Is a normal to have a buddy on a divemaster-led dive?

[NYCNaiad]

I've only been diving for the past year, but have 41 dives to my name & an AOW cert + 5 specialties.

I know some divers prefer to dive alone. If that works for them, great. However, I've now made the personal decision that I won't dive solo.

What confuses me are dives that are led by a divemaster or instructor. Originally, I thought that it was normal to have a buddy on these dives as well, but then I saw a number of comments on Scubaboard noting the opposite and recently some divers have looked at me oddly when I've asked to buddy up with them.

However, when I didn't buddy up on divemaster-led dives on my last trip, there were 2 dives where I didn't feel safe. The 1st time occurred when the divemaster turned & lost me. I was separated from the group for a couple of min and about to surface before I found them again. When I later let the divemaster know that I had been separated, she didn't seem to care. The 2nd time was with the same diveshop when another divemaster decided that he was too cold to continue with the last portion of the dive so left us underneath the boat. (He was wearing a shorty.) Everyone scattered and I ended up pretty much alone.

I realize that this diveshop is not one that I want to dive with again, but my question is...is it normal to dive with a buddy on an divemaster or instructor-led dive?

Please let me know your thoughts. I appreciate your tutelage.

Thanks,
Beth

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

It is a real good idea of have a buddy on every dive. No one person can keep track of 6 or 8 other divers. The DM is certainly not paying attention to everyone all the time. Working with a group of three is hard enough and anything larger than that is not practical.

 

[Indy Diver]

Interesting experiences.

I have never dived with an op that didn't encourage you to buddy-up. If there are an odd number of divers, the dive master will talke the left over diver as a buddy; but I have never gone out with an operation that was OK with the idea that the divemaster was responsible for the entire group. A divemaster will help out anyone they see that is in trouble, but their major function on a dive is to be a guide.

I personally would not dive without someone who was my personal buddy unless I was solo diving and had the required redundant equipment with me.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I was trained to dive with a buddy. It's what I'm comfortable with.
Regardless of whether the dive is being led by a DM/guide, I'm going to have one or two other divers on my buddy team.

FWIW, all of the dive boats I've been on in SoCal, Hawaii, Florida, Bonaire, and Cozumel encouraged divers to have a buddy. If you didn't come with one, they would try hard to find you a suitable dive buddy.

I'd be very wary of getting buddied up with the DM leading the group underwater. His/her attention will be divided between being your buddy and making sure the group is OK/still together. On a handful of occasions, I've seen DMs completely ignore their insta-buddy and devote nearly 100% of their attention to the group as a whole. Not good.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think it varies. Most times it was required that all have buddies. Sometimes the DM buddied with the odd single diver, sometimes thd DM did not dive. Once it was me, the DM and a newbie. She got cold and the two of them surfaced, with the DM signaling it was OK for me to continue with the dive. Another time my buddy got cold and aborted his 2nd dive--the DM (a MSDT) said he knew I could take care of myself, so go ahead and do the dive solo (45-50'). It varies.

 

[DevonDiver]

Given that most divers are trained and certified on the basis that they will be buddy diving, I find it surprising that such lax attitudes do actually exist. I don't really know why such a large proportion of divers bother to get a certification card, when they actually have no motivation or intention to follow the practises taught on those courses post-certification.

Stick a bunch of vacationing 'insta-buddies' on a charter boat, provide a DM... and what happens? All safe diving practices and procedures get thrown out of the window and the dive devolves into a herd of cattle blindly following a supposed 'pro'. Little or no dive planning. Little or no buddy procedures. Little or no gas management. Little or no contingency planning.

Say hello to your new 'insta-buddy', pay some fleeting attention to what the DM is mumbling about... jump in the water and swim around, making sure to keep in the general area of the DM, because they are the only person who has a clue what is going on....

Is it any wonder why we see fatality reports in the A&I forum every week? (something like 8 diver fatalities this week btw)

It boils down to a complete lack of divers taking any personal responsibility. If a dive 'pro' is present, the divers are content to 'abdicate' all responsibility for their safety to that 'pro'. Thus begins a slippery slide towards abandonment of all the safe diving procedures and practices they are taught in their certification training.

What is the reality?

A Dive 'Pro' has no responsibility for your safety, outside of training courses.

A Dive 'Pro' isn't your nanny and won't remediate for your own failures to adhere to safe diving practices.

