Communication issues with dive buddies

[beachbummer28]

My husband and I just got certified last weekend and waiting an entire work week to go diving again was a bit torturous, but we managed to make it! For our first time on our own we did an easy shore dive out to an artificial reef about 100 yards off shore in the Gulf of Mexico. We had an amazing time and even though the visibility was a little poor for our area due to seaweed, we still loved it. The only part that frustrated me was how difficult it was to effectively communicate. We have our basic hand signals of course and we've come up with some of our own, but when you're not staring right at each other the entire time in a semi-circle like we were in our OW training, it's obviously a lot more difficult. For example, he was excitedly going from reef pod to reef pod while I wanted to slow down and just watch for a few minutes at each pod, and at one point I irritably pulled on his BCD and put my hands up in a firm "stop" motion that I was hoping would convey that I wanted to slow down and observe more ... but instead he just stared at me confused and I eventually threw my hands up in normal spousal disgust. Luckily we're great friends and could laugh about it later, but at the time it actually made me a little panicked and a small part of me wanted to abort the dive altogether because I realized if I really needed to tell him something, we literally could not talk! (I know you're saying "duhhhhhh" right now, but before we got certified we were avid snorkelers who frequently popped our heads above water to talk along the way. It's a big change.) We decided to implement a new thing where we switch who is leading halfway through the dive since we have different styles, so it doesn't feel like one person is just along for the other person's ride. I think this will work out well for us in the future for that particular issue that I wanted to communicate today, although the fact that we still can't verbally speak underwater if we really need to is still nagging me in the back of my mind.

Did anyone else have anxiety about the lack of verbal communication when they were first starting out? I know as we dive more together we'll find our own rhythm and it won't be a problem, but it made me wonder how insta-buddies don't have constant communication issues.

 

[KevinNM]

"slow down" would be what I would start with. But wetnotes are the fallback under water when hand signals don't work.

 

[beachbummer28]

Also, here are some of our very amateur pictures from today if anyone is in the Florida panhandle and interested. This is at the Navarre artificial reef. Visability is usually best later in the year as the June grass clears out, but there's a lot of activity out there now that the reef has been in place for a few years.

 

[tbone1004]

See below, navigation slate. Allows you to write to each other underwater, hand it off, and compass helps with navigating back to the shore. There's really not many signals needed to communicate that message.

Hold. This is a command signal, it is to be returned in acknowledgement. Balled fist with palm forwards.
Slow down. Not a command signal, but should be acknowledged. Open hand, pushing down, the normal "slow down" signal for anyone
I lead, you follow. Point to your chest with your right hand, then open your hand to point to your right. With your left hand, point to your buddy, then open hand and put hand behind your right hand in line. You lead, I follow is same motion, just point to your buddy first, then to yourself with your left hand.

After that, there isn't much else that needs to be said as long as you communicate the dive plan before the dive. Buddy positioning in this environment is crucial. You need to be parallel to each other, and no more than arms reach away for proper OW communication and buddy safety.

[video=youtube;x0z4T_3KjFM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0z4T_3KjFM[/video]

 

[Texanguy]

I once had a problem and signaled my buddy. He shruged and shook his head and continued. So I grabbed his leg and signaled surface again he just shook his head so I just surfaced. He came up 2 minutes later all confused. Sometimes a person doesn't listen.

 

[drrich2]

Taken to an extreme, there are full face masks with wireless communicators so you can talk underwater. Few people take it that far.

A dive slate with a few common statements/questions/marine creature I.D.s you can point at in a pinch might be useful.

The more you dive together, the more you will foster 'scuba empathy' for each other, an intuitive sense of what the other thinks/wants.

Richard.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

As new divers, I assume you feel you are going to be doing a lot of communicating and hand signals.. This is wrong. As you and your husband get more and more experience in diving and diving with each other - there should be less and less need for hand signals and active communication. It will take time however.

The first thing is to have a common goal on the dive. You took some excellent pictures! Congratulations - especially for new divers. So set a a common goal during the dive and have a good UNDERSTANDING of how far to swim offshore, how long, how deep, if it is going to be slow, what pressure you will turn around.. simple stuff but important and not something to be arguing about underwater.

