Gandalf-the-Diver
Contributor
I live on the south end of Vancouver Island. There are 3 shops in my local area, 2 of which have Facebook Groups, for finding dive buddies. There is also a local Facebook group, for divers from my city, and a local (to the island) Facebook group for divers from the island. The groups that align with local shops, have close to 300 members between them, and hundreds of members in the other groups, although a fair number of those numbers are in all groups. They are the primary way, for divers to find dive buddies, and for dive buddies to plan dives. It works great; one can post in the mornning, and be diving in the afternoon, with either a new buddy, or a regular buddy. Our local GUE crew, do a weekly casual dive that anyone can join, Kool-Aid not included, but they always hit the pub or a social after. When I was a relatively new diver, I met a lot of these folks, as I was diving a lot. They were always very helpful, and a few of them are dive buddies now.
Recently, one of my regular buddies, moved back to the Eastern Seaboard, NE USA. He has his instructor cert. He was looking forward to diving wrecks out there. I asked him, how easy was it to find buddies. I had noted that, on ScubaBoard, I sometimes see postings, people looking for dive buddies, most of these seemed to be Eastern Seaboard listings. He mentioned it was not as easy as back in Victoria. I asked, was there not a strong Facebook presence, like we have here on Canada's West Coast, for finding buddies. His responce was no, that what we have in Victoria, is pretty special in a dive community.
My question for the hive; does your local dive area, have a strong Facebook Group Diving Community, that facilitates finding dive buddies, or or you finding buddies other ways?
Yes people use this site too, but local FB groups, are specific to an area, and responces can be instant. This I am guessing, will depend on how much local diving there is. Here where I am, there are a pleathera of amazing shore diving sites, all within an hr drive, the majority being 40 min drive or less. There is also a strong local diving community, especially those with all their own gear. Just curious if other places have the same conectivity, in the community.
Recently, one of my regular buddies, moved back to the Eastern Seaboard, NE USA. He has his instructor cert. He was looking forward to diving wrecks out there. I asked him, how easy was it to find buddies. I had noted that, on ScubaBoard, I sometimes see postings, people looking for dive buddies, most of these seemed to be Eastern Seaboard listings. He mentioned it was not as easy as back in Victoria. I asked, was there not a strong Facebook presence, like we have here on Canada's West Coast, for finding buddies. His responce was no, that what we have in Victoria, is pretty special in a dive community.
My question for the hive; does your local dive area, have a strong Facebook Group Diving Community, that facilitates finding dive buddies, or or you finding buddies other ways?
Yes people use this site too, but local FB groups, are specific to an area, and responces can be instant. This I am guessing, will depend on how much local diving there is. Here where I am, there are a pleathera of amazing shore diving sites, all within an hr drive, the majority being 40 min drive or less. There is also a strong local diving community, especially those with all their own gear. Just curious if other places have the same conectivity, in the community.
