It's on them, until they die and their heirs sue you because as the buddy you've accepted some degree of liability.
Bad buddies...
- Thread starter rabe
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It's on them, until they die and their heirs sue you because as the buddy you've accepted some degree of liability.
When I dive with anyone who wants to buddy with me I tell they they can follow me around if they want but my attention will be on my camera and finding subjects.
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I love diving with my wife and children. I enjoy diving with a few other divers that I know. I mostly dive by myself under all other circumstances. Most of my diving is drift diving in SE Florida. I will gladly take new divers to the area to help them figure out the local topography and how to drift dive. They generally ascend on the flag before I am done.
I have had several instabuddies that have caused me concern, mostly in Key Largo on the wrecks. The deal I make is to get them safely back to the correct ascent line in time to be safe. This has generally worked out OK though I have made some or all of the ascent with some of them to make sure I fulfilled my obligation that they are safe.
I have had several instabuddies that have caused me concern, mostly in Key Largo on the wrecks. The deal I make is to get them safely back to the correct ascent line in time to be safe. This has generally worked out OK though I have made some or all of the ascent with some of them to make sure I fulfilled my obligation that they are safe.
Simple answer: I didn't realised I had drifted that much far away from the boat.
Honestly, I usually do not use my SMB it when it happens (usually I merge, sign to the boat that I'm ok and swim back), but this time the vis outside the ocean was really bad (and it got even worse with the storm), so I played it safe.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
during a drift dive is mandatory, but not during a non-drift one
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
jonhall
Contributor
When my wife was diving we always stuck together like good buddies should unlike snorkeling together where she motors along faster than I do. I'm usually popping my head up on occasion to see where she is. Since she quit diving, I've been lucky enough to have a dive buddy that has traveled with us (his wife is a non-diver so can hang out with my wife) for the last 10 years. He and I aren't great dive buddies on boat dives - we separate from each other often but do check often to be sure we are in sight of one another. If the DM is signaling for us to stay together, we do follow directions. When we do shore dives together, we actually discuss the plan and stick together.
The times I have been without my buddy on a trip and assigned an insta-buddy, I follow the Chairman's rule.
The times I have been without my buddy on a trip and assigned an insta-buddy, I follow the Chairman's rule.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
I've never had a boat chew me out for popping a sausage. I've shared this before, but it bears repeating.
A friend and I were diving a charter I had never been on before in the panhandle of Florida. He set the dive up, so I know no one. I tried to make myself known as much as possible to the crew, even mentioning that I am the owner of SB and all. We do this deepish reef @ 80fsw and we go down their anchor line which was 15 ft off of the reef and there was a dead nurse shark. We swim to one end of the reef, double back and swim to the other end of the reef. Deco is at hand, so we find the shark and go to start up the anchor line... only no anchor. We make a bigger circle, still no anchor. We're into deco a couple of minutes, so we decide to go ahead and head up sans anchor line. At 60 fsw, I shoot the bag. We surface and, of course, everyone else is on the boat. The crew makes some comments about staying below too long, and we set about to change our tanks over.
Then one of the other divers comes over and tells me what I didn't know. They were steaming off when my bag hit the surface. In fact, he was the one who happened to see it break surface and asked the crew if they had left anyone. They had done a roll call, but someone suggested that my friend and I were on the bow. Moral? If you think you're lost, you are. If something is weird, you're lost. If you can't identify exactly where you're at, then you're lost. Don't deny it. Shoot the bag. Shoot the bag NOW. Don't wait for a safety stop. Don't pass "Go": shoot it now, now, now. You'll be glad you did! We'll be glad you did!
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