Diving with strangers

[srkdvr]

Hey there,
:mean: You should not be worried about a polite way to ask, when you are buddied up or if you pick a buddy you should find out then. I always make a dive plan with my buddy, and have some kind of clue as to there skill level. Also I try and watch them as they are getting ready, I watch for signs of stress or worry..... Big clues as to how they will be in the water. No one should be upset or erked if you want to know how skilled they are.

Hope this helps, and I hope you have a great Dive Trip!

Rich

 

[Mike Newman]

I've enjoyed this topic. For the most part, I hope that I have solved my buddy requirement by having a teenage son go through training and qualification alongside me. It's been great. However, I can't expect him to be eternally prepared to dive - or always available.

The ideas put forward here have been good to think about. I have a lot of sympathy with the idea of 'adopting' the quiet, well-organised gear checker. I'd like to think that guy is me, when I'm setting up.

I guess we all have to hope that anyone who has the gear and the confidence to dive has satisfied the minimum standards to make them a reliable partner. And let's not forget - we're all somebody else's stranger. We have to do our best to be as good a buddy as possible ourselves.

 

[kelpmermaid]

You've provided a lot of good ideas. Now I can start getting excited about warm water!

 

[seaangel]

Kelpmermaid, I too am a female diver with no family or close friends that dive. I have been on five dives that I did not have a buddy. On one of the boat dives another diver and I paired up and there never was any real difference than any dive buddy experience I had at home with my LDS. It was only after diving when signing my log that I found out he was an instructor. While in Mexcio I was with a group at the cenotes from Germany. The two men spoke no English, and the one other female a little English. We got along great and had two wonderful dives. When I did my boat dives there again I was with a family from Minnesota
and we more or less did a group dive as a drift following the DM. They were really good also.

 

[jimholcomb]

Originally posted by Walter
When will you be heading this way and where are you diving? There are lots of Florida folks on the board and some of us would be happy to dive with you (or anyone else from the board) when you're here. Feel free to send a PM if you're interested in setting up your buddies ahead of time.

Part of good dive planning and preparation is to have this issue resolved before getting on the boat. Although internet buddies may, at times, turn out to be morons, it is a good start and finding a buddy of similiar skills and experience will, at the very least, give you a jump on things before you get on the boat. I've dove (dived?) with several people I've met on the boards and never had a problem (well, ALMOST never had a problem).

I personally don't think there is enough time on a boat to determine one's competance (sp?) before chosing a buddy.

 

[pipedope]

You might also ask *where* a possible buddy trained.
I learned to dive in SoCal and did my advanced openwater training there, back in '81 when many of the 'specialities' of PADI were all included in the AOW.

CA divers have a reputation for being gungho and unfazed by difficult conditions. This is mostly a result of training in harder conditions. I remember that we had to learn surf entry and exit just to do the OW dives from the beach. In AOW we did tons of beach dives and lots of surf rescue practice. The surf, cold water and the need to often carry our gear were just a fact of diving.

Here in Florida, many (if not most) rec divers want to dive from a boat, in warm water, with 75' or more vis, in fantastic weather. Nothing wrong with that except it limits the number of dives a year.

BIG POINT!!!
Always find a buddy with compatable interests. If you are a 'see the sights' diver (like me) and want to see, meet and establish a relationship with the creatures down there, DO NOT BUDDY WITH A SPEARFISHERMAN! Becoming friends with a fish only to have your buddy shoot it is not fun.
OTOH People who are after game need a buddy who, even if they are not fishing, wants to do the swimming that usually comes with it.

BTW I love to take game, rock scallops and abolonie (sp?). They are about my speed.

Also, both long term and recent experience are important. Even though I have done lots of dives over many years my rec skills are not as sharp as they could be. Lately most of my diving has been the, 'strap on 50 lbs of lead, walk on the bottom and get the work done' variety. Not much call for fine bouyancy control in that.

I am getting long winded today.

One last point. On a boat with a large number of divers it is good to have a buddy (yourself included) with some item of gear that stands out as different from everyone else on the boat. This way you know that your buddy is "your buddy."

 

[Mike Newman]

What a good tip about recognising a one-off dive buddy.

I was diving recently with several other divers. I had been assigned a buddy by my instructor, who was taking the usual care of all of us. But boy, was it difficult to recognise folk under water in less than perfect viz and all in 7mm rubber.

Personally, I have bought a couple of the electroluminescent Krill Lights. They show up well and come in different colours. Good to hang on your harness where they are easily seen by others. www.kriana.com is their website, I think.