 115 feet) and work our way up towards the upper deck (90 feet), since it is better to start deep and work your way up. He agreed.

Both Gregs were sitting on the port side of the dive boat; I was on the starboard side. When we arrived at the dive site both Gregs, along with everyone from their side of the vessel were up and in the water before the first from my side had even stood up, I was about half-way back on my side of the boat. By the time I got into the water they were gone. When I got down to where the mooring line tied into the wreck I ran into Canada Greg. He looked at me, gave me an OK sign, and promptly disappeared into a hatchway. I went ahead with the plan. I went to the back of the superstructure area and dropped down in to the well area, checked it out, and then worked my way up to the superstructure area, and checked out some swim-throughs. I ran across Photographer Greg during the dive, but he was busy shooting pictures and didn’t notice me. When I got back to the mooring line to begin my ascent I ran into to both Gregs. I signaled I was heading up and they waved to me and headed off towards the front of the superstructure area. I went up the line, I was diving aluminum 80, and they had LP 85s. I was at around 900 psi, and I have an ok SAC rate.

I finished my safety stop at 15 feet and neither of the Gregs had shown up yet, so I waited there for a while longer. I didn’t want to get on the boat without being able to tell the crew where the rest of my “dive team” was. Eventually they showed up, so I surfaced and got on the boat. I had just taken off my gear when Canada Greg popped to the surface. He was completely out of air, sputtering, and pretty much in a bad state. The boat crew was yelling at him to put his regulator in and inflate his BC and such, but he couldn’t; he was out of air. Fortunately another diver, not Photographer Greg, came up behind him and was able to help him out, and get him on the boat. Canada Greg did not make the second dive that day.

Photographer Greg swears he did not know we were a three-man team, even though the DM took the three of us aside and introduced us to each other and gave us a briefing separate from the rest of the boat and told us we were a three-man team.



I talked to my LDS owner a few weeks later and got my Solo diver cert. Hopefully I’ll be able to use that to avoid future insta-buddies.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I almost always have new buddies...... I DM boats on the weekends when I am not taking students out.... Even when they are being led by the DM, many will just do their own thing. I learned to be Very clear on the topside, I make THEM work out the focus of the dive and then I add points. We discuss how to communicate if we want to change direction or plan underwater(such as hey lets follow this turtle we just saw- change, not anything major), and that ALL must OK it or no go. Having done all that, I Still watch them like a hawk and sometimes have to put an end to stupid behavior.
The same people who leave their buddies or practice dangerous diving, don't get another dive on my boat. I don't argue with them either. And I do not refund money. They have learned to go elsewhere. And my boats are always full, because the divers know they can count on safe, fun, diving. But geez, you're all right, some of these people.... Stupid on a stick, yet Darwin lets them live........

 

[scubadiver888]

Have a buddy deviate from the discussed plan? :11: That never happens... oh wait...

My last dive. We are on the boat above a deep wreck with poor viz. My assigned buddy and I agree to descend the line and sync up at the wheelhouse (top of the wreck). We will then go over the side, descend to 70' circle the wreck, survey the thing enough so we can draw it in our logbooks. This is for AOW training.

We get in the water. He follows me down the line. As the wheelhouse comes into sight (10' viz) he leaves the line to go around me and drops out of sight, no waiting at the wheelhouse. I follow him down the stern/port side of the boat. The lake bottom is something like 80' so I stop at 70' and can still see him at 75'-77'. I start heading toward the bow of the boat, surveying the wreck but keeping my eye on my buddy. My buddy is racing toward the deck of the wreck (in the middle of the lower deck is a 3' square opening into the hold). He attempts to enter the wreck (he has something like 10 dives total). I wave him off. He takes off and decides to go into the interior under the wheelhouse. I caught up to him at the top of the wreck near the wheelhouse. We bump into a rescue diver and he signals us to end the dive. Storm rolled in and there was lightening. The boat master wanted to get out of there so we called the dive and went home.

It is stuff like this that makes me think, I'm pretty much on my own when I go down. I'll hope my buddy is going to be there if I need them but I try to plan for what to do if he is not.

