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How to find dive buddies
- Thread starter Swimadam123
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Fellow students your OW class are good candidates for dive buddies. Also ask your instructor(s) to put you in touch with other divers.
Or the Midwest. However, I have a number of people who are crazy cold water divers like I am who are buddy possibilities.
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Actually, I have always disagreed with that. I recall in my PADI OW manual ('05) it said exactly that. My theory anyway, is that two new divers for one thing have no experience. As well, no rescue training. Theoretically, both are well ready to dive unsupervised, assuming they didn't have an OW instructor who wasn't thorough, a "box checker" so to speak. But even a newbie who is well prepared, with great buoyancy, etc. has no rescue training other then 2-3 tows and cramp removal.
My first (and only) regular buddy was in fact a fellow newbie. In my location there was little choice unless I wanted to drive 50 miles to the city and the shop. As well, I of course had no idea that I may not be prepared for an emergency because of lack of training. When I did the Rescue course the next year I gave my buddy some pointers on what to do should I be in trouble or go unconscious.
I'm sure some will disagree with me on this. My view on 10-14 year olds diving is also not very popular.
I always advised students to find an experienced diver for a buddy, preferably one who is rescue trained (I know SEI does some rescue in OW, and maybe other agencies to a small extent). I know this is often not possible, though.
OP, I can point you toward some clubs, and you can dive with me and my friends once you're certified. Things are in flux right now because of the pandemic, but if you come back to this thread and tell us a little more about where you are, how far you're willing to drive, and what kinds of dives you're interested in, I can give you some info.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
All I can do is relay my experiences over the years with finding dive buddies.
First of all, I don’t believe the internet is the best place to find buddies. People tend to have Internet personalities and then there is what they are in real life, sometimes two entirely different things...beware!!
yes I know the internet and forums of all sorts are the new way in our society, but virtual sizing a person up and actually physically meeting the person are two very different things. In person you can meet and see the other 99% about a person that the internet doesn’t allow for.
when I started diving I found buddies through my open water class then my advanced class then my rescue class. My first long term regular dive buddy I saw on a dive boat once out of Monterey (Larry and his wife). Later I responded to an add in town about a wrist compass for sale and when I went over to the persons house to pick it up it was Larry! We became dive buddies for years after that.
Buddies come and go. I belonged to a local dive club (actually two) and attempted to find dive buddies that way. All they did was meet once a month at Round Table to drink beer and eat pizza and talk about their past dive trips to exotic locations and then discuss some supposed club dive that usually never happened. I soon lost interest.
I started a couple dive clubs myself, one was a photography club and the other was a beach diving club. The photography club washed out fairly quickly, and the beach diving club was actually internet based (before I knew better). The beach diving club turned into a monster. It just got very controversial with too many opposing personalities getting involved and it kind of spun out of control and crashed. I let go of it way before that happened. I met some of the best people and some of the worst people during that venture. Two of my best friends and permanent dive buddies were actually from those old North Coast Diver dive club days.
As an organizer, I’ve had experiences in the dive buddy world of meeting really great competent people and then some real turds that also totally misrepresented themselves and were a real liability.
If I were you, I would go into dive shops in your area and see if they do shop sponsored fun dives.
Also, keep taking classes after open water, if for nothing more than to meet more people. You’ll also stay involved in diving and learn more stuff.
There also used to be a beach diving group down your way called the Sand Eaters. They would do a beach dive somewhere in SoCal every Sunday Morning. I think they are defunct now but maybe someone could start something like that up again?
That was actually the model for North Coast Divers when I started it, keep it simple etc. but it soon got taken over by, (you guessed it), internet zealots who were socially awkward and couldn’t find buddies in the real world.
I stand by my initial piece of advice: Stick with the real world when it comes to finding compatible dive buddies.
First of all, I don’t believe the internet is the best place to find buddies. People tend to have Internet personalities and then there is what they are in real life, sometimes two entirely different things...beware!!
yes I know the internet and forums of all sorts are the new way in our society, but virtual sizing a person up and actually physically meeting the person are two very different things. In person you can meet and see the other 99% about a person that the internet doesn’t allow for.
when I started diving I found buddies through my open water class then my advanced class then my rescue class. My first long term regular dive buddy I saw on a dive boat once out of Monterey (Larry and his wife). Later I responded to an add in town about a wrist compass for sale and when I went over to the persons house to pick it up it was Larry! We became dive buddies for years after that.
