Going Alone

[scubastingray]

I've never gone with a shop, and the only times I'd consider it are if I were to need a boat ride out somewhere. This hobby is expensive enough without having to pay $30 extra per dive to try and "ease my fears."

 

[KeithG]

Is the op asking about booking 1 local dive or a vacation dive trip?

Actually, never mind. I think the advice is the same in both cases.

Be open & friendly and you will have a great time (unless all of the other divers are total idiots)

 

[Synonymous]

I find diving with insta-buddies to be intimidating. I've yet to have a good experience with a buddy whom I didn't know before the dive. They never seem interested in talking about the plan or even doing a buddy check. I seem to spend the whole dive chasing them to try to stay within proper distance. Since my wife doesn't dive, though, sometimes I don't have a choice.

 

[TMHeimer]

I find diving with insta-buddies to be intimidating. I've yet to have a good experience with a buddy whom I didn't know before the dive. They never seem interested in talking about the plan or even doing a buddy check. I seem to spend the whole dive chasing them to try to stay within proper distance. Since my wife doesn't dive, though, sometimes I don't have a choice.

I hear ya. I've been reasonably lucky with instabuddies, but there have been times.... It's OK for someone to advise going over routines, trying to go with a non-idiot so to speak. But when by yourself and there is one other single, and you've paid over $100, that's the way it is.

 

[fjpatrum]

I find diving with insta-buddies to be intimidating. I've yet to have a good experience with a buddy whom I didn't know before the dive. They never seem interested in talking about the plan or even doing a buddy check. I seem to spend the whole dive chasing them to try to stay within proper distance. Since my wife doesn't dive, though, sometimes I don't have a choice.

I can't possibly just be lucky. In my nearly 40 dives now, I've got something like 8 that were with repeat buddies. All others have been with instabuddies and I have yet to have a "bad" experience. I did have one guy that swam off while I was taking a picture and it miffed me a little bit, but not enough to consider it a "bad buddy" experience. (It was also on my 10th dive or something like that.) I was asked here on SB, after the fact, whether or not I had told him I was taking a picture and that's what made me truly realize this whole buddy thing works both ways. I hadn't indicated to him that I wanted him to stop or given him a clear description of what my light signals meant.


It is my belief that being a good buddy is a two way street. As I mentioned in another thread recently, it takes two to tango. If you are consistently having bad buddy experiences, take a step back and ask yourself what part you are playing in that experience. It takes both folks to have a good buddy experience. Part of that is managing expectations, which I've noticed is quite often absent from pre-dive discussions.

I've also found the very formal pre dive "check" is more of a put off to people who don't already know you. An informal conversation about your interests and theirs works quite well, I've seen. I ask about places folks have dived, and what they like to do on a dive. I ask how much of a "buddy" they want to be and tell them what my expectations are in a "perfect world". (I'm also quite comfortable if someone tells me "hey, you go your way and I'll go mine", though I will definitely dive more conservatively when that happens.) Other than that I make sure they know my rig and I understand theirs and we do a decent coverage of hand signals we typically use.

That has yet to fail to give me a satisfactory insta-buddy experience.


Or maybe I just have a much higher tolerance for "bad buddies"???

 

[shoredivr]

I just book on a walk on charter in Tobermory, been diving there enough it's not an issue.

 

[Synonymous]

Most of those dives were early in my diving "career," maybe I lacked the confidence to be a little more assertive. I'll try to take more responsibility on myself next time.

 

[abyss_scuba]

Please do not discount the service you get when booking with a LDS. Here are a few things to consider. I booked a trip for a customer and the airline switched flights, I spent 3 hours on the phone getting the carrier to switch to a more favorable flight for my customers. For my upcoming trip we will have a meet and greet with the other divers so that single divers can see who might be the best room mate. On this trip everything is taken care of, air fare, transfers, meals, drinks, diving. We will take care of anything that goes wrong so you only have to deal with one smiling face. When we get back there will be another party where everey one gets a tee shirt with the dives on the back and a memo book with pictures of you and your buddies and a dvd with all the pictures all the divers took ( if they choose to share) and no we do not charge 30% more, so is all of this worth the extra cost? Only you can tell.

 

[nolatom]

My own anecdotal experience only:

Insta-buddies are much better than the popular websites will lead one to believe. In a couple hundred dives, majority where I showed up alone and relied on Captain, DM, or just instinct/luck to get matched up, i have had no more than two or three "bad" buddies.

And from the bad ones I still learned some what-not-to do stuff, which in some ways has been the most useful stuff I've learned.

 

[dmoore19]

My wife is a non diver. I always get paired with an insta buddy when on the boat. Most of the trips I have been on were group trips, though I have done a couple of trips I planned myself. Usually with the group trips I am paired with someone for the week. This works out well for me as after a couple of dives me and my new buddy get along pretty well. Of course YMMV. On one of the trips our flight was late, because of the number of people in the group the airlines held the plane an extra 15 minutes so our group of 22 could get to our scheduled destination. But I also understand some people don't like group trips so they may not be acceptable to some.

As for planning a trip, it all has to do with how much time you have to spend doing it. I like the convenience of a group trip because I look at the trip and leave the rest of it to the shop. They have been there before, know which line to get in, know where to go to find ground transportation etc. There is something to be said for that, and there is a chance that my buddy may be the same one I had on a previous trip. If you have the time then planning it yourself can be rewarding. I don't know that it saves 30% but I suppose it could. The trips I have planned on my own were more expensive as I upgraded the accommodations or chose a direct flight instead of one with a stop or used more of a boutique dive operator.

My experience is limited as I am land locked with extremely limited local diving so I take week long trips.

I really do not think there is a one size fits all for this, there is no consensus on the subject. Only personal opinions and experiences that don't match everyone's needs.