What makes a good dive buddy?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

VaDiver

Guest
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Location
Richmond, VA
Okay, first of all I realize that this is the most basic of questions but I wonder if anyone has taken the time to talk through the key elements of what makes a good dive buddy. The reason I'm asking is that on the 75 dives I have made, many with the same buddy, there have been times when we have been far enough apart that we would be of little help to each other in an emergency. Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes it's mine. It doesn't help that I'm an underwater photographer which has to be the worst kind of buddy to have. Not pointing any fingers anywhere other than at myself. I want to be a better dive buddy and I am hoping to generate some ideas from other experienced divers on this subject.

My questions:

1. What are your expectations of your dive buddy?

2. How close do you stay to your dive buddy during your dive?

3. Does one of you take the lead and the other follow?

4. What are your procedures upon entering the water and upon returning?

5. Does it change things if you are diving with a buddy you were just paired up with on a dive boat?

I certainly don't expect anyone to answer all my questions but would appreciate any comments you can spare.

Thanks...
 
VaDiver:
I wonder if anyone has taken the time to talk through the key elements of what makes a good dive buddy.
It was soooo tempting to say, "Do a search" when I read your statement as this has been covered here umpteen times. :D

My questions:
My answers:
1. What are your expectations of your dive buddy?
Team approach to the dive beginning in the planning phase extending through the dive and post dive de-briefing. This may be very simple for most recreational dives but more serious and complex if the dive gets technical.
2. How close do you stay to your dive buddy during your dive?
Within a breath and within sight which can be quite a ways.
3. Does one of you take the lead and the other follow?
Side by side or inline doesn't matter as long as we can see the other diver's light beam. Passive communication by watching one another's light beams here where I dive insures that we don't swim off and leave one another.
4. What are your procedures upon entering the water and upon returning?
I'm not sure what you are asking here but we generally do bubble/gear checks.
5. Does it change things if you are diving with a buddy you were just paired up with on a dive boat?
Yes... it gets more formal. With a long standing buddy some things go unsaid because they are already part of the frame work.
 
Originally posted by VaDiver:

My questions:

1. What are your expectations of your dive buddy?
That we´re "equal partners" and comitted to making the dive as safe as possible for the "team" as well as prepared to help each other when self-help is no longer enough.
2. How close do you stay to your dive buddy during your dive?
Within sight and breath. Sight is usually the limiting factor on the dives I make which means that we´re close enough to tuch much of the time.
3. Does one of you take the lead and the other follow?
No, I personally feel that responsibility for decisions should be shared, hence it is implicitly understood that every sign (except for the thumb) is a question not an "order". The formation we use has nothing to do with the way we manage the dive and is purely situational.
4. What are your procedures upon entering the water and upon returning?
I don´t understand this q either...s-drill?
5. Does it change things if you are diving with a buddy you were just paired up with on a dive boat?
Yes. By preference it is the same as above but by experience I treat it as if I was diving alone (except for my responsibilities to the "buddy").
 
Ditto to what UP said.The one thing I'll add is to question #5. We explicitly cover hand/light signals. Make sure we know turn time and pressure - which means I ask the the new buddy to signal me when he gets to rock bottom. I'm pretty demanding that I don't want to chase a person around the ocean, so I also talk about buddy awareness and responsibility.
VaDiver:
My questions:

1. What are your expectations of your dive buddy?

2. How close do you stay to your dive buddy during your dive?

3. Does one of you take the lead and the other follow?

4. What are your procedures upon entering the water and upon returning?

5. Does it change things if you are diving with a buddy you were just paired up with on a dive boat?

I certainly don't expect anyone to answer all my questions but would appreciate any comments you can spare.

Thanks...
 
I have not been diving long so I have had few dive buddies, 4 to be exact, but to answer the questions;

1. I expect mutual cooperation in setting up, planning and executing the dive.

2. So far I have stayed with in eyesight of him/her. Mainly dive lakes and quarries so this is usually less than 20'.

3. When we are heading toward a location, yes, we have had one lead and one follow, either next to or slightly behind. Once at the location, then we both do whatever we came there to do till both of us are satisfied to move on.

4. Being faily new still, we still go through the checks we learned in class prior to entering the water. We do go over what we are wanting to accomplish and how we will call the dive. When we get back we usually fill in our dive logs right away and discuss anything particulars about the dive.

5. I have not had the fun of a boat dive yet, so on this one I will pass.

Good questions!

Jeff
 
Thanks for everyone's thoughtful responses and my apologies for raising a question that has been discussed many times, I'm sure.

My point in question #4 is: when on a boat dive and you are descending do you and your buddy meet up on the surface to check gear...on the 15-foot hangbar to check breathing...do you go down the line together, etc?

Same thing on the way up. Do you meet at depth at the anchor line and ascend together at the same rate, keeping each other within arm's reach? Do you both complete your safety stop at the same time, etc?

Thanks...
 
We splash and meet at the anchor line, do a bubble check (some times :rolleyes: ) and descend together. We don't meet at the anchor on the way back up... we are already together. Yes we ascend together and do stops together though not within arm's reach.
 
As a solo diver in a group of nondivers who usually travel together, I often am buddied on dives with a stranger or two. It is my obligation to become glued to that buddy and they to me for the duration of that dive. Not in each other's face, but always aware and near. I try to establish a good communication with a new buddy before we get near the water, making sure they have the same attitude. When you are behind the camera it gets a lot more complicated, so I try to pair off with another diver who's also photographing, and sort of take turns and shoot as a team. Usually works, if not I complete the dive as their shaddow, and never dive with them again.
 
My overall requirment of buddy is that he be able to save my butt if something goes wrong - primarily by sharing air. (Of course this requires that we are not separated, he or she recognizes the problem, and they have enough gas to share), but basically my bottom line is if I go OOA - can this person share air and get me home.

In the water, typically one person naviagates, but we always remain in contact with light signals and stay close enough to get the person if the need gas.

If I've never done a s-drill with someone, I do not want to dive with them.
 
VaDiver:
Okay, first of all I realize that this is the most basic of questions but I wonder if anyone has taken the time to talk through the key elements of what makes a good dive buddy. The reason I'm asking is that on the 75 dives I have made, many with the same buddy, there have been times when we have been far enough apart

1. What are your expectations of your dive buddy?

Letting me know about things I can't see/reach like a leaky o-ring/hose/fitting/entanglement/etc., do bubble checks, loan me $5 for parking if I forget to bring exact change :cool:.

2. How close do you stay to your dive buddy during your dive?

Close enough to keep an eye on each other and help if needed. In very clear water, this might be 10-15 feet. In low-vis it might be a foot or two.

3. Does one of you take the lead and the other follow?

We both do both.

4. What are your procedures upon entering the water and upon returning?

On entry we both do a bubble check (check each other for leaks), and look for anything loose/not attached properly/wrong/whatever. Nothing special on returning other than the general watching-out for each other that we do during the dive.

5. Does it change things if you are diving with a buddy you were just paired up with on a dive boat?

It really just lowers my comfort level, since I'm never sure if my boat buddy is someone who can help me if needed, or someone I'll need to watch to try to keep them from killing themselves.

Terry
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom