My new friend BOB

[MXGratefulDiver]

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.

While I agree in theory, as with almost everything scuba, it depends on the circumstances and how you handle it ...

I just came home from a trip to Port Hardy where I began every dive with a buddy ... and for the most part we stayed together through most dives. But we made some conscious decisions. We were each carrying a pony bottle ... I with my AL40 and she with a steel 30. We're both photographers, and for the most part quite compatible in how we like to dive. One incompatibility, however, is that when we find something interesting I will usually take two or three pictures and move on. She likes to spend more time with the subject, studying it from different angles and playing with camera settings. So when I would find something, I'd get my shots, point it out to her, and move on. I might move around within sight of her ... or move beyond sight, in search of more interesting subjects. After a few minutes, I'd move back to where I last left her ... sometimes finding her still there, and other times she would have also moved on to a different subject. We'd spend the better part of the dive too separated from each other to really call it buddy diving ... but always with a pretty good idea of where each other were. Sometimes one of us would decide to end the dive sooner than the other. We'd always signal our intent to ascend, and do so ... while the other diver would remain diving for a while longer.

We were comfortable diving this way. It did involve some agreements prior to the dive, and we always signaled our intent to separate before we separated ... so the other diver wouldn't waste energy wondering where we went. We're both competent to dive solo, so the boat operator had no issues with us diving this way ... and we did make sure he knew in advance what we were doing.

Treat it like a solo dive ... but share it with a friend. In many respects, the best of both worlds ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Nemrod]

While I agree in theory, as with almost everything scuba, it depends on the circumstances and how you handle it ...

I just came home from a trip to Port Hardy where I began every dive with a buddy ... and for the most part we stayed together through most dives. But we made some conscious decisions. We were each carrying a pony bottle ... I with my AL40 and she with a steel 30. We're both photographers, and for the most part quite compatible in how we like to dive. One incompatibility, however, is that when we find something interesting I will usually take two or three pictures and move on. She likes to spend more time with the subject, studying it from different angles and playing with camera settings. So when I would find something, I'd get my shots, point it out to her, and move on. I might move around within sight of her ... or move beyond sight, in search of more interesting subjects. After a few minutes, I'd move back to where I last left her ... sometimes finding her still there, and other times she would have also moved on to a different subject. We'd spend the better part of the dive too separated from each other to really call it buddy diving ... but always with a pretty good idea of where each other were. Sometimes one of us would decide to end the dive sooner than the other. We'd always signal our intent to ascend, and do so ... while the other diver would remain diving for a while longer.

We were comfortable diving this way. It did involve some agreements prior to the dive, and we always signaled our intent to separate before we separated ... so the other diver wouldn't waste energy wondering where we went. We're both competent to dive solo, so the boat operator had no issues with us diving this way ... and we did make sure he knew in advance what we were doing.

Treat it like a solo dive ... but share it with a friend. In many respects, the best of both worlds ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I made a general statement and you had an anecdotal story of your specific dive of a similar situation. I agree with you, you had discussed your plan, you had the needed equipment, your DM/captain were in the know. I do not see a problem. But the OPs initial post, perhaps not clear, was that he was going to use "BOB" to facilitate dumping a buddy who runs low on air and continuing a dive. I do not have a problem with that as long as, as in your example, that there was a plan, and an agreement beforehand.

Perhaps I did not understand, but, while I am a Militant Minimalist Solo Extremist anti-DIR and anti-Nanny Diver, I take buddy diving and being a good buddy serious. Be it an insta-buddy or my wife.

N

 

[sportxlh]

My 19 cf BOB always goes with me, even on shallow reef dives. I just purchased a 40 cf deco bottle which I'll probably use as a pony occasionally as well.

One thing I learned in the SDI class is that if your buddy gets any real distance from you, especially while drift diving where your buddy may be unintentionally moving away from you fairly quickly, and you get into trouble, you will be in a world of hurt. My instructor moved 50 feet or so down the reef line and then causally started to swim/drift away, like an unobservant buddy might. He had me exhale all the gas from my lungs and try to catch him. It was nearly impossible to catch up since for every two feet of progress I made swimming towards him, his 'casual unobservant' swimming increased the distance by a foot: in other words, his swimming cut my progress in half (forward 2 steps, back 1). Swimming 75 feet with no air in the lungs is not very easy and would be difficult in an emergency situation. His theory being that divers might not discover an sudden problem on a lungful of gas, but only once they've exhaled and find there's nothing to inhale. As a result of that sobering object lesson, my pony goes with my everywhere.

I don't mind a buddy depending on me and I'll watch out for my buddy if he/she allows me to (e.g. doesn't dive into a wreck or cave), but with the exception of just a few other divers, I don't really want to depend on anyone else.