Dive Buddy Violence?

Is it ever OK to punch a dive buddy in the nose?

I recently dove with an experienced diver off my Achilles boat to a depth of 103 feet in Monterey Bay. He is a competent diver with 100’s of dives. There were small wind waves and surges of 10 feet. This was definitely a more advanced dive. When diving in these conditions I am extra cautious. He had an 80cu tank and I had a 100 cu tank so he needed to call the dive because of smaller air tank.

We dropped down the anchor line and made sure it was secured. I always make sure the anchor is secure. It was 103 feet deep at the anchor. We ascended up to the pinnacle and averaged 70 feet on the dive. Visibility 50 feet, beautiful strawberry anomie covered the granite pinnacle with schools of blue rockfish swimming all around us. I had 1500 psi and decided to check my buddy’s air since he had an 80 cu. He was busy looking at critters but I interrupted him and asked for his air since he was diving an 80 cu. When he gave me the sign for 700 psi. I was shocked and alarmed. I planned to go back to the anchor line and ascend safely. Since he only had 700 psi I decided to ascend immediately. We ascended to 15 feet to do the safety stop. It was difficult to maintain because of currents and 10+ surges. I completed my 3-minute safety stop. At the surface I noticed that he stayed down. I stayed with his bubbles because he was only a few feet down and was watching him. He stayed for another 3 minutes. When he surfaced I asked what the hell. He said at 10 feet his computer indicated a 3 minute deco stop. (single tank deco? WTF) I have never had an experience with anyone with a single tank deco.

We had to swim against a small current to the boat. Because of the large swells and choppy conditions we both got seasick off the boat. When on the boat he told me he only had 200 psi. I had 1200psi on the boat.
When I got to the dock I was thinking WTF. I don’t dive recklessly. I have never gone into deco and only do non-deco dives. I add extra risk margin when boat diving (check air regularly and surface with extra air, smb, secure anchor, go up anchor line, dive into current return with current, pay attention to dive buddy).

The dive turned out well but it could have turned out bad. The smaller the dive safety margin the less resources you have to solve unexpected difficulties. Cave divers use the one-third rule. When I boat dive I always end the dive with 1000 psi or more just in case of the unexpected.

Every diver is responsible for his own dive. He is responsible for his air and nitrogen levels etc. My dive buddy did not check air and just continued diving. If I did not interrupt him and ask for his air what would have happened? I pay attention to my air and dive time. With 32 % nitrox I knew I had no problem with any deco, so my air was the controlling factor on my dive. I figured I had 1500 psi so he probably had 500 psi less, that is why I checked. He was just cruising around and not paying attention. I assumed he knew his air consumption level and was paying attention to his dive time for nitrogen loading. He is responsible for his dive. He should known his air level and dive time. Not checking one’s air and going into deco is NOT OK. Diving is safer with a GOOD dive buddy but when a buddy behaves recklessly it puts the other diver in a solo situation with the added burden of taking care the other diver. No more dives with this guy.

My question is: Is a punch in the nose acceptable dive buddy behavior?

Note: I am just kidding about punching anyone. I'd never do violence and would never even consider it. So, lighten up.

If being careless warrants a punch in the nose, then you should should stay away from others permanently cause it's an ocean of carelessness out there. This guy doesn't follow your idea of safety (whether your idea is correct or not), so you don't dive with him. If he isn't concerned about things, then simple fixes aren't going to work so it's better to go your own way.

Bogie:

Is it ever OK to punch a dive buddy in the nose?


My question is: Is a punch in the nose acceptable dive buddy behavior?

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Only if you ask for his knife and speargun first.

Why didn't you surface together? How come it took you until you were at the surface to realize your buddy was still down there?

I definitely would have given that buddy a lot of verbal abuse but at the same time I also would have stayed at the deco stop with that buddy until he completed the 3min deco or until I my tank went to 600psi.
The last thing I would want to happen is for him to go OOA during a deco stop. It sounded like you had enough reserve air to deal with unexpected problems.....well this was your unexpected problem. For all you knew he could have been admiring a salp and ignoring his gauges again.

....Honestly though I probably would have given him a very hard shove upon surfacing.

In my opinion, you are also partially to blame for not setting expectations with your buddy concerning dive conditions and the planned dive. You did not mention doing a dive plan and discussing it with your buddy. Expectations on how the dive will be conducted should've taken place. It would have saved you from feeling super frustrated.

If you have set expectations and your dive buddy violated it then maybe berate him/her after the dive. A punch does not really do you or him/her any good. You might end up getting sued!

Punch him in the nose? NO. Unhappy with the situation? YES. Dive with him again? Your call, but I wouldn't in an advanced situation until I was sure the event was an aberation.

Was this the first time you dove with this buddy? If so, please don't confuse experience (number of dives, or number of dives in like circumstances) with competence. They are two vastly different things. If you have multiple dives with this buddy, were the events aberations? Was this the most advanced dive you two have done together? What was your communicated gas planning? Or was the gas planning assumed. If the latter then part of the failure is yours.

Finally, if you were diving Nitrox and your buddy was air, he might have had a deco obligation. Or the computers could have had different levels of conservatism. Again, these are things that need to be discussed BEFORE entry. I just ran the dive profile on "divePal" using an 80 cuft tank and a 0.5 cuft/min surface consumption. Fits well with the info you gave, including the deco obligation.

What's less cool than running low on gas is leaving your buddy who is nearly empty... when you have 1200psi left.

Yeah, the dude goofed and its unacceptable, but ditching him isn't the answer when you're the resource-heavy member of the team.

Like you said, he was an experienced diver and likely he just has his way of doing things (not supporting his decision). It's important to talk about dive plan with people that aren't your normal buddy. That said, it's your boat so you could have just left him there I suppose I'm betting you wouldn't have had to worry about diving with him ever again if you had done that.

If you have to ascend without a line and you know the sea is rough and there is a current, skip the safety stop! It's only a recommendation to get divers to slow their ascents, not a measure to guarantee no decompression sickness. If you delay your ascent three minutes you might come up pretty far down current from your boat. Since you had so much air, I would have taken your buddy back to the line, ascended normally and if he needed more air, you could offer him your reg.

Violence no - vote with your company and don't dive with him again. I'm new to diving but would hate to think a buddy was likely to get me into a difficult situation because of bad diving habits. I made my mind up to dive safely and with a safety margin not so I could be the redundancy for a poor diver, but so I wouldn't get a buddy into trouble and so if a genuine problem occured which could not have been prevented I would be able to help out. Not only was it bad diving from your buddy but he would not have been there for you if you had a problem. Unless this was a one off complete aberration and I could be sure it wouldn't happen again I would not buddy him again.

By the way were you both diving Nitrox or only you - surely this would have had a significant effect on your respective diving profiles and meant you had different degassing obligations during ascent and that you needed to plan how you would ascend as a pair?

I'm not NITROX trained but have recently started to look into the theory of it.