How long do YOU look for a lost buddy.

[drbill]

I dive solo so I don't have to deal with this. I do remember one time I agreed to a pick-up buddy. We were at the far end of the dive park. I was filming something and keeping an eye on her through the reflection in my rear port. She disappeared and I didn't catch it for a short time. When I looked up, she was nowhere to be seen. I searched the bottom for about two minutes, then slowly surfaced and checked above. No sign of her. Returned to "depth" (about 35 ft) and looked a little more, then surfaced and swam in to get help and call the paramedics. As I started up the dive park stairs, there she was already dressed and heading out for drinks with some guys she had just met.

I chewed her out and read her the riot act for leaving me. She replied something to the effect "I knew you would be OK." I replied "Yes, but I didn't know YOU would be. I've been searching for your body." Kind of hoped she overdid the drinking and got a bit green around the gills on the boat crossing back to the mainland.

 

[h90]

I don't see it.

If an insta-buddy leaves you... then you are solo diving (even if just for a solitary ascent). Solo diving has certain risks. Those risks can be mitigated through effective preparation, education, decision-making and diligent application of training. Any diver can prepare for a dive as if it were, or might become, a solo dive. They can also prepare for the unknown quantity that is an insta-buddy. Some might call that 'self-sufficiency'.

Self-sufficiency negates the risks posed by a bad buddy, just as it mitigates risks when diving alone.

With an idiot as buddy, you have somehow to take care of him (her) and yourself.
You can't let him die, just because he is an idiot. As well you can hope that he will help you:
So you are a Solo Diver as no one will help you and the others guy nurse....

---------- Post added April 9th, 2012 at 08:53 AM ----------

Having a Buddy who can't stay together, who races around, who ignores the dive plan, and who ignores his buddy is worst than diving solo. Hence regardless of the buddy police on SB I will gladly dive solo, and am prepared to do so. This is on a shallow reef. I would prefer to have a good buddy but my wife does not dive, so I end up pairing with unpredictable divers.

Most folks have a SO who dives, but I would love to see how these same folks react given a string of poor buddies when on vacation. You are paying for these dives and one going wrong not a big deal, but it gets old when the buddy pool is incompetent. My solution is I am prepared to dive solo on almost all family vacations. I do have buddies I vacation with and that is ideal. But if in FL with the family I plan on being solo and bring a 19CF along so I have some redundancy.

If I end up with a buddy who is good other than being an air hog, I accompany them to the boat and then continue my dive. Gary (Conch) planned on me being solo on shallow reef dives, so solo diving is acceptable even if most Ops will not advertise that. Let's face it, a 20-35ft reef dive is a little risk dive as one can easily free swim to the surface if necessary. And you are often surrounded by other divers even if not buddies with them.

On deep dives I make sure I have a reasonable buddy. If I can not find one (rare) then I skip the deep dive. I find many experienced divers will not do the shallow stuff which I find odd....

For me it worked best on vacations to pair with the guys who have a bigger camera.....

they usual can dive well and no one wants to dive with them and they let you freedom.....

 

[dallaskincaid]

I was diving in the Bahamas last week and pretty much just accepted that my "buddy" wasn't really my buddy and just enjoyed the dive on my own with the hopes that someone would be nearby if something happened. It's a bad attitude I guess on my part, but it's the reality of the situation. Unfortunately, some people just don't get it.