Alex Dailey
Guest
After a dive the other weekend I have a question regarding buddy system protocol for when you lose track of your buddy. According to the NAUI training I received, if you lose track of your buddy and cannot find them after one minute of searching, you are supposed to ascend to the surface and wait for your buddy to do the same.
During my weekend dive my buddy and I became seperated fairly early into the last dive of the day. We were in about 60 feet of ocean, with limited visibility (about 10 ft). I looked down at my dive computer, looked back up and my buddy was gone. After looking for two minutes, following the NAUI training I ascended back to the surface and checked with the boat crew to see if my buddy had surfaced as well. Per request of the boat captain, I reboarded to wait and see if my buddy would surface (the plan was to continue the dive if they came up and we both had enough remaining air supply).
Long story short, my buddy did not surface until the end of the dive, and seemed upset with me that the rest of their dive was spent searching underwater for me. I in turn was upset because I didn't know if they were okay or had joined up with the rest of the divers on the boat. We both have the same training and were trained by the same instructor...so why the difference in response to separation of our buddy team?
I decided to chalk it up to inadequate communication on both sides (not going over what we would do definitively if we became seperated), thinking that since we had the same training, we would follow the same protocol. However, during class with buddy and others, a remark was made regarding the fact I had ascended and not stayed below to search, which has made me question my response to becoming separated from my buddy...
Did I do the correct thing regarding becoming separated, or should I have stayed below to search? Another diver offered to buddy up with me initially when the separation occurred, and while being able to finish the dive would have been nice, I wanted to make sure my buddy knew I was okay (and vise versa). Discussion with the individual did not help, as they seemed to feel I was in the wrong...
I don't necessarily feel comfortable having this individual as my buddy on future dives, which could be a possibility due to the class(advanced scuba), and I don't know if it's a question that I should discuss/bring up with the instructor (feel like I'm being petty/or "a snitch"). However, I want to make sure I'm doing my correct duty as a dive buddy (and if I'm not, correct my actions), and I don't want to be accused of abandoning my buddy underwater.
Thoughts or feedback on this/suggestions of what I should do? :depressed:
During my weekend dive my buddy and I became seperated fairly early into the last dive of the day. We were in about 60 feet of ocean, with limited visibility (about 10 ft). I looked down at my dive computer, looked back up and my buddy was gone. After looking for two minutes, following the NAUI training I ascended back to the surface and checked with the boat crew to see if my buddy had surfaced as well. Per request of the boat captain, I reboarded to wait and see if my buddy would surface (the plan was to continue the dive if they came up and we both had enough remaining air supply).
Long story short, my buddy did not surface until the end of the dive, and seemed upset with me that the rest of their dive was spent searching underwater for me. I in turn was upset because I didn't know if they were okay or had joined up with the rest of the divers on the boat. We both have the same training and were trained by the same instructor...so why the difference in response to separation of our buddy team?
I decided to chalk it up to inadequate communication on both sides (not going over what we would do definitively if we became seperated), thinking that since we had the same training, we would follow the same protocol. However, during class with buddy and others, a remark was made regarding the fact I had ascended and not stayed below to search, which has made me question my response to becoming separated from my buddy...
Did I do the correct thing regarding becoming separated, or should I have stayed below to search? Another diver offered to buddy up with me initially when the separation occurred, and while being able to finish the dive would have been nice, I wanted to make sure my buddy knew I was okay (and vise versa). Discussion with the individual did not help, as they seemed to feel I was in the wrong...
I don't necessarily feel comfortable having this individual as my buddy on future dives, which could be a possibility due to the class(advanced scuba), and I don't know if it's a question that I should discuss/bring up with the instructor (feel like I'm being petty/or "a snitch"). However, I want to make sure I'm doing my correct duty as a dive buddy (and if I'm not, correct my actions), and I don't want to be accused of abandoning my buddy underwater.
Thoughts or feedback on this/suggestions of what I should do? :depressed: