Ways to get buddy's attention?

[Guille G]

Banging my wedding ring on the tank worked. Until I lost the ring in the Pacific Ocean

 

[NothingClever]

I just wave. People I dive with are good divers so we typically have our heads on a swivel to see who’s spotted what.

If waving doesn’t work, I’ll use a bolt snap from one of my torches against my tank.

I went through the rattle phase and found they become meaningless.

Fortunately I never stooped to that infernal LPI air horn. I always thought that was conceived for the panicky types.

 

[TonRin]

I have just used my knife on occasion to tap on my tank... if that doesn't work I stab the bugger!
Seems to work..

 

[jonhall]

I got a rattle early on in my diving, but it drove me crazy moving it around when I wasn't in the water - needless to say I took it under about 2 or 3 times not even making use of it and that's the history of my rattle.

As rec divers, my buddy and I, who have 113 dives together, are awful about staying together. Sometimes a few kicks away from each other, but more often, not. When close enough, I tug his fin. If far apart, the only thing I'd want to signal him for is to look at something - since I take a camera, if I can't get his attention, I just show him the picture later. To give us a little credit, we do check on each other quite often though.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I found the tank knocker I had years ago was not loud enough--useless. Maybe there are varied brands?

Maybe they were ignoring you. I found that's often the case with me. And all this time I thought I was a solo diver by choice.

You guys make me learn so much about myself.

 

[vinsanity]

Been dabbling with some GUE methods recently and really like their use of a hand light for communication, since diving in the PNW already means crappy enough viz that using a light the whole time is required or a pretty good idea. If your light has a hot spot (ie not great for video) and your buddies are within an appropriate distance, you can all see each others hot spots lights beaming in front of you on the ground or wreck or whatever your checking out. No need to look back or over to see if they are still there as long as their hot spot is. To get everyone's attention, just swing your light back and forth to indicate to your buddies that something is up and they need to look at you.

If that doesn't work, obviously you can still start banging something metal on your tank and get the whole worlds attention.

GUE has lots of opinions and your mileage may vary on which you like, but use of a light for comms in bad viz is one I like. Not sure yet if I'm willing to carry a big heavy light to tropical locations yet though.

 

[doctormike]

Yeah, I also say a good tight beam can light. It's your voice underwater.

Not as helpful in clear shallow water. One of the reasons I stay out of clear, shallow water.

 

[ofg-1]

Speargun? Aim for the fins.

 

[NothingClever]

Forgot about limited vis dives. Lights are great. For those still learning, good rule of thumb is “calm light equals calm diver”. If you’re spastic with your light, you’ll likely scare off a lot of fish and really annoy or confuse the other divers. I turn my light off briefly when I need both hands to fiddle with things. Depending on water visibility, there’s plenty of light from other divers that you’ll not “go blind”. Before I turn it back on I make sure it’s oriented in a non-alerting manner. Of course, in turbid, silted waters, that changes one’s calculus.

 

[Kimela]

Bang on your tank with whatEVER you have!!! I got one of those safety/signaling things that you shake and calls all the sharks to you ('rattle stick'). It didn't work to get my husband's attention. But if I bang it against my tank, it works! Metal against metal! Go figure!!!