Is there a valid reason for a pony bottle

[NAUI Wowie]

Hahah yeah so funny lets dive in unsafe conditions and/or with unsafe buddies lol rofl

Dude, do you even liveaboard? Do you do dive boats where you meet up with new folks and find zero viz at depth? Or do you ONLY dive with your bestest friends? I dive in philippines every year and i i dive in mexico every year aside from those other situations. under none of those four different scenarios do I have personal dive buddys i havent been diving 10 or 20 or 40 years to rack up those diving friendships.
So that means you take more risks than with known friends that know you.

So stop diving? You can take my reg out of my cold dead lips amigo....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

It's - usually - a lot better sitting topside wishing you were underwater than sitting underwater wishing you were topside.

I've called dives. I've called them underwater, and I've called them before even splashing. I've never regretted any of the times I've called a dive. Anyone can call a dive, for any reason. The ocean will always be there, and I really prefer sitting topside wishing I was underwater over the opposite. I hope - for your and your family's sake - that when you get enough experience you will think the same.

Yea well at the normal point you realize you are chasing as others call them a darter its loooong after you have splashed and your 80 ft down. Yea you can call a dive at that point but were talking about buying pony bottles to alleviate the tiny risk that AS you find out you need to call the dive your equipment fails. eh...ill buy the pony....wait i have and itll be here any day a nice 19cf with sling. as stated before if i do deep monterey dives ill get an AL40 too. I aint scared a no pony

 

[Cap335]

I use mine sometimes since I have some laying around for deco dives. It's no hard to carry so why not.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

When I want to dive a week I will call friends/buddys. I will be sure we have the same goal (photography, project , fundiving or whatever).

Even for a day trip at the Northsea I will call my buddy and ask him/her to bring doubles and a oxygen stage.I will also ask him/her if it’s ok if I bring my camera.

When we want to do the same dive and have the same goal it is more fun for me to dive. Why would you just join a live aboard for a week or something like that and dive with unknown buddy with poor skills ?

I did also dive a lot with insta buddy’s. In October I did also do cavediving lwith a group of 5 divers and one of the divers of had never dived with. But if it’s possible for me to find good buddy’s with the same goal, why is that not possible for you?

There are not a lot of buddy’s here doing tech and/or cavediving. If you are just doing recdiving then there should be much more (good) buddy’s.

first off how long have you been diving? how many buddies do you now know? how long have you known this buddy? If I was diving 10 years or more id have tons of diving friends.

Second point, you went cave diving with instabuddies.....cool do they also average about 50 lifetime dives under their belt with an OW cert a single tank and a world of confidence? They dont do anything different like train in school for weeks and dozens and dozens and dozens of dives and practice ad infinitum buddy techniques do they? They arent DIR or GUE trained are they? because insta buddies are not trained like that.....

I dont want to break out the old apples to oranges theme because that doesnt begin to encompass the stretch you just made.

Ill have to break out the ol comparing amoebe to octopus comparison for your post....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I have dived in Cozumel and the Philippines. I didn't see any divers with ponies nor did I see anyone run out of air. Perhaps you were at a different resort. I've been certified for nearly thirty years. I worked at a dive shop for eight years and worked as a DM on SoCal boats. I only know two divers who carry a pony bottle. One who abuses it and one who is a fairly new diver and is sometimes nervous about going below sixty feet.

there you go again strawmanning it up bigtime. Where did I ever say I see ponys in the philipinnes or mexico? I never have. I do see them in Monterey though every time im there. more experienced divers there than on vacation dives..... coincidence? I think not

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I usually dived with twin 120s, a 40 with 50% and another 40 with 100%. If I ever had to shut down the isolator, I would still have access to both tanks. A pony is a smaller tank that you would go to in the event of a total and instant loss of gas. There are more airplanes falling from the sky than total first stage failures. I'll take my chances.

if your airplane is falling from the sky would you want a parachute or try to Cesa back to land?

 

[tursiops]

if your airplane is falling from the sky would you want a parachute or try to Cesa back to land?

Dude, you are making a lot of noise with very little signal, and lots of repetition.
You might have more impact by holding your fire and being more coherent rather than lashing out ADD-like.
I think you have a few good things to say....but saying them over and over with attacks on other posts obscures your message. Chill.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

The way you describe it, it seems like there are some people that don't want you to be the boss and be in charge.

No no no, I never have tried to take charge of a dive. Its only if the other diver or divers want me to lead because no one knows how to use a compass. Most dives I actually follow and always stay very close. probably almost all dives but that requires great exertion because half the divers swim around at very high speed burning air like jetfuel. Hyperbole? Hyperbaric! Lol I know if you do liveaboards you know exactly what im talking about. I emphasize certain dives such as when leading to make a point about ponys.
If you are leading ANYTHING then in less than 20 seconds people can swim out of sight. Check on buddy following, check your compass check your depth check your air check terrain for visuals to make coming back easier, check buddy again, he gone. Ah hes however distance away goproing the 11th Garibaldi of the dive, Great now to turn around and go chase him down. Then watch 40 minutes of 11 different Garibaldis. Cool dude, yea ill be right back.....

 

[Mike1967]

btw are you pro pony or against pony?

I'm actually pro pony for the "insta-buddy" scenario you speak of, but most of my dives have been with the same buddy so I haven't got one. And I've just started to dive SM now so I never will.

 

[doctormike]

Maybe that would be safer, but I don't dive like that and doubt he is seeking advice. I probably wouldn't give advice (or recommend) something I have no experience with.

My comment pertains specifically to the topic of equivalency between doubles and a pony bottle.

My comment pertained to Max’s comment. I know the difference between doubles and a pony!