One more reason

[Kharon]

Sunday I went to an invitational dive and got parternered with a total ditz. I should have known better. Her navigational method was to surface and take a look!!! Once we submerged she proceeded to pull herself forward hand over hand and fin into the silt totally keeping me from any chance of seeing her. The vis was 5-7' at best before she hit bottom. She never looked back. I had the flag - duh - look for my bubbles, stop and look, just surface and take a look. Nope. Worse she found another group, with a flag, and took off on her own again. WTF! You are with a safe group and you take off on your own.

After searching for this moron I went back to shore (base) to see if she had returned (normal procedure). Nope. We spotted her about 400 yards away - swimming away from a flag. I geared up, did a long surface swim, did an intercept, and led her back to the base.

Any wonder why I dive solo?

 

[Doc Harry]

I absolutely refuse to be partnered with anyone anymore unless I interview them and agree to be their partner.

My current strategy - if I can't find a good partner - is to team up with a pair of divers for a group of three. Dive plan includes getting "separated" (wink, wink) from the pair shortly after entering the water, and going off on my own.

 

[ozzydamo]

Had an Insta-buddy on Tuesday(dive charter) who couldn't maintain their altitude at the 5m/3min stop with any kind of trim, fining pretty hard up or down at any given moment.

Gesturing to me that she wanted to look at my gauge/computer!

more likely bludge off my stability!
I had signaled the stop, 5 on one hand then leveling that hand and showing 3 on the other and striking it up into the leveled off 5 hand and was counting it down starting at 3 fingers of course. I gave her the ten fingers pushing away signal! not that she could get near me but she was trying......don't need to get head butted by someone that needs alot of practice yet.

 

[dawzo]

About 3 years ago, I was bored and everyone was at work.
I eventually came across two people i had meet a few times but never dived with that were diving that day.

Being desperate not wanting to dive alone i tagged along with them.
So we pull up at the site walked to the water and all looks good.
I Was diving twins and a sling tank getting my hours up with twins for my tech course. Max depth here is about 27MSW.

I said that i would just keep off to the side and do my own thing. we headed straight to 27m,

I had asked them both there pressures a few times and could tell they thought it was a big effort to tell me.
I also noticed the male was smashing his air and we were still only early into the dive. but he still had plenty left.

At about 17mins into the dive i turned around to see him swiming towards her with his arm out, he had sucked the tank dry at 27M.

I gave him my pony and we began accending doing our safety stop sharing my back gas.

Now Im usually a good dive buddy, But that day, not knowing these other divers well, and getting the rude awnsers when checking there air i kind of thought ok well they will look after each other than. - assumed they were not happy that i had joined them.

Since that day if the few people i dive with are buisy, i go solo, have quite a few solo dives and think my gear is well thought out. I dive the same gear regardless if im solo of not. Ive also put alot of time into looking at problem/ solution scenerios. And i dive the sites i know well in good conditions.

I Feel like as there buddy I am PART of the blame why this happend. I personally think that sucking a tank dry under those conditions is just unacceptable. But i still chose to be there buddy, for the simple reason that i needed to dive with someone.

Thats why i solo dive

 

[Barracuda2]

I dive the same gear regardless if im solo of not.

ditto---with or without buddies; deep or shallow; I dive the same configuration. On some dives, the only thing I may leave behind is my reel.

 

[tye1138]

Being an instructor, at home there is always someone to dive with; present/past students, other instructors for fun, etc.

But when I'm away on a trip, things were different. I remember being paired up with this bozo on a wreck dive in the keys. First time in warm water, never been on a wreck dive before, or at that depth. I told my buddy that and he said don't worry. We hit the water and the bozo swam as fast as he could down the mooring line to the wreck. I was overwhelmed with the beauty and being able to see 100+ feet of vis, I was like wow. He disappeared, never even looked to see where I was. I figured, I'd follow him and at around 80 feet, I got narked. So I backed off and hung out for a while, did my own thing. When the bozo (who was at 110ft btw) re-appeared 15 min later, he didn't even bother to make a decomp stop, he just swam up the mooring line and surfaced.

That was the last time I ever paired up with a random person. For the rest of my vacation I solo dived and it was great. Been solo diving ever since.

 

[je76]

About dive #30 of my dive career I was finishing up a Night Specialty off of New Jersey diving a wreck about 65' in the cold dark of the North Atlantic. The dive class consisted of myself, an instructor and another student.

This wasn't my first night dive but it was my first Jersey night dive. The dive was planned and procedures reviewed before we entered the water. The other student was a little nervous so the instructor advised that she wanted to keep him close. During the descent she would go first, he would follow her and I would bring up the rear.

At about 45' I tapped him on the shoulder to tell him I needed a moment to clear my ears he signaled okay. I looked up and swallowed to try and clear, looked down and he was gone. I reasoned he probably continued his descent and was waiting at the bottom on the line (not the plan but hey I can improvise). I finally equalized, made it to the bottom, looked around and no one to be found. I swam a few feet from the line to take a look, no one. I looked for about 1-2 minutes, reascended back up the line and surfaced to look, no one. Boat captain asked me if I was okay, I replied yes and descended again a bit angry. Got to the bottom again, looked around but stayed at the line for about 15 minutes and up comes the instructor and the student. The instructor had noticed I wasn't with them about 20 minutes into the dive and when she asked the other student where his buddy was he wrote on his slate "What buddy?".

I rejoined the group we dove for about 5 minutes, his gas was dangerously low because he wasn't checking his pressure and so we had to rush back to the line and end the dive.

