Perhaps that's because they don't really understand what buddy diving means. I believe a lot of them think what they're doing is buddy diving. After all, they jump off the boat together, and they swim in the same general area, and they turn the dive together most of the time.
... my point.
See, the claim was originally in that sub-part of this thread that the DIR "unified dive team" was the "right way", and that other choices were not considered acceptable by most divers.
That claim is patently false. Most divers - in fact, nearly ALL divers - are perfectly happy with something between solo diving and "loose buddies" who go into the water together, swim in the same general area, and turn the dive together most of the time.
Ask any UW photographer whether they can effectively dive "DIR-style". Bawhahahahaa. Ditto for spearfishers.
Most divers would bristle at the idea that they MUST remain within the DIR definition of "buddy" to dive safely, and almost NO divers actually do so in practice.
Not even most of them who claim to be "DIR", in fact.
I saw a "DIR Diver" on a charter boat a week or so back while taking Rescue. He claimed to be "DIR", but was diving with a buddy who had a short hose and traditional setup. And he was apparently so wound-up in the "DIR thing", including having an 18w HID cannister light on a daytime OW dive (!), that he and his buddy managed to lose the upline on the reef and got a nice swim back to the boat for their trouble
On his second dive of the day both he and his partner apparently went intentionally well into deco - on air - and were the last two back into the boat by a good margin as a consequence.
Was there something wrong with taking Nitrox in the tanks that day and avoiding the deco obligation?
Heh, the rest of us found the upline too. Granted, it was a bit challenging in that some of the divers on the boat silted the daylights out of the reef - but if you've been on a charter before, you know that you aim FOR the silt cloud!
Nice enough guy, but I had to chuckle a bit.
He asked me if I was "DIR" when he saw my plate and wing as I commented that he had a very nice light with him. I said nope.... I dove a basic Hog-style rig and was happy with that. Cool enough.... but was he "DIR"?