I f*** up and I am ashamed

[BlueTrin]

A very naive question. I have often heard of diving with buddies of the same level. What does it really mean? I understand that a diver with several hundreds of dives might resent being buddied with a newbie that don’t even master buoyancy, finning techniques, orientation, hand signals, or any basic procedure and has no experience dealing with issues . But what would be the problem for a 1000+ diver to be buddied with a 200+ diver?

I think once you have a certain level of experience, they would do mostly equipment match. (It is what I see usually around me from my limited experience)

If you pair someone on rebreather with someone who is on 12l and has not the optimal mix for that dive it’s not ideal.

Or they will pair people of similar interest, for example two photographers …

 

[Dan G]

On most dive operations, a 1,000 dive+ diver would hope to be buddied with a 200+ diver. That would be about the best you could expect. Only a very small percentage of divers reach 200+ dives.

Additionally, I would expect a 200+ diver to be pretty good, well able to handle pretty much anything on a recreational dive. If I need more than that in a buddy, I will bring my own.

The reason people fear the newbie is their lack of skill required for handling the dives you want to do. It is hard to tell by the number of dives, though. Here is a story that will illustrate the issue perfectly:

Two friends and I were diving in Akumal, Mexico. The dives there required boats, but the trips were very short, so the dive operation did 4 one-tank dives a day. On our third day of diving, we had a DM we had not had before. As we walked back toward the shop after the first dive, the DM talked to the three of us. He said he noticed we were much more skilled than the other divers on that dive. He said we were the only three people signed up for the next dive. Would it be OK if he took us to a much more advanced site, one more befitting our skills and experience? "You bet!" we responded.

As we suited up for the next dive, we saw another couple suiting up as well. They had signed up for that dive late. When we got to that more advanced dive site, it was obvious in the first minutes of the dive that the wife was not up to it. Her buoyancy control was miserable. The DM took 5 minutes of our dive to give her a buoyancy lesson while we watched. Even when done, she didn't have a clue. We spent the entire dive floating over the top of the reef, and down below I could see the narrow canyons and swim-throughs the DM had intended for us. It was not a good dive.

After the dive, the DM apologized. He said that the other couple only had about 25 dives total, not the vast experience the three of us had. I pointed to my two friends and said, "I finished certifying them on yesterday. The dives you did with us today were their first two dives as certified OW divers."​

Here's my issue with this situation. The dive shop should have either told the couple that they would need to book a different dive for later in the day or they should have told John and his 2 buddies that the shop needed to go to a different site due to the experience level of the additional divers while allowing them to reschedule for a different trip at another time or just a straight up refund.

I have been in a similar situation when diving on a boat specifically scheduled to go to a specific site. All the divers were kitted up and ready to get in the water at the site when the Capt. stated that the conditions were no good and we needed to go elsewhere. OK, fine that happens and the Capt. was prioritizing safety which my buddy and I appreciated.

Later in the day we were chatting with the Capt. and he apologized for calling the dive because while he knew we could handle the conditions, there were divers on the boat who could not. Again, the safety of everyone is the priority and I would not want the Capt. to allow divers into the water on a dive they should not do, but those divers should not have been on the boat in the first place. They should have been moved to a different boat if possible to an easier site or told, "The conditions at the site are rough today and when we get there I may decide it is too difficult for you to do the dive. Would you like to rebook or take your chances with being not allowed to dive?"

Another option was to tell the more capable divers that this might happen and give us the opportunity to reschedule. Regardless of how an op handles the mixture of levels, everyone needs to be getting on the boat making an informed decision regarding their options.

 

[Blackcrusader]

A very naive question. I have often heard of diving with buddies of the same level. What does it really mean? I understand that a diver with several hundreds of dives might resent being buddied with a newbie that don’t even master buoyancy, finning techniques, orientation, hand signals, or any basic procedure and has no experience dealing with issues . But what would be the problem for a 1000+ diver to be buddied with a 200+ diver?

The places I dive at know I don't mind being paired with those vacation divers who are not so experienced on some dives. They ask me first if I will do that. For the dives where more experience is required I get paired with experienced divers. If I come on vacation with a dive buddy we often get one other experienced diver and a dive master and we go off and do our own thing. Sometimes I get newly certified AOW divers and buddy up with them but won't go deeper than 30m with them and they often don't have a DC. So throw some caution in with NDL and watch their air consumption. New divers like to see what I can point out as I take photos or video. Sometimes I take photos or videos of them and email them.

I've made plenty of friends this way and some people have become dive buddies where we plan our dive vacations together.