Getting your buddies attention while underwater

[HowardE]

I also have a rattler (not the H2Yo) but similar... My wife also has one too... We are also not over zealous with the shaking... Generally, we alert each other to something cool that we've found... Small Critter, Large Critter, Shark, etc. It also works for many other situations.

I will also say that since we mostly dive in florida... we have 40-60' viz regularly. So we don't always stay on top of each other, or even at arms length.

Personally I feel these work quite well... Some people find them annoying, and I would too if people over used them. If you ask anyone who has gone diving with us, they generally appreciate us pointing out the good stuff, and thank us for alerting the group.

 

[wstein]

I tend to shot them with my spear gun, that really gets their attention!!

Seriously, bang my tank or tap them if they are close enough.

Paul

 

[vapovick]

bang the tank, or slap my fist into my hand, it works try it. I find when diving with new people, that they are really not paying attention to sounds signals. I can bang away for a long time before being heard.

 

[Kevfin]

Clapping and snapping fingers doesn't work to well in cold California waters... at least not for me while wearing gloves. If anybody knows a trick in this respect, well, I'd like to know...

I use my flashlight, but in good viz water on a sunny day or when they are ahead of me that doesn't work very well. So, yeah, banging the tank is a last resort...

 

[TSandM]

I second Bob's recommendation for a good dive light. I will, however, reveal a problem with that strategy . . . if your dive buddies have better lights than you have, yours may not attract their attention. This drives you to go spend more money on a bigger and stronger dive light than they have . . . it's a vicious circle.

And Mike, if you can get close enough to your buddy to do that without him noticing you, he deserves it!

 

[SStrecker]

I prefer the H2Yo (a $15 Canadian mail order device), used sparingly.

 

[Charlie99]

When I'm with a good buddy, I just stop and peer into a hole. In a few seconds he'll come over to see what I've found.

For the inattentive buddy, yelling into the reg works surprisingly well. A repeated "whooooo, whooo, whooo" seems to work best, particularly if I briefed the buddy to be listening for underwater owls.

 

[terrasmak]

Tank banger , with the new divers i dive with . Hand signals with my normal dive buddy

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

When I find something neat my buddy usually notices and vice versa, we're buddies after all. Lights are good too, sometimes I'll shine it right in his eyes until he gives me the finger. And then we duel with our dive knives,

 

[colsonn]

I cut his air hose.

I use this method as well, by the way, I'm looking for a new dive buddy...