Next, as you seemed to have figured out.. is that you need a leader and a follower. If you have one camera, it would make sense for the camera holder to be the leader, since the shooter will dictate how long to stay at any particular site or subject.. You can't have your head in a viewfinder and your buddy swim off thinking you are watching them and following them... so picking a leader will help a lot in navigation, pace of the dive etc. You can have a signal for speed it up..and slow down...hand spinning in a circle means speed up and patting the open palm up and down slowly, means slow down to me... but if you are diving with your husband - just agree on some signals.

Then positioning,,, it is a pain in the butt if a diver is on your AZZ. what is even worse is above and behind you.. so ideally, you will have a leader, and the other diver will stay on the leaders shoulder, not 10 feet behind. (and of course, the buddies need to be at the same depth). Right next to you, so you can see each other all the time with no effort. the leader will swim straight ahead, unless doing a gentle turn. Any drastic changes in direction MUST be signaled...

The two divers should stay side to side and pick a shoulder.. if the diver is constantly switching sides, it is a pain. Sometimes you can switch relative positions, but minimizing it will be better.

If you can understand and agree and follow these guidlines, communication can be done with eye contact for 90% of the time. Also if the pair is staying really close to each other, then a quick yell works well for me to get the divers attention.

I NEVER carry a slate..

 

[TMHeimer]

Also, here are some of our very amateur pictures from today if anyone is in the Florida panhandle and interested. This is at the Navarre artificial reef. Visability is usually best later in the year as the June grass clears out, but there's a lot of activity out there now that the reef has been in place for a few years.

Been there several times. Doesn't look like this in January. But I did find a small anchor between the 4 signs prohibiting boats.....

Re communication--DumpsterD explains it well. Hand signals vary--even between instructors at the same shop. But the real problem is positioning, as he points out. As well, there is the CONSTANT visual contact--ei. perhaps at least both of you checking every 10 seconds or less. It can be a pain in the neck (literally for the "leader", if the "trailing" buddy is close enough to the side but more than a foot behind). As also mentioned, speed should be agreed upon. Don't you just hate to see those fins disappear in front of you.....

 

[spectrum]

Congratulations on becoming divers!

Your post has a lot of signs of needing to work on buddy skills which is entirely normal as novice divers. Step 1 IMO is leave the camera at home and focus on being a tight buddy pair. By swimming nearly abreast with the designated leader at the time leading getting attention is as easy as a tap on the shoulder or getting up into visual range. In most cases make it practice to echo the final back to ensure the message is received.

How do you better communicate? Practice on land. Your OW materials should have some signals. Websites and other books on the topic abound. There will be overlap and conflicts so be sure to both work from the same materials. Work on going from single terms to sentences or complete expressions. Make your moves deliberate so your nitrogen impaired spouse can follow along. This is not Chisanbop.

At any given time it should be understood who is driving. It is the navigators responsibility to know that the buddy is keeping up, not lost, cramped or otherwise AWOL. It sounds like you're playing in nice visibility, you need to get this right before you land in the soup. There is a signal for "sloe down" but he had already earned a dope slap by the time you yanked his BC. Part of your dive plan should include whether the objective is patient study or a "tour de reef".

Insta-buddies can be a mess. Hopefully a good pre-dive discussion and common convention makes it manageable. Do know that there are dozens of air pressure signaling schemes. Some will signal pressures, others just when to turn a reciprocal dive, some signal both and some are mute.

Being week 2 divers, don't be too hard on yourselves, just keep diving with a spirit of continuous improvement.

Pete

 

[KeithG]

I know as we dive more together we'll find our own rhythm and it won't be a problem, but it made me wonder how insta-buddies don't have constant communication issues.

This ^^.

As new divers you have lots of things to learn and become comfortable with. Clear, concise communication is just one item. And you will learn to communicate more effectively as a buddy team (or divorce). Learning and using the standard hand signals and really USING them is the first challenge. Does the thumb mean it is time to start ending the dive or does the thumb mean surface right now? We struggled with this issue early on as she got cold towards the end of dives and wanted to indicate it was time to head back to the dock. The only signal we knew was the thumb. I got ready to head to the surface while she turned and started finning away from me...

Over time you will develop personal signals. My dive buddy spontaneously created the "i'm chicken" (think chicken dance arm flapping with several shakes of her head) and the "shiver" signals that clearly communicated her state of mind.

Insta-buddies is a whole new ball gamer. Every dive you start from scratch. With an unknown animal. It often sucks big time.