Buddies come and go. I belonged to a local dive club (actually two) and attempted to find dive buddies that way. All they did was meet once a month at Round Table to drink beer and eat pizza and talk about their past dive trips to exotic locations and then discuss some supposed club dive that usually never happened. I soon lost interest.
I started a couple dive clubs myself, one was a photography club and the other was a beach diving club. The photography club washed out fairly quickly, and the beach diving club was actually internet based (before I knew better). The beach diving club turned into a monster. It just got very controversial with too many opposing personalities getting involved and it kind of spun out of control and crashed. I let go of it way before that happened. I met some of the best people and some of the worst people during that venture. Two of my best friends and permanent dive buddies were actually from those old North Coast Diver dive club days.
As an organizer, I’ve had experiences in the dive buddy world of meeting really great competent people and then some real turds that also totally misrepresented themselves and were a real liability.
If I were you, I would go into dive shops in your area and see if they do shop sponsored fun dives.
Also, keep taking classes after open water, if for nothing more than to meet more people. You’ll also stay involved in diving and learn more stuff.
There also used to be a beach diving group down your way called the Sand Eaters. They would do a beach dive somewhere in SoCal every Sunday Morning. I think they are defunct now but maybe someone could start something like that up again?
That was actually the model for North Coast Divers when I started it, keep it simple etc. but it soon got taken over by, (you guessed it), internet zealots who were socially awkward and couldn’t find buddies in the real world.
I stand by my initial piece of advice: Stick with the real world when it comes to finding compatible dive buddies.
nolatom
Contributor
Very good advice above.
While you're new, yes try to get good buddies. On a boat, it's easier, especially if you get there early and let the Captain or DM know you need one. Shore diving I know less about and haven't done much of it, mostly New England, on the Cape and in Rhode Island. The rest in warmer Gulf coast boat dives around Pensacola, and east coast Florida around Jupiter and West Palm Beach. Mostly instabuddies, except for one very good and experienced buddy who doubles as DM some times, near Jupiter.
Learn from everyone. Admit you need help. Go on dives that aren't all that rare or "special", because an experienced diver will be more willing to take you on as a buddy if it's a routine done-it-before dive, and if you hold him or her back a little, he/she hasn't missed much, it's not Truk Lagoon or Cozumel.
Once you have a few dozen dives under your belt, it's time to start being the "better" diver who's willing to take a newbie, just as those good divers did with you . It's a pay it forward society when it works right.
Also, and not to get too far ahead, but at some point you're going to get a "bad" buddy--poor communicator, won't stay near you, wolfs down air but won't signal air remaining til it's getting too low and too late, it's a long list. Use this as a learning opportunity. I have had very few "bad" insta-buddies, but in a way I learned more from that experience than I would have otherwise. "What not to do" is the main lesson, and a good one to learn, or reaffirm what you knew already.
Best wishes and welcome to this great sport.
While you're new, yes try to get good buddies. On a boat, it's easier, especially if you get there early and let the Captain or DM know you need one. Shore diving I know less about and haven't done much of it, mostly New England, on the Cape and in Rhode Island. The rest in warmer Gulf coast boat dives around Pensacola, and east coast Florida around Jupiter and West Palm Beach. Mostly instabuddies, except for one very good and experienced buddy who doubles as DM some times, near Jupiter.
Learn from everyone. Admit you need help. Go on dives that aren't all that rare or "special", because an experienced diver will be more willing to take you on as a buddy if it's a routine done-it-before dive, and if you hold him or her back a little, he/she hasn't missed much, it's not Truk Lagoon or Cozumel.
Once you have a few dozen dives under your belt, it's time to start being the "better" diver who's willing to take a newbie, just as those good divers did with you . It's a pay it forward society when it works right.
Also, and not to get too far ahead, but at some point you're going to get a "bad" buddy--poor communicator, won't stay near you, wolfs down air but won't signal air remaining til it's getting too low and too late, it's a long list. Use this as a learning opportunity. I have had very few "bad" insta-buddies, but in a way I learned more from that experience than I would have otherwise. "What not to do" is the main lesson, and a good one to learn, or reaffirm what you knew already.
Best wishes and welcome to this great sport.
This is especially good advice. I don't mind buddying up with a newbie for one of the ordinary boat dives that are offered every weekend to various shallow sites around Palos Verdes, Catalina, Anacapa, etc. I'm less generous when it comes to those relatively rare and precious trips to Farnsworth, the Oil Rigs, or the wreck of the Olympic (none of which a newbie should be diving anyway, but that never seems to stop them.)
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