My new friend BOB

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Mouth Breather

Contributor
Messages
313
Reaction score
142
Location
Deerfield Beach, FL
# of dives
200 - 499
BOB the Bail-Out-Bottle aka Pony is my new best friend. I completed the SDI solo course last weekend, having already done quite a few solos. Even if I'm with someone, BOB and my training give me piece of mind that if something happens I can be self-reliant.

I'd like to take BOB with me on most boat dives, do you all do this? I bet the cattle boats won't like it, but they're the ones that had a part in driving me to solo in the first place. It seems to be my fate that I get stuck with the insta-buddy that's been "diving since 2001" having amassed 10 whole dives the last of which was 4 years ago.

Speaking of the insta-buddy, do you wave buh-bye when they thumb your dive after 1/2 hour on a 50ft reef? I had an instructor tell me they do this, but what if they have an "event" between you and the surface? As solo divers, do you still feel an obligation to stick with an insta-buddy until the bitter end?
 
Not to be picky, but you might try a different acronym. While your discussion about your buddy BOB is amusing, the term BOB refers to a bailout breather. Essentially a backup rebreather carried on big dives where carrying enough open circuit bailout bottles becomes too arduous.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.
 
You last question should have been covered in the class. As a solo diver you are not diving with a buddy. Insta or otherwise. I try to only book with ops that will allow me to dive solo or "buddy" up with another diver that also wants to just be same ocean buddies. You should be finding this out before you even leave the dock and not allowing the op to assign you a buddy.

The latter is not even a solo dive note. It's a note on any dive. The operation should not be assigning you a buddy. That's your job to pick someone.

I have never in 11 years been saddled with a buddy I did not approve of or want. On boats in Florida, California, Puerto Rico, Bonaire, Jamaica, and the St Lawrence River.

As a DM and Instructor I have been asked to buddy up with someone and have said yes. At that point I am a buddy and if they blow through their air I see them back to the boat and continue my dive. Then I don't do the second one with them.

I did have on op kinda try to make me take a buddy. They didn't push too hard because I promptly told them the diver needed to fill out a waiver I carry, pay me $50.00 per dive, or the op would do that and comp me the trip. Ended that pretty fast.

You are either diving solo or you are not. If you are diving with a buddy and they deviate from the plan and take off, wave bye-bye and continue your dive. If they blow through their air see them back ON the boat, not just to it (watch them physically board), and finish your dive. Failing to do that is not being a solo diver.

It's being a lousy buddy.
 
I believe that if you are acting as a buddy you should be a buddy until they are out of the water/back at the boat. A buddy really only has 2 responsibilities. To aid in the prevention of problems and assist if any arise during the dive which ends after exiting the water.
I would be depositing them on the boat and continuing the dive. You would have been a good buddy and continued as a solo diver.

Talk to the dive operator and explain that you are taking BOB and not another dive buddy. Some operations may oppose or not permit solo diving but in time that may change.
 
I always thought a BOB would be fun Bob.jpg
 
I certainly agree with what's been expressed so far regarding buddies, insta or otherwise. Having an insta buddy with a shaky skill set along takes some enjoyment out of my dive, but I do feel an obligation to stick with them, perhaps even more so. I was pretty surprised by the instructor's comments but I've heard it before, perhaps it's just a macho-sounding thing to say.

Good points on insisting going solo but it'll take a while if at all with some ops. Because of all the tourists the hand-holding gets more and more annoying the further South you travel in Florida. I do try to stick to smaller ops that the retirees -who usually have far more experience than I- frequent but it's not always possible.

So.. I'm curious... What did you get for a pony or should I say how big is BOB? LOL :confused:

BOB is 19 cubic feet. That will get me up from as deep as I'll ever go at this point, huffing and puffing, and still do my safety stops.

---------- Post added August 5th, 2015 at 10:14 PM ----------

I always thought a BOB would be funView attachment 214168

I like it!
 
I refer to my pony as "my little buddy AL" ... and he's 40 ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
You live in Coral Springs, Florida? By Google maps that is near WPB and Jupiter, two areas that I know have solo friendly boats.
 
A buddy dive is a buddy dive. I would not leave my buddy during a buddy dive unless it had been agreed upon in advance and cleared with the captain/DM, if there is one. I think starting a dive with a buddy, who then runs low on air and you send him aloft alone, might be irresponsible. Now, if he takes off into a wreck or cave where it had been previously stated the "team" would not go, well, that is another matter, otherwise I feel an obligation to remain with him/her until the dive is completed or I had him/her off to another diver(s).

I see no reason to carry a pony bottle on a planned buddy dive and since I will not be abandoning my buddy, I see no reason to carry a pony for buddy diving. I will carry a pony for solo dives, my line in the sand, generally, around 60 feet or deeper I will carry, less than that, probably not.

However, if the dive op requires full solo equipment per my SDI training to dive actual solo with them, then I will comply and they would be right to expect me to do so, but then, I would expect not to have a buddy either for any part of the dive :wink:.

N
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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