I'm the Pariah again

[huwporter]

(Purely addressing factual points raised in the OP):

After about 40 feet, I looked back and couldn't find my buddy.

40 feet is too far to go without confirming that your buddy is with you. You probably want some kind of confirmation every 10-15 seconds or 10 feet or so. It doesn't need to be full eye contact and OK every time, a glance is fine, with a more positive check every minute or two. You can also use their light beam or the sound of their breathing as passive confirmation of their presence but you do want to be confirming that you are together much more frequently.

I looked all around, couldn't see him. Then I heard his noise device. Couldn't tell where it was coming from. Looked all around, didn't see him. So I swam around looking for him for one minute, per protocol. Didn't find him. Surfaced. Looked around. He was nowhere to be seen.

He told me that when he signaled me with his noise maker, he saw me look around. He was holding onto a coral outcropping. But I didn't see him. Then he saw me swim off in the wrong direction, away from him. So he swam back to the boat.

If he could see you, you should have been able to see him. With a calm, thorough, methodical visual search all around (remembering to allow for the reduced field of vision through your mask) you should have been able to find him. Ensure that you have thoroughly checked where you are before swimming off to look anywhere else. Also remember to look up - it is a 3D environment, and even if you can't see a diver directly, you can often see their bubbles.

Cheers,
Huw

 

[Scuba_Noob]

I believe that the OP is much more comfortable with this thread being where it is.

I didn't mention that the post could have been better posted in Whine/Cheese or Near Misses for the OP's sake.

I mentioned it for the sake of new divers who peruse Basic Discussions and as a reference to the forum's special rules. New divers might be discouraged from browsing or posting in the forum due to a pretty new/inexperienced diver being accosted quite harshly in certain comments by some other divers.

 

[The Chairman]

One other thought... insta-buddies aren't for everyone! I travel with my number one buddy, Mselenaous, so it's never really a problem for me to find a competent buddy whom I trust implicitly. While we all snicker when someone pulls a Clint Eastwood "A man's gotta know his limitations..." imitation, it's quite true. It's also true that you should know, as far as is possible, your buddy's limitations as well. For an insta-buddy, I assume that they don't have good buddy, gas management or situational awareness skills. I guess I should be grateful that they rarely disappoint me! Of course, in order to be a good buddy, your skills should be able to complement their lack of skills, so game on. Two divers with less than optimal buddy skills and little to no situational awareness will in all probability become separated. Can you take a class for this? I am sure that there are any number of people willing to take your money to try and teach you common sense, but it's really not needed. What's needed is for each diver to make a commitment to watch out for each other. If there is no commitment, no buy in, to the buddy system, then it's doomed to failure! You'll both be SOBs and probably blaming the other guy! (SOB=Same Ocean Buddy).

 

[buddhasummer]

That was very well said Marci. Good advice for life in general as well.

No one died or got hurt. Learn from it, save that knowledge, and 86 the negative bs. People and life will piss you off. No getting around it. What you can control is how long it controls you, if at all.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

what does this mean? is it an American colloquialism? Cheers.

 

[nimoh]

what does this mean? is it an American colloquialism? Cheers.

yes, 86 = "get rid of"

 

[buddhasummer]

yes, 86 = "get rid of"

Thanks, where does it come from? I assume the number 86 has some significance?

Sorry for the thread hijack but looks like it's all been said and more.

 

[Imla]

Thanks, where does it come from? I assume the number 86 has some significance?

Sorry for the thread hijack but looks like it's all been said and more.

Here it is... According to Urban Dictionary...

Urban Dictionary: 86

 

[buddhasummer]

Here it is... According to Urban Dictionary...

Urban Dictionary: 86

Interesting, thanks, learn something new everyday. Now if I can only 86 this cold I can go diving.

 

[CT-Rich]

I have to agree there have been some pretty harsh comments on this thread, some directed at the OP, who at least had the balls to put himself out there for the discussion on the thread. But also for the buddy and the captain, neither of whom are around to give there side of the story. I have tried to gauge my comments about analyzing this in the abstract. I am not going to put thoughts into the head of any of the people involved, and address where the miscommunications lay. It is fair to assume that each person involved had the best of intentions in what they did. Certainly, the OP was not trying to be maliscious in his acts and I will assume the others involved were also trying to act in good faith. We don't have any knowledge of what transpired between the Captain and the instabuddy. divers get seperated, pooh happens. The instabuddy probably thought it was not or death and alerted the captain that his buddy was last seen swimming in the wrong direction and was unable to get his attention with his banger. It is much easier to spot another diver from a boat than from the water, so he got out of the water and alerted the crew. The impression that I got from the OP was that he over reacted from the seperation from his dive buddy and failed to communicate clearly to his own safety when signalled from the boat. The captain knew this might be a false alarm but was forced to act on the available information and got pissed off. feelings were hurt. The positives from this thread, and why it belongs here is that A) no one got hurt B) it was great discussion about the use and procedures for seperation from a buddy and boat to diver signaling. C) A reminder that somethings need to be kept in perspective. Losing track of a buddy should not be taken lightly, but needs to be approached with a level head. over reacting can create problems just as easily as ignoring them. D) some times we need to toughen up to criticism, learn from our experiences and not let one bad thing ruin the rest of the not cheap dive charter ( that was truly the sad part for me, being on a boat and them the dive not taken...). Remember, Everyone is there because they want to have fun, the captain has responcibilities and everyone should be laughing about the mistakes made on the ride in... E) no one got hurt.

 

[nimoh]

I have to agree there have been some pretty harsh comments on this thread, some directed at the OP, who at least had the balls to put himself out there for the discussion on the thread. But also for the buddy and the captain, neither of whom are around to give there side of the story. I have tried to gauge my comments about analyzing this in the abstract. I am not going to put thoughts into the head of any of the people involved, and address where the miscommunications lay. It is fair to assume that each person involved had the best of intentions in what they did. Certainly, the OP was not trying to be maliscious in his acts and I will assume the others involved were also trying to act in good faith. We don't have any knowledge of what transpired between the Captain and the instabuddy. divers get seperated, pooh happens. The instabuddy probably thought it was not or death and alerted the captain that his buddy was last seen swimming in the wrong direction and was unable to get his attention with his banger. It is much easier to spot another diver from a boat than from the water, so he got out of the water and alerted the crew. The impression that I got from the OP was that he over reacted from the seperation from his dive buddy and failed to communicate clearly to his own safety when signalled from the boat. The captain knew this might be a false alarm but was forced to act on the available information and got pissed off. feelings were hurt. The positives from this thread, and why it belongs here is that A) no one got hurt B) it was great discussion about the use and procedures for seperation from a buddy and boat to diver signaling. C) A reminder that somethings need to be kept in perspective. Losing track of a buddy should not be taken lightly, but needs to be approached with a level head. over reacting can create problems just as easily as ignoring them. D) some times we need to toughen up to criticism, learn from our experiences and not let one bad thing ruin the rest of the not cheap dive charter ( that was truly the sad part for me, being on a boat and them the dive not taken...). Remember, Everyone is there because they want to have fun, the captain has responcibilities and everyone should be laughing about the mistakes made on the ride in... E) no one got hurt.

I don't mind the changing of parameters for the incident (i.e. putting words into people's mouths) as long as it is done tactfully, and the intent is clear.

It gives us a chance to not only analyze this incident, but 10 other similar (hypothetical) incidents, and everyone can learn from them.