Finding buddies on vacation

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

k374

Contributor
Messages
539
Reaction score
6
Location
Greater Los Angeles
# of dives
50 - 99
Well, finding a buddy locally seems to be no problem but how do you guys find buddies while at a vacation spot if you go with a non-diving spouse or significant other or even just by yourself? The few dives I have done while on vacation so far were led by a divemaster, this was implied and I did not have to specifically request a divemaster/guide, but I realize that many of the places the dive packages are just a "do your own thing" kind of deal. In this case what do you do?
 
On Maui I've checked with one of the the local dive shops and found a buddy book they keep and was able to find a buddy as my wife doesn't dive. There is also a buddy finder here on Scubaboard and as long as people enter their postal code (usa) or lattitude and longitude when they sign up they will show up on the buddy finder.
 
I post on the appropriate board here on ScubaBoard.com saying where I'm going and when. I have a 100% hit rate at hooking up with great people all over the world!

By far the best way of finding someone to dive with, whether they are local to where you're heading or travelling there on vacation themselves.
 
I usually will look around on the boat for someone who looks like they will not be a liability. They are pretty easy to spot. If I don't see anyone or if I'm the lone diver without a buddy I'll just solo.
 
It was for this very reason that I got my dad addicted to diving. wife wouldn't go, so now I have someone who will. Before that, on the few times I went on a vacation without a buddy, I tried hooking up with someone who seemed to know what they were doing on the boat, but I quickly found that the buddy system on most of your cattle boat type operations was nonexistent and so that's why I avoid that type of experience now.
 
I post on the appropriate board here on ScubaBoard.com saying where I'm going and when. I have a 100% hit rate at hooking up with great people all over the world!

By far the best way of finding someone to dive with, whether they are local to where you're heading or travelling there on vacation themselves.

This is really good to know!
 
I post on the appropriate board here on ScubaBoard.com saying where I'm going and when.

First of all, I agree with this. I have done it several times and always found success.

On the other hand, I feel your pain, because I have been there often and had some bad experiences. It is because of that pain that I now usually go the SB route.

When I have not done that, I have to feel people out, as Jim said, but they are feeling me out as well, and they may be reluctant to take on someone they don't know. Sometimes you really don't have many choices. In fact, I have been on dives where I essentially had no choice at all. I have been on more than a couple of dives where I had to return with tremendous amounts of unused gas because of the buddies I was with.

That is why I now prefer not to get myself into that situation.

One thing I do is the opposite of what many other people advocate. When I sign up, I always show an advanced level of a certification card, usually an instructor card, and in my experience the operator goes out of the way to get me a good dive. I know that is the opposite of what some people say, but that has been my experience.
 
I have done quite a bit of solo travelling and in my experience, the good operators usually match up non-paired divers by experience - cert levels, number of dives and types of dives done - and interest (no point in a macro-photographer being paired up with someone who wants to cover as much distance as possible). Or, there are arrangements where there is no buddy systems and everyone follows the DM/guide.
 
As posted, ScubaBoard may be the way to go. In the Fla. panhandle out of season (Jan.& Feb. & usually March) I have had very limited success going through the LDS's there. I guess it depends on location and season.
 

Back
Top Bottom