P.S. He took off up a stairwell. I knew if I stayed outside the wreck I'd lose him so I followed. I got stuck exiting the stairs. He turned around and looked at me stuck in the stairs. I freed myself and when we got back on the boat he said, "Wow, you were really stuck." I asked why he didn't help and it just never occurred to him that he should.

 

[dannobee]

I have a couple of stories.

"Buddy" and I are both diving 32%, and both have a few hundred nitrox dives. The dive site is a large cone shaped pinnacle with a hard bottom on one side at 165 ft, 220 ft on the other side. We carve out a plan to drop to our MOD (~110), then work our way back up the pinnacle, circling and ascending, then spend a minute or two at the top of the pinnacle (40 ft) before heading up the anchor line and completing our stops.

I anchor the boat on top of the pinnacle, then gear up and start the dive. Buddy initially follows, then takes the lead. We head down, and down, and down. At about 140, I signal, STOP, then point at the depth and signal to go up and level out at 100 ft. Buddy ignores me, then continues to take pictures of something. I grab buddy's tank valve, forcing the buddy to come up with me until we're back in "safe" depths.

Back on the boat, buddy starts chastising me and I remind them of the dive plan and MOD's. Buddy says "the MOD on 32 is 130." I correct buddy, then confirm with another diver, just for chits and giggles, who agrees with me. Then show the 1.4 ppo2 limit on my Vytec, and whip out a 32% table. The whole time, I'm thinking, "What the ***?? What nitrox class did YOU take??"

Second story.

We're doing a dive on the Eagle and map out a plan while still on the boat, following the map of the ship, hit the sand here, penetrate here, do this, do that, this depth, all the usual stuff. The current is running, but not excessive, maybe a 1/2 kt, (true, not subjective measurement-about 1 ft/second). We descend near the line, get to the bottom and buddy finds a turtle swimming down current. Buddy starts taking pictures, and after a minute or two, I signal buddy, let's get back to the wreck, by waving my light. Buddy continues to snap pictures, so I head back to the ship. I get a signal from buddy's light, so I signal back and forth (My light is brighter than buddy's). Buddy continues to drift in the current. By now I am positioned between buddy and the wreck and I can barely see the wreck, so I continue to signal buddy, but take a compass bearing to get back to the wreck just to be sure. I never saw buddy again on that dive. I completed the dive plan (but no solo penetration), sans buddy, figuring the buddy was solo and would return.

I complete the dive, hang on the line, waiting for buddy to return. OK, now I'm the last one on the line and still don't see buddy. I'm good on air, so I hang out a little while longer, looking for bubbles. I don't see any, so I figure buddy never made it back to the boat, didn't take a compass bearing, and probably was using light not as a signaling device, but as a modeling light for the turtle.

Back on the boat, captain hurries me back on board, and says there's a sausage down current and we need to pick up a diver. By now, diver is at least a few hundred yards from the dive boat, and sure enough, my buddy isn't on the boat.

After calling the Coast Guard as a precaution, and sending a safety diver in the water with the buddy, we motor to buddy and recover.

Back on the surface, buddy starts blaming everybody, including me for "leaving my buddy." I counter and say, "I didn't abandon my buddy, my buddy abandon me. We made a dive plan on the surface and I stuck with the plan."

Be safe out there. Stick with the dive plan.

 

[Brewski]

Second story.

We're doing a dive on the Eagle and map out a plan while still on the boat, following the map of the ship, hit the sand here, penetrate here, do this, do that, this depth, all the usual stuff. The current is running, but not excessive, maybe a 1/2 kt, (true, not subjective measurement-about 1 ft/second). We descend near the line, get to the bottom and buddy finds a turtle swimming down current. Buddy starts taking pictures, and after a minute or two, I signal buddy, let's get back to the wreck, by waving my light. Buddy continues to snap pictures, so I head back to the ship. I get a signal from buddy's light, so I signal back and forth (My light is brighter than buddy's). Buddy continues to drift in the current. By now I am positioned between buddy and the wreck and I can barely see the wreck, so I continue to signal buddy, but take a compass bearing to get back to the wreck just to be sure. I never saw buddy again on that dive. I completed the dive plan (but no solo penetration), sans buddy, figuring the buddy was solo and would return.

