I feel a bit guilty....would you?

[bisonduquebec]

It happened to most of us. Don't worry. What I would recommend?

If you are not confortable leaving your buddy and go threesome, call the dive.
If you are ok with it, make sure the other buddies fully understand that it is a three buddy group and that they agree with it. Then, make sure your buddy surface ok before leaving with the group for the dive.

You must be ok with it and it must be ok with everybody else.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Kim, I'd like to point out that you seem like a very conscientious buddy. Kudos to you!

 

[renpirate]

Well, here's the thing ... I can well imagine that for the rest of the dive, Kim was spending at least a part of mental focus on his now-departed dive buddy, instead of just relaxing and enjoying the dive (at least, under those circumstances, that's what I would have been doing) ...

Hence, the question posed in the OP ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yeah, good point. I know I would probably be worried too. However, my intention, however ineffectual, was to help assuage his guilty concience.

 

[Kim]

...well, I'm not too happy with "Raoul". Kim, you were the "customer" & Raoul was the "service provider" - he had a duty to abide your wishes. How could he be certain ( without the use of slates ) that he knew precisely why you didn't want him to ascend alone? Telepathy? I understand his confidence in himself & his own wish to not ruin your diving opportunity, but he put his own wishes ahead of yours, which I disagree with. He should have known it was enough that you - the customer, wanted otherwise, & respected that wish.

Regards,
D.S.D.

I can see your point here but for me this is where the problem came from. Yes - it was a 'customer' / 'service provider' situation. As such I think that he saw it as one of my paid for dives that might get lost in the process and that as the 'service provider' he had a responsibility to ensure that didn't happen. Basically while he saw his own buddy responsibilty towards me, I have to wonder how much he expected in return....or was used to getting. One thing I absolutely know for sure is that although I would also have no problem with doing a solo ascent myself (having actually done that a couple of times in different situations), there's no way he would have allowed that to happen. The emphasis on safety from our guides - heavily stressed in their briefings - was actually laudable.
Oh well....at least it's clear in my mind now as to what I'd do in the future so I won't be taken by surprise in this way again. Thanks for everyones input....isn't SB great? eyebrow

 

[Pook-60]

Indeed it is Miss Kim.

I'd count it as good JuJu to have a buddy like you

Dane

 

[Halthron]

I would have had the same underwater conversation. How it would have turned out would depend heavily on what I thought of the person's level of experience and redundancy preparation.

 

[ItsBruce]

I disagree with nearly everyone here, or at least with their reasoning. I believe you did exactly the right thing. You offered; you repeated your offer; then you followed orders. If you wanted to abort because you were concerned for your own well being, then you should have aborted. But, after indicating your determination to accompany the instructor to the surface, he ordered you not to do so, you properly followed his order. It is not a matter of whether anything bad happened to him or how easy the ascent was. You must trust the instructor's skill, knowledge and instinct.

 

[Ken abucs]

You were right three times.

1) your initial instincts... call the dive, and ascend with your buddy

That's always the right first consideration.

2) After further consideration... He can make it to the surface

It was early in the dive, so his nitrogen load would be low. He had the situation under control. He could have done a CESA if the feces hit the rotary oscalator.

3) Looking back and wondering if you did the right thing.

Wondering if you did the right thing, and allowing others to learn from your predicament is a good thing.

It was the right thing to do in this situation, but a similar yet slightly different situation might require a different response.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Indeed it is Miss Kim.

I'd count it as good JuJu to have a buddy like you

Dane

Kim is a man...

 

[H2Andy]

then you followed orders. ... he ordered you not to do so, you properly followed his order.

i'm not sure i follow here

how is the guide in charge of Kim to give him orders? it's not an instructor-student
setting (i.e. not a class). they're just diving with a guide.

i don't see the "following orders" issue here at all, personally

however, the guide did indicate he was fine, and indicated he didn't want
Kim to follow, which, coupled with the rest of the circumstances, would
probably lead me to do what Kim did