Panicked diver this weekend

[Bob DBF]

Shoulder to shoulder is good

I'm always trying to get my buddy beside me and making the eye contact with OK signal

I suggest beside me, however I explain that I have good perferial vision and situational awareness but I get po'ed when I have to hunt for my buddy. As long as they are reasonably close and within my vision I'm happy. I don't mind excursions out of my vision as long as I know what's going on, I'm in no rush to get back to the surface.

Normally I'm solo or same ocean buddy, so when I dive with a buddy, I'd like a buddy dive.

From my limited experience, real newbees have been very good, but ones with a some dives under their belt not so much. A non scientific sample to say the least, and my experience may have to do more with the divers willingness to learn than their dive count.


Bob

 

[stretchthepenn]

staying above and behind you buddy is the absolute worst position to take.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. I volunteered to dive with a fellow the other day, and I quickly regretted the decision. He stayed above-and-behind me almost the entire dive, meaning I couldn't see him most of the time, and at one point, he full-on wandered off in the wrong direction. I had to surface and look for his bubbles. It suuuuucked.