Having heard your side of this story in person and again repeated here, I wonder if your actions weren't a little selfish? You say your buddy ignored your signals to return to the boat, you took a compass heading back and decided to return without your buddy. here is where I have a problem. I agree your buddy should have stuck with the plan and not gone taking off after a turtle, BUT when your buddy got out in the current and was left to drift alone, don't you think having a buddy along for safety and comfort would have been better than leaving said buddy alone at 100 feet? What backup air source was your buddy carrying? NONE!

After calling the Coast Guard as a precaution, and sending a safety diver in the water with the buddy, we motor to buddy and recover.

The safety diver wouldn't have been needed to drift with your buddy if you had stayed with your buddy., the decisions made by yourself and your buddy placed a third individual at risk.

Back on the surface, buddy starts blaming everybody, including me for "leaving my buddy." I counter and say, "I didn't abandon my buddy, my buddy abandon me. We made a dive plan on the surface and I stuck with the plan."

We always teach new divers a basic rule for buddy seperation. If after one minute you don't find your buddy return to the surface. Neither you or your buddy followed that rule. one took off to take pictures and abandoned the plan, the other let his buddy to go alone and continued his dive. You had the rest of us on the wreck to offer aid if you needed it, but what of your buddy alone drifting in the current, most likely finning hard against the current to return to the wreck and using more air than normal in a futile effort against the current?

 

[flw]

Just soundslike a good argument for only diving off alive boat to me

 

[plclark196]

The bottom line is that you had better be prepared for the possibility that you may have to do a solo dive!

 

[dannobee]

Well, Ron, that's very nice of you to be able to pass judgment on me without being in my shoes.

We had a plan, and the buddy deviated from that plan. At that point, it's a solo dive for both of us. That too, was part of the plan; if we get separated, I'll see you on the boat.

And I'm so glad that you think you have the right answers. Said buddy surfaced not after losing the wreck, but 15 minutes later, after doing extended safety stops because said buddy had been bent before and does very conservative ascents. Where would that one minute rule have fit in there? Both of us a few hundred yards apart on the surface, and a safety diver for each of us?

And I certainly don't need a lecture from you on buddy separation procedures. If a buddy makes a conscious decision to NOT be buddies, for whatever reason, I'll go solo. No harm, no foul. I won't go chasing them into an abyss or become a victim myself.

But again, I'm glad that you've never been separated from your buddy. Good for you. You know as well as I do when you're instructing, YOU are solo. And said buddy and I are both pro level (AI and DM), so self rescue is pretty much a given.

And a third individual at risk? Give me a break. Now you're really grasping at straws here.

I also noticed that you didn't answer the OP's question but instead chose to comment on my answer to the OP's question. So I guess it's safe to assume that you've never had anything go wrong in all of your dives. You're either the luckiest guy on the planet or a liar.

Having heard your side of this story in person and again repeated here, I wonder if your actions weren't a little selfish? You say your buddy ignored your signals to return to the boat, you took a compass heading back and decided to return without your buddy. here is where I have a problem. I agree your buddy should have stuck with the plan and not gone taking off after a turtle, BUT when your buddy got out in the current and was left to drift alone, don't you think having a buddy along for safety and comfort would have been better than leaving said buddy alone at 100 feet? What backup air source was your buddy carrying? NONE!





The safety diver wouldn't have been needed to drift with your buddy if you had stayed with your buddy., the decisions made by yourself and your buddy placed a third individual at risk.


We always teach new divers a basic rule for buddy seperation. If after one minute you don't find your buddy return to the surface. Neither you or your buddy followed that rule. one took off to take pictures and abandoned the plan, the other let his buddy to go alone and continued his dive. You had the rest of us on the wreck to offer aid if you needed it, but what of your buddy alone drifting in the current, most likely finning hard against the current to return to the wreck and using more air than normal in a futile effort against the current?

 

[Brewski]

If I were in your shoes on that dive I would have stayed with my buddy. yes I would have been P.O.'d for missing the wreck and would have had a serious discussion with said buddy about it on the boat. I don't agree with leaving a diver go it alone because said diver chose to deviate from the plan.