I'm your instabuddy!

[iluvtheocean]

What Jim said

i got lucky with Jury Duty earlier this month... got called for my panel -- then after we got outside the doors - they told us everything's been decided and go home being a full time employee in this county - your employer has to pay you a full day at least.

 

[MrChen]

This is the one thing I haven't done. I'm at 48 dives and have always dove with buddies at BHB first, in a very safe environment. Once I trust them there, I then moved on to inviting them on boats trips. I've had a couple of BHB buddies not pass the test. I've had buddies bring other buddies on boats that I'd prefer not to dive with, but that's as close as I've gotten to an insta-buddy. Some of these buddies of buddies have been train wrecks, so that helps reinforce the insta-buddy apprehension.

I'm just not comfortable with just any random insta-buddy at this time, so I won't book a charter unless I have a reliable buddy scheduling to go with me. Maybe it has less to do with the insta-buddy and more to do with my own lack of confidence in being self-sufficient during an emergency of my own equipment. I think my lack of confidence (don't mistake with water confidence) in my self sufficiency stems from not having a redundant air source such as a pony. I know this is a glaring safety issue in self sufficiency, which is why I feel the need to trust my buddy. At the end of the day, I'm not all that experienced. Each buddy which has dove with me has said they'd be more than happy to dive with me again, so SB has trained me well to be conscience of dive etiquette, but it has also taught me what can go wrong. At the end of the day, I want to have fun, but more important, I want to return home to my family after having fun.

I do feel that my desire for a sense of safety makes me a decent buddy. I like having a sense of awareness such as, where is my buddy, what depth am I at, what's my spg reading, what direction am I going on my compass, and oh btw, where is my buddy, and check out that cool shark or turtle! A new dive buddy of mine only has 20 dives, but I feel VERY comfortable with him. On our first boat pre-dive talk, I really explained to him that I don't want him to follow me, rather stay beside me. I communicated the pair up hand signal and every time I've signaled it, he was on it and right there. I know because of his lack of experience, he's constantly keeping tabs on me, but I just have to remind him to do it from my side and not from behind me because I'd like to keep tabs on him as well. I don't ask him about his spg, but he likes letting me know, so I let him know where I am in kind. He actually got narced on our last dive and swam up right above me. I didn't see him do this. I thought I lost him... I was completely stumped as to where he went. Not left, not right, not behind me, and not down... WTH??? Up? Sure enough, 5 ft directly above me. I really thought I lost him for a second. I was more scared for him at that moment and there he was waving to me. His narc symptoms cleared quickly and we had an awesome dive.
So I'll dive with you, but we're going to BHB first. I want to see good buoyancy, dive buddy awareness, and dive etiquette. If you are a newer diver like my buddy, I want to see a progression of learning good buoyancy, dive buddy awareness, and dive etiquette.

Chris

 

[Diving Dubai]

So I'll dive with you, but we're going to BHB first. I want to see good buoyancy, dive buddy awareness, and dive etiquette. If you are a newer diver like my buddy, I want to see a progression of learning good buoyancy, dive buddy awareness, and dive etiquette.

Chris

I don't mean to be rude - but with just 48 dives your last two lines come across as a bit arrogant. Certainly if you were my Instabuddy and started like that I don't think I'd choose to dive with you. Sorry!

To the OP - I'd dive with you in a flash - athough we'd need to get our imperial and metric measurements in sync. And while you say you wouldn't check my tank valve I wouldn't be offended if you asked - I'd also want you to watch my SPG while I take deep breaths to ensure no deflection (I carry and AI too) And then we dive to your capabilities and your limits and have a great time seeing some cool stuff.

 

[Phil_C]

I'll happily dive with you - I have splits and put about 100 dives on them, love them for warm water wetsuit diving, but they have been retired for my drysuit diving to some Hollis F1's which are just easier for me in that config.

The SS1 doesn't bother me, I have a couple of Atomic Reg's and think they are pretty much bulletproof, so have no reason to believe the SS1 is any different, and don't think it will be a problem on an AS ascent. Computers - yep I dive two, one in gauge and one AI for main use, but I usually run my plan through the tables so I ono what to expect.