We got back on the boat and I was told that the dive wouldn't count for my training because I left the group. I asked why they didn't resurface to look for me as I had done. The instructor had no answer other than she couldn't find me. Had I gotten separated on the bottom instead of on the descent these two tools wouldn't even had known I was missing until 20 minutes later. It was then that I realized I would rather have no buddy than a bad buddy which could be any buddy I didn't know including an instructor. I now exclusively dive with one of two other regular buddies or alone if they aren't available. Being solo isn't uncommon in Jersey and most boats don't enforce a buddy policy.

I've seen DMs get lost, buddies who would consistently stay down until their tank was empty, been partnered with divers who had the buoyancy skills of an anchor or who would become so scared they became disfunctional in the water where I had to hold their hand. I would rather just be responsible for me if I can't be with my regular buddies.

 

[Searcaigh]

I had an interesting dive yesterday with a so called "DM" newly qualified I may add.

Sunday is the beginning of the working week here so it is easy for me to dictate to the dive center where I want to dive, weekends (Fri/Sat) there are other divers of various experience so some dive sites might be off limits such as the one I planned for, 30M (100ft) wreck dive.

This "DM" has been staying at the dive center for the past 10 days but not employed there. Within the first 5 minutes of meeting him the night before I was informed several times that he was a DM, yea well congratulations!

Unfortunately the dive center DM was not allowed to dive that day as her boss dictated so, so no choice for a buddy, but I was prepared at any rate, EAN32 in my back gas (HP100) and a 19 cu ft pony (air) side slung. Oh he was so interested in my dive gear configuration as he had his breakfast of at least 3 cigarettes along with a cup of tea or coffee. he ranted on about having to do the PADI Self Reliant Course now that he was a DM because he was responsible for other divers etc etc ad nauseam

Sea conditions were flat calm, brilliant. He had an AL80 with air, I explained how the dive would go, when he reached 100 bar he would start his ascent alone, I was staying down to do some wide angle photography. There was a bit of a surface current, nothing that was going to sweep you away though. We dropped an AL80 on a 5M line with a reg attached and then backrolled off the boat.

When I reached 5M (55 Gal drum chained to the wreck) I did a quick OK and continued the descent. At about 20M he overtook me and continued down to the bottom, I was taking it easy, current although still there was not so strong. I left the mooring around 28M and swam towards the bow to take a few shots then on to the deck to photograph a large electric ray that I had noticed sitting on the starboard side, he then came swimming up to me and gave the thumb up sign, I gave him the OK and waved goodbye, looked at my computer and it read 12 minutes! I spent another 20 minutes alone on the wreck enjoying the solitude (at weekends this wreck is covered with divers, as there can be up to three boats moored on it). It is great to share such an experience with a fellow diver assuming your fellow diver is one who appreciates such things, however this time I was alone, and it felt great.

Back on the boat the boatman quietly informed me that the "DM" had surfaced with 30 bar!

We headed to the next dive site and after a 70 minute surface interval we descended to 16 meters. The DM lasted a bit longer, he hit 50 bar after 30 minutes and I enjoyed the rest of my sedate 73 minute dive shooting macro and not worrying about somebody finning around upsetting the visibility.

Back on the boat on our way to the dive center he was still ranting on about doing the Self Reliant Dive Course, and then going on to become ..... wait for it ....... AN INSTRUCTOR!

I was not really sure what to say to this guy, I am but a mere lowly Rescue Diver, however his inflated ego could be dangerous if he buddies up with some unsuspecting OW diver. I cannot imagine him becoming an instructor, but who in hell qualified him as a DM? Hopefully at some point he is assessed by a sensible instructor, who realises that this guy needs to improve his skills before moving on.

I did have a word with the dive center DM and she also agreed that he was "useless" and was also shocked at his claim of being a DM, his proof being an e-mail from PADI, but no DM number, and a paper certificate, having newly qualified in the Seychelles, he does have AOW though!

 

[ozarkdiver]

To je76....Your experience is so close to my first ocean dive it's scary. As a fairly new diver (1980), I was out with my "experienced" buddy for a 90 ft. dive in the Florida panhandle. I got seasick on the way to the site, so the divemaster told me to go ahead with the dive, that once I was under the waves, hopefullly I'd be better. Well, at 45 ft (yes, the same depth you stopped at) I felt I was going to vomit, so I stopped (thinking I would die if I vomited underwater). My partner continued on down the anchor line. I signalled by hitting my tank with my knife, but to no avail. I surfaced to try and let my stomach settle. I went back down to the bottom, and no buddy (no anyone). I had a compass, but didn't know which direction the group had gone. So I'm thinking "here I am, standing on the bottom of the ocean alone." There was no way I was going to swim off into the abyss hoping I would find someone, so I surfaced. Needless to say I never dove with him again, even though he was the guy who introduced me to diving. As far as your situation, I can't believe the instructor didn't keep tabs with all the divers in her class. Had you been injured (or worse), the situation would have lawsuit written all over it. Why she couldn't have at least stopped at the bottom and checked on her divers, I don't know. You know, the industry barks about no solo diving. In my experience (and not just this one) the real problem is bad buddy divers. I mostly solo dive these days, but when I do buddy dive, I STAY with my buddy, periodically checking on his/her air supply, asking if they are cold, is everything okay, etc. Small issues grow into larger ones. If my buddy is simply uncomfortable and not into the dive that day, it's a perfectly good reason to abort.

 

[undrwater]

I can't use badBuddy as a reason (excuse) for solo diving. The only reason (excuse) I can use for solo diving is that I enjoy it. Fortunately, the side effect of this is I don't have to frequently experience badBuddy. Sometimes though, I would like to dive with a buddy, so I look for goodBuddy. For me, this is relatively easy as goodBuddy is willing to listen and learn, and has a similar goal as I. This also means I have to BE goodBuddy, and be willing to listen and learn myself.