We've all had one or maybe been one...... Dumb stunts buddies pull...
I arrived late at the LDS organized dive day so my normal buddy group were already in.
My husband wasn't able to dive so I approached one of the organizers to see if there was someone else I could dive with. I was introduced to a fellow and told he was a good diver and a certified Rescue Diver. I was buddied with him and his normal buddy.
The entry was a bit of a walk over rough rocks with a giant stride entry off the rocks into a gutter. My new buddy kindly offered to carry my fins which offer I declined with thanks (repeatedly....) When we got to the entry point I stopped them long enough to point out the features of my gear... occy etc and asked to be shown theirs. This seemed to surprise them a little but oh well....
After politely declining repeated offers of unnecessary help to get in I did my entry and surfaced to indicate I was ok to see my buddy heading off back to the car park. It seems he was so intent on trying to convince me to let him carry my gear he had forgotten his mask and fins! I hung out with the other buddy till he came back and joined us.
I decided perhaps I had missed them discussing the dive plan so I asked.....
"well we are going out the gutter turning left... we'll go over rocks and stuff and it'll get deep.... maybe 18 then we'll come back" Hmmmm I figure while I'm not impressed I know the site so it should be ok although I've never got down to 18 m that direction before.
We hit the bottom and they were off! Great I am thinking a speed dive... won't get many pics. Fortunately I had loaned my spare digital camera and housing to one of them and when I saw something interesting I managed to get close enough to grab his fin and point it out. This slowed down to take a shot and the other steamed on. Oh well I figure I joined them so it is up to me to fit into their dive style right?
After a bit they stop and are checking each other's guages and signal me to ask how much air I have. I signal back and they shake their heads and indicate again and again I answer. They come over and check my computer. At this point we start heading back. I get a bit of a surprise when they pass the normal turn for the exit but figure they must be going another way.
They start looking a bit confused and I realize they are lost. I figure hey it's not that far to turn back and I have heaps of air. I decide to indicate the direction to exit but see them heading to the surface. I figure they are going up to get a bearing and hang back a bit 'cause I don't want to bounce if I don't have to. I decide to try for a couple with the divers above outlined by the sun. At this point my buddy sees the camera pointing his direction and pauses to pose for the camera. I take a shot and wait to get a more natural shot when he get bored with posing. He heads for his buddy and grabs for his regulator. I figure..."Great now he's going to demonstrate sharing air for the camera!" "Hang on.... that looks serious..... hmm better go up and check this out" I surface to find out he has definately run out of air! His buddy has headed for shore fast enough to leave a wake behind him. We are a couple hundred meters from shore and some pretty decent waves and swell have rolled in while we were down.
I figure his buddy is too far away to hear him if he has a problem so I better stick with him since he is out of air and has no snorkle I can see. At this point the rescue diver in him takes over and he offers to TOW ME IN TO SHORE!!!!!! Now at this point I have a 115 bar. I could have easily completed this dive the easy way.... underwater and still had at least 50 left at exit! I am in this cause He is an idiot and no way am I going to let him tow me in to the people on shore signaling to ask if we are OK think I'm the idiot! I wound up wasting more energy repeatedly fending off his offers of assistance than it takes to swim in.
When we get out his buddy is waiting and they have a great laugh about the whole thing.
When I got home, downloaded my computer and camera, I checked times. From the time he stopped to pose for the picture to the time he was on the surface out of air was about 30 sec. Now my question is.... if you are on your way to share air with a buddy because you are out of air what kind of idiot stops to pose for a picture????
Needless to say I won't be diving with them again nor will my normal dive group. I will be very cautious about trusting the advice of that organizer about who is a good diver maybe I misunderstood and he meant certifiable....
I arrived late at the LDS organized dive day so my normal buddy group were already in.
My husband wasn't able to dive so I approached one of the organizers to see if there was someone else I could dive with. I was introduced to a fellow and told he was a good diver and a certified Rescue Diver. I was buddied with him and his normal buddy.
The entry was a bit of a walk over rough rocks with a giant stride entry off the rocks into a gutter. My new buddy kindly offered to carry my fins which offer I declined with thanks (repeatedly....) When we got to the entry point I stopped them long enough to point out the features of my gear... occy etc and asked to be shown theirs. This seemed to surprise them a little but oh well....
After politely declining repeated offers of unnecessary help to get in I did my entry and surfaced to indicate I was ok to see my buddy heading off back to the car park. It seems he was so intent on trying to convince me to let him carry my gear he had forgotten his mask and fins! I hung out with the other buddy till he came back and joined us.
I decided perhaps I had missed them discussing the dive plan so I asked.....
"well we are going out the gutter turning left... we'll go over rocks and stuff and it'll get deep.... maybe 18 then we'll come back" Hmmmm I figure while I'm not impressed I know the site so it should be ok although I've never got down to 18 m that direction before.
We hit the bottom and they were off! Great I am thinking a speed dive... won't get many pics. Fortunately I had loaned my spare digital camera and housing to one of them and when I saw something interesting I managed to get close enough to grab his fin and point it out. This slowed down to take a shot and the other steamed on. Oh well I figure I joined them so it is up to me to fit into their dive style right?
After a bit they stop and are checking each other's guages and signal me to ask how much air I have. I signal back and they shake their heads and indicate again and again I answer. They come over and check my computer. At this point we start heading back. I get a bit of a surprise when they pass the normal turn for the exit but figure they must be going another way.
They start looking a bit confused and I realize they are lost. I figure hey it's not that far to turn back and I have heaps of air. I decide to indicate the direction to exit but see them heading to the surface. I figure they are going up to get a bearing and hang back a bit 'cause I don't want to bounce if I don't have to. I decide to try for a couple with the divers above outlined by the sun. At this point my buddy sees the camera pointing his direction and pauses to pose for the camera. I take a shot and wait to get a more natural shot when he get bored with posing. He heads for his buddy and grabs for his regulator. I figure..."Great now he's going to demonstrate sharing air for the camera!" "Hang on.... that looks serious..... hmm better go up and check this out" I surface to find out he has definately run out of air! His buddy has headed for shore fast enough to leave a wake behind him. We are a couple hundred meters from shore and some pretty decent waves and swell have rolled in while we were down.
I figure his buddy is too far away to hear him if he has a problem so I better stick with him since he is out of air and has no snorkle I can see. At this point the rescue diver in him takes over and he offers to TOW ME IN TO SHORE!!!!!! Now at this point I have a 115 bar. I could have easily completed this dive the easy way.... underwater and still had at least 50 left at exit! I am in this cause He is an idiot and no way am I going to let him tow me in to the people on shore signaling to ask if we are OK think I'm the idiot! I wound up wasting more energy repeatedly fending off his offers of assistance than it takes to swim in.
When we get out his buddy is waiting and they have a great laugh about the whole thing.
When I got home, downloaded my computer and camera, I checked times. From the time he stopped to pose for the picture to the time he was on the surface out of air was about 30 sec. Now my question is.... if you are on your way to share air with a buddy because you are out of air what kind of idiot stops to pose for a picture????
Needless to say I won't be diving with them again nor will my normal dive group. I will be very cautious about trusting the advice of that organizer about who is a good diver maybe I misunderstood and he meant certifiable....
