What Kind of Insta-buddy Experience Do You Prefer

[foresterab]

My first boat dives were the drop in you in the ocean and let you scatter or corral you into a ball and kick you lots type dives...was not good for either situation.

Then did dry suit training for local lakes where you might be get 20' on a good day for visibility and could be less than 5'...you learn quick to discuss not only how close you want to be but also where in position so you don't spend half the dive looking for the other person.

Most dives are with an insta-buddy since my future dive partner is still too young to crawl but regardless of the dive...it's a close #2 position at 5-10' irregardless of conditions. One regulator failure at depth was enough to teach me about having the dive buddy close.

 

[bergersau]

Option 2 or 6

If I have a buddy - I don't want them to disappear mid dive, lost buddy procedure to be discussed pre-dive . Though depending on conditions I don't mind a little more distance up to 5m or so if things are benign and vis is good. That is variable, dependent on gas redundancy, depth, vis current etc..

If I'm planned solo - I know I'm solo and act accordingly.

No 5 - 'Same ocean, Same day' concerns me from a liability perspective.
If your buddy has an accident or dissapears during the dive and you were ostensibly a buddy pair, that could leave you in a sticky position with regards to negligence claims both civil and criminal.

 

[beester]

I'm a GUE diver so I prefer 1. What many non GUE/UTD/ISE trained people don't get or sometimes misinterpret is that it's actually a very non invasive kind of recreational diving.

Meaning when I'm doing a rec dive with a GUE buddy we don't need to OK signal to each other every 2-3 minutes, we are not asking for each others gas status every 5 minutes, we are not pointing to depth gauge/computer asking what your status is... We are very aware of each other and I'm standard doing a full sit rep every 3-5 minutes but my buddy won't notice this (and I expect vice versa him to double check me). We don't need to brief a lot before the dive, we don't need to mention gas planning or be up at 500 psi kind of stuff because that is all a given and underwater you are a close buddy team but in a super relax way.

So for recreational diving (in fact for all diving if you discount the equipment stress involved with tech dives) it's a very mellow approach that I love.

2 is also an option but I would then brief my buddy what my approach is and sometimes with an insta buddy they go overboard on the checks becoming very invasive... (hey buddy we don't have to communicate our gas consumption every bloody minute, yes I know we are 15 minutes from NDL, etc, etc, etc)...

3, yes can work... and that is what I typically see on tropical reef dives. But to be honest it's not because the water is warm and the vis is good that you shouldn't be aware of eachother. I sometimes see "buddies" swim 30-50 ft apart... try to solve an OOA situation when you have to first swim horizontally for 1 minute.

4-6... well I've done my solo dives in my time, but I'm firmly in the team approach now.

 

[CJS]

My wife likes her diving warm and easy, so there are lots of dives she won't do with me; so I deal with the insta-buddy thing a lot. For local shore dives I go with guided dives organised by a shop where you are paired with an insta buddy. I gently remind them that they are carrying my back up air, and in the unlikely event that I need it I am going to be pretty grumpy if it is not near at hand. Fundies impressed upon me the importance of 'team' so even if they're rubbish at it I try and make sure I know where they are and keep within a sensible distance. If I'm on a holiday where I have paid serious coin, I will pay for a private dive guide to buddy with. This is feasible because most of my holiday diving is in Asia, so the additional cost is small. In Bali, I have found that they just give me my own guide at no extra cost. Guides are great gecause they know where the most interesting stuff is.

 

[TMHeimer]

I just voted now since the poll started when I was 2 months away. I checked no.2. With the exception of maybe one FL charter each winter and possibly a buddy shore dive or two, the rest of my diving is shallow shore solo diving. But, when with a buddy, insta or not, I like to go overboard with planning and above all keep close. In low viz even 10 feet may be way too far apart, even if viz is as GOOD as 10'. I seem to lead more often then not and constantly keep an eye on the buddy, hoping he/she doesn't lag much more than 2-3 feet behind (and to the side), and not become (literally) a pain in my neck. I offer a plan like "Lets navigate around the sides of the wreck near the bottom so I can spot shells--then I'll follow you the rest of the first dive and the second one"---something like than anyway. When I dive with my brother once yearly (again, shallow shore), we do do the "same ocean" thing. That's because the viz in CT or Long Island is at times too much of a pain to bother to stay together and we have different objectives--my shell collecting and his clam digging and/or spearo.
When I was assisting on courses I would tell students that all the buddy skills they learned were useless if they weren't together. When PADI brought in the "Mini Dive" I once had a group of 4 (2 groups of 2). One in the rear group almost lost a fin and her buddy helped her put it back on. The two other buddy guys went about 50' ahead before they looked back. Of course any more than a group if 3 is less than ideal, and probably better to do two groups of two anyway. But, it helped make my point.
Solo is fine if you are prepared for that, but if buddying, stay CLOSE.

 

[Bogtrotter]

Usually 3 but sometimes 2- dependent on such things as the diving conditions and experienced/skill level of the diver I'm buddied with.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

I initially thought #3 but realized that I would be constantly checking for them so really #2 is what I would prefer.

 

[GlennL]

Depends on equipment and circumstances. Every purpose I have been given for a buddy boils down to redundancy. Now that I dive back doubles i have redundancy. so in open water diving the equipment setup I have I am cool with the "loose buddy". If I am really familiar with the site then same ocean buddy is ok. If you take away my redundancy or start going into an overhead then I want a close buddy, preferably someone I know because you really don't know how a stranger will react under pressure.

 

[richdrogpa]

I hope for #3, it usually ends up being #4.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

I had an interesting situation on a night dive. I love photography on night dives. We (6 divers) were doing the 'group' thing rather than buddies and had a local dive guide. I was doing the photographer thing - loosely being part of the group and making sure I could still track their lights.
I got engrossed with taking photos of a moray. The rest of the group decided to turn lights off looking for bioluminescence... ...so I lost them.
We had an agreed plan for separation and had max bottom time for the dive. I looked around for a bit and couldn't find them so slowly headed back toward the boat. Dive was only 18m max so nothing too difficult. When I got separated it wasn't long before the max dive time was up so did my safety stop then surfaced. I had more of a surface swim than I realised I was going to have ( but still not a big one) and definitely had a good laugh when I got back to the boat. However having a plan for getting separated worked well. I'm changing to diving side mount so in future that'll cover the gas situation too.

Photographers do have a real reputation for using the 'same ocean' approach to dive buddies...