If you are trained to use the buddy system, then use it. Your training course/s have provided the absolute basic foundations for safe diving (nothing more, sometimes less). Cheap and cheerful modular training (i.e. the PADI/SSI OW course) relies on the buddy system, plus other prudent restrictions (depths/overhead environments etc) to keep you safe. A 4-dive certification course, plus a few post-certification dives/courses, does not make you capable to operate underwater without immediate support.

Dive within the limits of your training and experience. If you are not trained for 'solo diving', then make sure you are diligent in applying buddy procedures.

For fun dives, the dive 'pro' is providing an 'outline' dive plan - that you and your buddy are meant to use for the development of your own diving plan. The dive 'pro' will provide a service as a 'guide' during that dive - selecting an optimum route and identifying sights of interest. Don't expect them to do anything more than that.

Just because the dive 'pro' isn't requiring you to take the buddy system seriously, doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it. The dive 'pro' isn't responsible for enforcing safe dive practices on their customers. A mature, prudent, responsible diver will use the correct procedures (as they were trained to do) without the need for external motivation from an 'authority figure'. I mean...let's get real.... we aren't children and don't need to be 'nagged' into doing the right thing...

Entry-level certification training provides the skills, knowledge and procedures to keep you safe within pre-define parameters of diving activity. Those pre-defined parameters at entry-level rarely (i.e. never!) include so-called 'group diving' or solo diving. 'Group diving' is often just a polite term for 'not applying your training'. If you choose not to personally apply those skills, knowledge and procedures, then you may well feel unsafe on the dive. It's a no-brainer.

Here's my article on the subject:
How to Dive with ‘Insta-Buddies’ | | Scuba Tech Philippines - News & ArticlesScuba Tech Philippines – News & Articles

 

[freewillie]

Forgive my ignorance, but I've never been on a dive boat solo. Since I generally plan dives where there are other divers present since I don't have a friend who dives to partner up with on a regular basis. As to the OP's thread, shouldn't the boat or dive operator pair up diver's as insta buddies or is that generally left up to the individual divers?

 

[TSandM]

I have been in situations where people are happy with the "group diving" concept, but I'm not.

Six of us got ready to do a shallow shore dive off the resort in Indonesia. I asked, "What are we doing for teams?" I got looked at as though I had grown two heads. Everybody said, "Well, we'll just dive as a group." I said, "I'm not comfortable with that, I would like a specific buddy."

Good thing. Within two minutes, my buddy had buried her head in her camera, and the rest of the group was nowhere to be seen.

I always have a buddy. We may remain in close proximity to the guide (particularly in places where there are cryptic critters that the guide will see but I may not), but there is one (or are two) people who are MY team. I'm their spare gas, and they're carrying mine.

 

[Quero]

The only times I lead dives in a group without specific buddy assignments is when a) there are very few divers anyway (3-5 at most) and b) when I have a DM bringing up the rear in case one or another lags behind for whatever reason. This is most frequently the case when I've got a group of photographers who are so focused on their imaging that they prefer to pass some of the duties of keeping track of their buddies to somebody else (me or my DM).

 

[MrsBBC]

YES
If I am diving on a Dive Guide lead dive where I turn up without a buddy, I will ensure that there is a buddy that I am comfortable diving with and who is comfortable diving with me. If not, then I would prefer to skip the dive than babysit another diver or risk my own safety.
I am not trained to solo dive, nor do I have the equipment to solo dive... and If I wanted to solo dive then I would not be in a DM lead group, I would probably be diving solo and avoiding the ill trained unbuddied divers.

If there is a problem underwater that requires the attention of a buddy, then they need to be there (i.e. they need to be within a suitable distance and both divers need to be familiar with each others equipment set up). I hate those inflate deflate switches on some BCDs and only discovered they existed recently when I made my irregular buddy to an equipment check with me.

The pre dive buddy check is there for your own safety, all the more so when diving in unfamiliar conditions, with an unfamiliar buddy, in unfamiliar kit.
For me the check doesn't just amount to standing on deck 2 mins before dropping and going through the inflate deflate motions.
It extends to finding out that diver's dive history, any previous equipment problems, a reminder of what to do if separated etc. This doesn't require a grilling of the other diver, just polite interested questions about where and when they last dived etc.

Fair play to you for asking the question.
It is all too easy for holiday/warm water recreational divers think that it is ok to
-follow a Dive Guide without a buddy
-be rushed into the water without a buddy check
-have their equipment set up for them and their air turned on

On Dive Guide lead dives:
Always check your equipment (preferably set it up yourself),
Always have a buddy
Always buddy check

I am sure that there will be people who disagree, but that's up to them, and they won't be diving with me...

Nic