Same ocean diver found dead - Guam

[DandyDon]

definitely agree with Boulder John that a "live" buddy would come in mighty handy in certain situations like a medical issue or serious entanglement...... but for the most part I just dive with my 19cf buddy.... "Silent Bob". Never panics, always wants to go when and where I want, never leaves my side, never gets in trouble or needs my help

I've flown my 19 cf pony & reg on many trips from Seatle to LAX to Montreal to Florida to Roatan, etc. over 15 years. It's a hassle, but I don't trust buddies for air emergencies. I have also survived a couple of CESAs from my own mistakes and my pony not being filled and ready fast enough, but if it's filled, it dives.

My diving these days is generally tropical tourist group diving. When my home bud went with me, I was intense on certain safety agreements - for one, after promising his sweet mother that I'd always bring him back ok. Along with "Real buddies enter together, descend together, swim the dive together, ascend together, safety stop together, surface together," we had others about frequent air checks and staying together in spite of our cameras.

He quit diving, then died, and these days I avoid buddies because I don't want to bother imposing my standards on boat-picks when I know that they're not committed to such. I bet on my pony and a DM I tip well every day to watch for me as we both try to watch the group. My pony is always on and available to anyone.

I never dive with hunters.

 

[John the Pom]

IMHO..... Discuss and plan your dive with your buddy. But.......EVERY dive should be planned and executed as a solo dive. If your dive plan is at all dependent on your buddy...... then that is a bad plan.

I'm not really sure what you mean. There is a HUGE difference between being self-sufficient (which is what we should all aim to be) and diving solo. And a dive plan may well depend on a buddy, e.g. if you are performing some kind of survey and you and your buddy have different roles.

 

[poseident]

This one sends a chill down my spine. Outhouse Beach was (and maybe is) a very common training site. Without exaggeration, hundreds of thousands of dives have taken place in that spot. I've spent many months' worth of bottom-time there. My regards to friends and family of the deceased.