Andy_HFC
Contributor
I'm sure you've all had some unenjoyable buddy experiences, so i just wanted to ventilate one of mine!
I'm a recently qualified diver AOW, and at the time had only 12 logged dives including my first OW dive.
My fiance and i had arranged a diving break. However long story short my fiance couldn't dive so i was paired with another diver. The guy was ok, diving for 20 years and was AOW himself, i explained my lack of experience and dive history.
I have never dived with someone else so we ran through our buddy checks, and he was a little aggressive in his checks and made it clear that he was more experienced and the dive was to be conducted on his terms. I was ok with this, although didn't like the way his hand signals were the reverse of everything i learned in my PADI training.
He had asked me to keep an eye on him descending as he had ear problems, which was fine as i have had a few probs myself previous. As we descended down the line to 26m the vis was zero, i lost track of him, and when i eventually got to the bottom he didn't seem very pleased and was giving random had signals and i couldn't work out what was going on. I could hear him breathing noisily but he said he was ok and we proceeded to dive. He kept grabbing my console and checking my air and at one point grabbed me to try and explain something. I kept giving him the ok signal and he nodded back at me, never learned that signal, i was always told to respond with my hands.
After 5 mins i signalled i wanted to ascend. So we did. I had a computer, he didn't. His ascent was rapid according to my computer so i signalled to slow down. He didn't, so i eventually caught up and did a safety stop at about 5m. It was difficult as the swell was building. Computer said i was safe so i surfaced.
On the boat he explained he wasn't happy with me, said my bouancy was poor, i didn't have my octo sercured and i didn't signal correctly. I explained his ascent was rapid, he told me not to worry about him and forget "those things" pointing at my new Mares puck. He then kinda poked fun at how i reacted in bad vis. I have had bad vis before and that wasn't my concern, but i figured arguing my side was never going to work, so just said fine whatever. He also shouted about me constantly turning to see him when he told me he would always be on my right, but the difference was he could see me, but i couldn't see him. Not much use if I got into difficulty.
In hindsight i know i had problems, i took out my octo to ask him to hang on to it as the vis was so bad and we didn't have a buddy line (something my instructor did with me once - worked then). Perhaps not a good idea, as i couldn't get it secured properly as to be honest i became a little stressed by him.
I should have ended the dive earlier, but i felt it was just my inexperience and wanted to do the dive. I wasn't stressed out, just a little nervous.
I did make some errors i'm not debating that, but it really knocked my confidence when he got stuck into me on the boat.
I apprectiate he was more experienced and some stuff he did made sense. I would just like to ask if anyone has a similar situation with a less experienced diver that they consider how to deliver such information!!
I did the next dive with him by his rules and it was ok. But i didn't really enjoy it as by this stage i decided i didn't like him!
I know there are some dives you will enjoy and not others, and it was a great experience, if not a steep learning curve. I just can't get it out of my head and feel like a bit of a prat.
Can't wait to get diving again with my normal buddy!
rant over, thanks!
I'm a recently qualified diver AOW, and at the time had only 12 logged dives including my first OW dive.
My fiance and i had arranged a diving break. However long story short my fiance couldn't dive so i was paired with another diver. The guy was ok, diving for 20 years and was AOW himself, i explained my lack of experience and dive history.
I have never dived with someone else so we ran through our buddy checks, and he was a little aggressive in his checks and made it clear that he was more experienced and the dive was to be conducted on his terms. I was ok with this, although didn't like the way his hand signals were the reverse of everything i learned in my PADI training.
He had asked me to keep an eye on him descending as he had ear problems, which was fine as i have had a few probs myself previous. As we descended down the line to 26m the vis was zero, i lost track of him, and when i eventually got to the bottom he didn't seem very pleased and was giving random had signals and i couldn't work out what was going on. I could hear him breathing noisily but he said he was ok and we proceeded to dive. He kept grabbing my console and checking my air and at one point grabbed me to try and explain something. I kept giving him the ok signal and he nodded back at me, never learned that signal, i was always told to respond with my hands.
After 5 mins i signalled i wanted to ascend. So we did. I had a computer, he didn't. His ascent was rapid according to my computer so i signalled to slow down. He didn't, so i eventually caught up and did a safety stop at about 5m. It was difficult as the swell was building. Computer said i was safe so i surfaced.
On the boat he explained he wasn't happy with me, said my bouancy was poor, i didn't have my octo sercured and i didn't signal correctly. I explained his ascent was rapid, he told me not to worry about him and forget "those things" pointing at my new Mares puck. He then kinda poked fun at how i reacted in bad vis. I have had bad vis before and that wasn't my concern, but i figured arguing my side was never going to work, so just said fine whatever. He also shouted about me constantly turning to see him when he told me he would always be on my right, but the difference was he could see me, but i couldn't see him. Not much use if I got into difficulty.
In hindsight i know i had problems, i took out my octo to ask him to hang on to it as the vis was so bad and we didn't have a buddy line (something my instructor did with me once - worked then). Perhaps not a good idea, as i couldn't get it secured properly as to be honest i became a little stressed by him.
I should have ended the dive earlier, but i felt it was just my inexperience and wanted to do the dive. I wasn't stressed out, just a little nervous.
I did make some errors i'm not debating that, but it really knocked my confidence when he got stuck into me on the boat.
I apprectiate he was more experienced and some stuff he did made sense. I would just like to ask if anyone has a similar situation with a less experienced diver that they consider how to deliver such information!!
I did the next dive with him by his rules and it was ok. But i didn't really enjoy it as by this stage i decided i didn't like him!
I know there are some dives you will enjoy and not others, and it was a great experience, if not a steep learning curve. I just can't get it out of my head and feel like a bit of a prat.
Can't wait to get diving again with my normal buddy!
rant over, thanks!
) and if we want to pursue the sport we are required to get into the insta-buddy pool on a regular basis.
