New Diver going on first trip without my buddy - what's the drill?

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dberry

Hydrophilic
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
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Location
Philadelphia
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I've done all of my dives so far (only 12) buddied with my daughter, but now I'm planning a week in St. Thomas with my non-diving wife. What do most folks do in this situation? Do I just show up and hope to find a match through the Dive clubs / charters on the island? I'm hoping to work with a good instructor, but private lesson(s) may be more than my budget can handle.

Am I crazy trying to plan dive vacations without bringing a buddy along? Happily married for 27 years, so changing spouses is not an option!

Also, any general advice about St. Thomas would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Don
 
I have a non-diving wife. I frequently dive on business trips and on family vacations. If it is an easy reef dive I just get a buddy on the boat. If it is a dive that is more challenging or for which I don't want to worry about a buddy with low SAC rate, etc., I just arrange for a private DM. Depending on the boat operation a private DM is much less than taking a class. Off NC on the deeper ledges and wrecks I still hire one sometimes if it is a new site and don't have my regular buddies around. Cost maybe $50. Then we get to do the type of dive I want which is slow and look for stuff. Some boats will but a DM in the water but they are not your buddy. They are looking out for the group.

Several years ago I did a couple of dives in St. Thomas off a cruise ship with an instabuddy. This was way before I was DM. There was a guide for a group of 6-8. Had a slow insta-buddy which was fine with me. We lost site of the guide several times. We were not worried since it was clear where they were going. Note that if I had been nervous when the two of us were alone I would have been better off with a private DM.
 
I certainly wouldn't sweat it. Be sure to tell the dive op that you'll need a buddy and you should do fine. However, be sure to cover signals and the dive plan (limits: Air, Depth & Time) before you splash!
 
You probably won't be the only diver without a buddy on the boat. Just follow the advice in posts 2 & 3 and you'll be fine. I could add that you might want to rent a pony bottle to sling just in case your new buddy isn't as enthusiastic about staying together as you might be but the vis will probably so good you'll never lose sight of your buddy.
 
For a tropical Caribbean destination that caters to a lot of vacation divers, this is what I see:

1.) You'll be assigned an instabuddy on the boat. Say 'Hi.' Note whether each of you use a weight belt or weight-integrate BCD, and if either uses an Air-2. Chat and get a sense of how strongly adherent you expect each other to be to 'tight' buddy practices.

2.) The group will follow a dive guide around the reef for about 40 to 50 minutes. Since everybody is following the guide, they are more or less staying together. Ideally you keep an eye on your buddy & try to stay in the vicinity of each other. How close 'in the vicinity' is can be the topic of a whole other thread...

I think you'll find diving in St. Thomas to be pretty benign. Have fun. Don't stress worrying about this.

Richard.
 
Also, any general advice about St. Thomas would be appreciated.
Don
Wnere are you staying? There's good dive operators in Chearlotte Amalie and other good operators on the East End. Some of the resorts even have their own or an affiliated operator. Once you've settled on a location/operator it doesn't hurt to call them in advance - it's a U.S. territory so easy to call even the shops without an 800 #. I don't know about there but in other Caribbean destinations sometimes the shops keep buddy lists and will put you in contact with someone else needing an insta-buddy on the boat(s).

None of the diving off St. Thomas that they'll generally take someone of your experience to is going to be very deep. And the water is so clear that you can look up and see the boat the anytime you're near it. A few dives are benign drift dives - on those the boat follows along behind your group. Some of the bettter known dives - Cow & Calf Rocks for instance - aren't very deep period - about 40' IIRC. We did some shallow drift dives off the eastern cays and a couple of those weren't much over 40' on the bottom.

I'm not sure you can rent a Pony bottle on St. Thomas. At least I can't imagine where. On the slight chance you get low on air, the DM will have enough for both of you.
 
I certainly wouldn't sweat it. Be sure to tell the dive op that you'll need a buddy and you should do fine.

I'd add that you should do this BEFORE you go! If you wait until you get on board (I've had people wait until they were about to splash) you may be out of luck as it could be too late for the boat to accomdate you.
 
Thanks for the reassurances, folks - that's one less thing to worry about for the trip. FWIW, we've decided to head to Key Largo in April instead of St. Thomas once I checked airfares: Phila to Miami nonstop for $250 RT. We can hit the islands some other time.
-Don
 
If you need help with arrangements and good ideas on who to dive with, PM mselenaous, my SO here on ScubaBoard. If we're not traveling, perhaps we can share a drink some night. :D
 
If you need help with arrangements and good ideas on who to dive with, PM mselenaous, my SO here on ScubaBoard. If we're not traveling, perhaps we can share a drink some night. :D
Will do! Heading down April 16 for 5 nights - hope you're in town.:cheers:
-Don
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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