Threesomes - yea or nay? And why?

[Samuelmorris117]

I didn't have a dive buddy and was at the mercy of luck to find someone to dive with. I was asking a buddy pair if they would consider a third. After explaining my recent wreck diving/ spearfishing adventure they agreed to let me dive with them. They had as good a time as I did and we manged four dives together. At the end of our dives they had around 500 psi of air and I had around 1750 but I was just happy to be diving. It happens even with a regular buddy. I would ask to keep a open mind and take a chance, you may meet a new friend. A future dive buddy. So I say Yea take the chance.

 

[tplyons]

I commonly dive in trios around here. I have a regular buddy and a semi-regular buddy. If I can't dive, those two often dive together, so we're all quite familiar with each other. Adding him in is seldom a headache, just a little more looking around for some of my buddies.

Regarding low on air, we'll often work into the plan that the trio will escort the low on air diver back to the anchor line (we all dive with ponies so we're mostly self reliant). If the other two are capable of continuing the dive, the third low on air diver will surface alone according to the plan. It's usually me up a little earlier than the other two, but they usually hang out for another few minutes and will catch me on a longer safety stop.

However, if we don't have an anchor line, we'll stick entirely together.

It's all about the planning. I still prefer a pair, but a trio works when all three are familiar with each other and the plan.

 

[KeithG]

It would be interesting to get a collective perspective on the "casual 3-some" in a vacation diver situation. High visibility, no current.

My buddy and I sometimes take on a third diver, but only under our simple restrictions. It has so far worked out very well. But on retrospect, we do seem to be way too lax, and will accept almost anybody. Our mistake? We are very clear about the dive plan, but assume the other diver is capable of doing it.

We are vacation divers and stay shallow and do not swim much. These are the restrictions we clearly communicate pre-dive. We are very clear that we will be doing a very (VERY) conservative dive. We also describe our definition of conservative to the third. But we do not engage / enforce much other information (other than air level & where is the boat signals).

So far the dive operations that have asked us to add a third have seen us dive and (seem to) understand our profile and behaviour.

These 3-somes have always worked out well for the other diver as they have been very junior divers. And they have not crimped our laid back style. We get them back to the boat ladder well under their 500 PSI, even if we have another 40 minutes left on our dive.

I think that this type of 3-some requires a different type of dive objective. Normally divers want to return to the boat near the end of the dive. We dive 3-somes as if the third was a junior diver and always return within sight of the boat (dock,...) within 2/3 of their dive.

 

[Darkforeboding]

Best times I ever had were diving in a group of three. Started as just me and a nice divorcee as my buddy. She was a new diver and I wasn't. When we got under I looked down in 100+ feet of water and one of the other new divers was looking at some coral in about 90' of water, not realizing how deep she was. Her husband took off with some of his macho friends and was nowhere to be seen leaving her without a buddy. I was able to get her attention and get her to come up to us, figured out how deep she was and about how long she could have been there and before coming up we all took a safety stop. Rest of the trip it was all three of us. The husband would take off somewhere trying to see how far and how fast he could go. I showed both of them how to find good spots in the coral to turn over rocks and see interesting sea life. We generally stayed shallower and longer than everyone else and had the most fun.

DFB

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

When recreational diving, what you have described should work great. I dove with biology students who were diving for a purpose. Data collecting or setting up experiments underwater. Even in those circumstances, threesomes worked fine if the divers respected their role as a buddy. We often had trouble with experienced divers putting all their concentration on their work and forget they are suppose to look out for each other. Our job was to enforce the buddy system for the sake of the university, who are legally responsible for the safety of their dives. Most dives were routine and shallow. Like 30 to 50 ft. Experienced divers have little to worry on the safety side so they find it easy to forget and just go to work. Even some professors who have dove for thirty years there would break the buddy rules for the sake of their research or project. Being a good buddy has more to do with how the divers respect and accept their role than how many there are.

Adventure-Ocean

 

[TSandM]

Being a good buddy has more to do with how the divers respect and accept their role than how many there are.

Beautifully said!

 

[kelemvor]

I'm a relatively new diver with under 70 dives logged. I've done a few 3-ways including my last dive. I prefer 2 way buddy teams on account of there's less for me to worry about. Not that the 3 way was horrible, it's just a little extra "work" which means a little less looking at the sights for me.


I was surprised to see some of the more senior posters commenting they preferred 3. I'd love to hear why, anyone have a good write up on the subject?

 

[muteki]

I'm a solo traveler and have never had a consistent buddy, so every time I dive it's different. Because of that, I'm really not used to buddy diving. I check my own gear, and during the dive bounce between groups if they spread out, depending on what I want to see. I've dove in 3s (me, another diver, and instructor in cenotes for instance) and really liked the dynamic. These last few ocean dives, I've either buddied with the DM or another experienced couple on the boat. Luckily my SAC is really low, so I've come up with as much air as them.