I have to agree with Matt here. When 2 go down and one comes up, things are not all right. Of the many boat dives i have been on, only one time had the boat showed any concern with only me surfacing. Things became ok when i signaled my buddy was underneith me. They dont have time. A dozen bodies in the water and the boat does not know onything but the head count on the surface. The lost buddy went to the boat. Well ok then ,,, the lost buddy should have been on the boat rail next to the captain to be seen by matt so he would know his buddy was ok also. From Matts perspective...Only Matt knew what had transpired before surfacing, and signaling OK would very well indicate ALL IS OK. The opinions surely would have been different if the final head could were one short and his buddy was found sutck in the tube after using his remaining air to operate the his squaker. Solely from the opening post i would take Matt as a buddy anytime. This also another example of why i am pro solo. Insta buddes...... I may be with others but i dive as if i am solo. ( NO DEPENDANCE ON OTHERS) Had Matt got frustrated with the lack of usefull responce from the boat and gone down to look for his missing buddy he could have become just another number. If I am not mistaken Matt is a fairly new diver.. and as such... he has only what he learned in classes and the limited dives he has been on to draw from when a problem araises. If a critique was done i am sure fault would be spread on all concerned. But all that is MOOT when the time is now, the problem is real and no one seems to be listening.
You needed to communicate with the captain. You did not. He needs to know whether to get in the water to give you aid or rescue you. Give him the OK then explain the situation.
You say all you wanted to do was save your buddy. That's nice, but I hope you now realize you didn't go about that in the best possible way.