Question for the experienced diver

[beachdivequeenbelam]

I am in the same boat with you in the sense I am very conservative in my diving and I don't try to push any limits on the dive tables. I have been fortunate my MI is also a friend of my husband and myself. We both trianed under him so we are both conservative go by the rules divers. No stretching it. He didn't have anyone before I came along either. Join a dive club in your area. WE joined the Birimingham Reef Seekers and they are like us. They are non profit and do at least a dive in FL once a month or so and they go to quarries. Dive clubs are a good way to make friends and find divers to buddy with. I think part of the problem is a dive buddy is team and you both have to learn how the other operates and how they will react so that you can feel comfortable and safe and have some predictablity in their actions if something does goes wrong. You can go on PADI's website and they have a buddy finder as well. You will find someone. Offer to help with classes with your instructor. That can get you several dives in and you already feel comfortable with him.

 

[FredT]

Yes. So how is it that there are thousands of us on this board and most of us will consider ourselves good buddies? And yet ....

Most of us are not universal "good buddies." A "good buddy" is interested in doing the same type of diving you are. I am not a good buddy to a photography only, or "fish are friends fanatic" type diver. I'd also be next to worthless the first few dives in a kelp forrest. OTOH in fresh or salt open water, black or near black water or clear water, be it collecting lunch or just fishwatching I'd do pretty well.

As a diver's skill improves so does his/her interests evolve. Unless your current buddy's interests evolve in the same direction as yours you'll eventually need to find another buddy.

A good dive buddy that matches your skill and dive frequency levels as well as matching your in-water interests is harder to find than a good wife or husband, and much more valuable!

Out of the hundreds of dive buddies I've had over the last 35 years 6 qualify as a "good buddy" I'd dive with in any water or sea condition they felt comfortable diving in for any purpose. One of the 6 I married, 2 are married to each other, the other three are singletons either married to non-divers (almost single) or umarried. 30 or more I'd classify as a "reasonable" buddy suitable for less extreme conditions. A hundred or so I don't want to share a deck with, much less fall off it with even they weren't officially my "buddy". BTW at least 4 of those last hundred are "instructors"!

FT