When I travel I am almost always alone so regularly have insta-buddies, it's never been a problem. If there were any problems on the dive I would talk to you about them, see if you wanted to address them, and I could help I would have another dive without issue. If you didn't recognise the problem, or want any help then I'd find another buddy. The only caveat I would make is that if there were problems on a first dive, I might want to modify any subsequent dive, i.e. depth, profile, etc. if I was worried about the suitability of any subsequent dive.

As has already been said gear doesn't matter so long as it is serviceable and safe. Attitude does. - P

 

[nolatom]

I've had insta-buddies in maybe half of my couple hundred dives. Which is to say I *was* an insta-buddy as well. Almost all have worked out fine. Equipment isn't important as long as it's there, it works, and I know the basics of it re regs, dumps, releases, and weights. I still dive my "rookie" gear now almost 15 years later.

Once I got buddied with a pickup buddy for his first boat dive, maybe 6th post-cert dive. he was great. Good thing too, because this was an "offshore" dive off Pensacola, at the Chevron rig pieces. We went to 100' (hard to go much less on this dive, but it was twice his previous depth), he was fairly relaxed, a good communicator, decent buoyancy, and didn't wolf air.

Just good luck? Not really. We had a pretty thorough what-if chat on the long boat ride out, and he had a natural aptitude at being underwater.

And, he *must* have had an excellent instructor (in New Mexico of all places, if I recall him telling me). Maximum thanks to that instructor whoever you are, this guy was better than at least half of my other insta's with way more "experience".

I have enjoyed my insta-buddies, and from the very few bad ones, I've learned some very useful stuff not to do.


So yup, let's both be instas together..

 

[T.C.]

I don't mean to be rude - but with just 48 dives your last two lines come across as a bit arrogant. Certainly if you were my Instabuddy and started like that I don't think I'd choose to dive with you. Sorry!

You know what's really arrogant? Thinking that your self-reported dive number being greater than his 48 that you're a better diver, or in a position to dictate who he should dive with.

If someone asks to be Mr. Chen's insta-buddy, and he says these are my conditions; good for him. Having a bunch of dives or certification levels doesn't make you a good diver (nor does any gear necessarily make you good or bad), and if wants to see you demonstrate your skills in a controlled environment before doing something more...fluid; more power to him.

To the OP, sure, let's go dive. I'll dive with anyone once. Performance will dictate if we're paired again the next time we go spash. Mr. Chen; I'd be more than happy to meet your conditions and dive at the Bridge. Did it twice and would love to do it more.

 

[tkdgodess]

The only thing im not a fan of is the ai. Spg/computer. My time is worth having 2 computers, one failing on a no deco dive means i keep diving, and a regular spg is very reliable. Id dive with you but if your ai failed i'd watch you surface and keep diving, especially if it were alot of effort to dive (turks and caicos next year with my family that doesnt dive, alternating golfing/kids with hubby). Or maybe i'll dive sidemount and pull out my self reliant card...

 

[TMHeimer]

MrChen, I like your system. I would assume you would not arrive at a destination on a road trip and book onto a charter if there was no way to know who'll be your buddy ahead of time. What would you do if you wanted to book a week long dive vacation in the Caribbean (assuming you are by yourself)?

 

[MrChen]

I don't mean to be rude - but with just 48 dives your last two lines come across as a bit arrogant. Certainly if you were my Instabuddy and started like that I don't think I'd choose to dive with you. Sorry!

That's fine, I'd only do this if you had less dives than me, such as the example I gave. I also don't do it in a cocky way, I just offer it as advice of things to practice and think about, things which are a constant theme here on SB. Again in the example, the mentioned dive buddy is kicking ass at 20 dives. I honestly feel that many divers just aren't aware of how they should dive. SB reinforced this for me, but not everyone spends hours scouring through threads like I did.

I know I don't have all the experience in the world, but it doesn't mean I can't be decent underwater with good trim and buoyancy. And part of my lack of experience and self sufficiency makes me only feel comfortable if I've dove with you in a safer environment. Once I know I can trust you, then I'd be willing to dive with you in more advanced dives. We don't follow DM's out here in Jupiter. We drift dive without being babysitted by a DM, everyone dives at different speeds, you're on your own with your dive buddy for 50 minutes, and we launch our SMB's at the end. I may only have 50 dives, but I've had good practice between Jupiter drift diving and BHB shore diving. And I won't do an insta buddy unless I know I can trust you. I also won't put myself on the boat without a buddy I trust either. Unlike some, I'm not a danger to myself or others. Since I don't have a pony and neither does my buddy, I realize we are each others backup air supply in case of an emergency. I want to know my backup is there for me and I will be there for my buddy.

Have fun on the boat solo, I wouldn't put myself in the situation anyways.

---------- Post added March 20th, 2014 at 09:25 PM ----------

You know what's really arrogant? Thinking that your self-reported dive number being greater than his 48 that you're a better diver, or in a position to dictate who he should dive with.

If someone asks to be Mr. Chen's insta-buddy, and he says these are my conditions; good for him. Having a bunch of dives or certification levels doesn't make you a good diver (nor does any gear necessarily make you good or bad), and if wants to see you demonstrate your skills in a controlled environment before doing something more...fluid; more power to him.

To the OP, sure, let's go dive. I'll dive with anyone once. Performance will dictate if we're paired again the next time we go spash. Mr. Chen; I'd be more than happy to meet your conditions and dive at the Bridge. Did it twice and would love to do it more.

TC, I would say lets meet at the bridge, I wouldn't even say anything to you about how to dive since you are more experienced. I've dove with more "experienced" divers and they were train wrecks that I'd never get on a boat with as buddy. Thanks for the backup, come down, lets hit the bridge, and then lets hit a drift the next time .

Also at the bridge, I've learned that it's essential to just slow down. What's the rush. My 20 dive buddy freaked when I told him we'd be under water for 2hrs. He was like, no way. He did it with air to spare on a night dive to boot.

---------- Post added March 20th, 2014 at 09:36 PM ----------

MrChen, I like your system. I would assume you would not arrive at a destination on a road trip and book onto a charter if there was no way to know who'll be your buddy ahead of time. What would you do if you wanted to book a week long dive vacation in the Caribbean (assuming you are by yourself)?

Thanks. I'd either not book the 1 week vacation without a dive buddy or I'd take my diving to the next level by upgrading my equipment, ie at least getting a pony. I'm not experienced enough to save someone from themselves if they decide to do something stupid underwater. I'm well aware of my limitations. I learned quite a bit about safety in the service. I still practice it in daily life. It's great to have fun, I just choose to have relaxing fun . I shouldn't be babysitting someone under water nor do I want to. I want to enjoy my dive and I find it far more relaxing if I know there's someone next to me which I can trust.

FWIW, my dive buddy with 20 dives which is kicking ass is an airline pilot. His career demands safety and I like how he respects it.

Another buddy of mine was paired up with some clowns during AOW on a deep drift dive. I was sick and couldn't make it that day. He told me how pissed off he was at his class assigned insta-buddy. How the guy kept swimming off and doing his own thing. I wouldn't do that to someone.

---------- Post added March 20th, 2014 at 09:47 PM ----------

I'm also not diving split fins, jacket bcd, and have a console dangling. I dive a back inflate, long hose, necklace backup, naked spg, backup computer, lifeline, DRIS light, and hog fins. I'll move to a BPW one day when I can afford it.

 

[T.C.]

TC, I would say lets meet at the bridge, I wouldn't even say anything to you about how to dive since you are more experienced. I've dove with more "experienced" divers and they were train wrecks that I'd never get on a boat with as buddy. Thanks for the backup, come down, lets hit the bridge, and then lets hit a drift the next time .

Also at the bridge, I've learned that it's essential to just slow down. What's the rush. My 20 dive buddy freaked when I told him we'd be under water for 2hrs. He was like, no way. He did it with air to spare on a night dive to boot.

Thanks. Sent you a PM.