Night and Day, Black and White

[AnotherNWdiver]

I admit I wasn't particularly aggressive at trying to pick out a buddy, but I did talk to a lot of the other divers on the boats. My companions were all across the board. There were newly certified divers, honeymooning and other couples, avid photographers and videographers, and lots of warm water/resort only divers. A lot of them I wouldn't want as a buddy and a lot wouldn't want me to be their buddy. But as I said, I was watching out for myself and I knew that if anything happened I couldn't depend on anyone but myself.

The thing that bothers me though, is that now I expect this type of diving to be the norm at most resort areas. The trip I went on was not solely for diving and most of my tropical beach vacations won't solely be diving trips. So I'm not likely to go with an established buddy, but I'd still like to dive on these trips. I guess I'll just have to make more of a pest of myself to try to find someone with a similar mindset as my own. And if I can't, just keep the dives casual. The fact that I have to do this is pretty depressing, however.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You are going to need to network with other like minded divers here on SB and some of the DIR boards in your area to find a good supply of buddies.

Actually, around here it doesn't take much effort at all. Besides the folks he went through Fundamentals with, there are the ones who went through the previous month's Fundamentals class ... and I hear January's class is already almost filled up ... plus there are several of us who are willing mentors for the newer divers. Fifth D has a buddy list, regular weeknight "tweek" dives, and regularly-scheduled boat dives for the budding DIR diver.

It's all in where you live, I guess ... but in the Puget Sound area, finding DIR buddies is really easy ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)