divekraz
Contributor
My wife and I were in the Caymans doing a shore dive by the turtle farm. My wife and I have been dive buddies for over 20yrs and the only time we have an IB is when a third party wants to join us. A third person who was on the dive boat with us heard we were doing a shore dive and wanted to know if he could join us. He happened to have a dive master rating according to him. We discussed the dive plan in detail as we always do before a dive. We were into the dive about 20 minutes and close to our turn around point when I couldn't see the 3rd diver. I was leading the dive as we were familiar with the area. We lost him where the shallow cave is and all the Tarpin hang out. We did a search of the area, went around the big rock, couldn't find him. Surfaced and couldn't see anything. We went back to the entry point at the dive shop and he was standing on the jetty. I asked him what happened and he said he wasn't feeling well and decided to turn back. I asked him why he didn't let us know he was turning around and he just said since we were buddied up he didn't think he needed to let us know. I couldn't believe his response given his dm status and didn't dive with him again. I have had 3rd buddies over the years with some very good experiences but more bad than good. I will always give a diver one chance to dive with us, but if they decide to not follow the dive plan or ignore our safety standards I simply let them know they will not be diving with us again and let it go at that.