Dive Buddy did not surface with me

[d_lafleur]

If you are exploring/sight-seeing, then try not to buddy with a spear fisherman or photographer unless you want to observe them.

For the original OP, I do two kinds of diving.

One with the group where I will buddy up and make sure the group has their sh*t together.

Two, Spear Guns and/or cameras. When either of these are in my hands, I am solo diving. I will not do this with a group, and I will typically look for the other 1 or 2 divers during the dive as a courtesy. Notice I stopped at 2. I personally like to dive with no more than 2 others max. I typically limit my night diving to 2 divers also.

The important thing to learn here is to communicate each divers expectations before you are limited to your version of hand signals (under water) and never let your buddy put you in a situation that you havent been trained to handle or you arent comfortable with.

 

[DeputyDan]

The most dangerous animal in the ocean is the insta-buddy!

 

[Rick Murchison]

The most dangerous animal in the ocean is the insta-buddy!

Hmmm... over the years I've had many insta-buddies.
They have ranged from marvelous mentor to "babe-in-arms" as divers. I've had "inconveniences" from time to time, even a couple of "hold hands all the way back to the ladder" but never had one progress to "dangerous animal." If I let an insta-buddy get dangerous then I've screwed up.
Recipe for good insta-buddy:
1. If your insta-buddy doesn't beat you to it, introduce yourself - "Hi, I'm Rick."
2. Cause a pre-dive brief - "Hi George, would you like to brief the dive? or shall I?"
3. At a minimum, cover max depth, basic nav plan, turn time/position/gas, lost buddy, equipment peculiarities, who has the lead, any special objectives ("I want to take a few pictures") and, if you intend to stay down longer than your insta-buddy, make sure you cover just exactly how to make the split. ("If one of us is ready to end the dive before the other, we'll stay together 'til we both have the boat in sight and then wave goodbye.")
4. Dive the plan. Have fun.

Rick

 

[DandyDon]

Hmmm... over the years I've had many insta-buddies.
They have ranged from marvelous mentor to "babe-in-arms" as divers. I've had "inconveniences" from time to time, even a couple of "hold hands all the way back to the ladder" but never had one progress to "dangerous animal." If I let an insta-buddy get dangerous then I've screwed up.
Recipe for good insta-buddy:
1. If your insta-buddy doesn't beat you to it, introduce yourself - "Hi, I'm Rick."
2. Cause a pre-dive brief - "Hi George, would you like to brief the dive? or shall I?"
3. At a minimum, cover max depth, basic nav plan, turn time/position/gas, lost buddy, equipment peculiarities, who has the lead, any special objectives ("I want to take a few pictures") and, if you intend to stay down longer than your insta-buddy, make sure you cover just exactly how to make the split. ("If one of us is ready to end the dive before the other, we'll stay together 'til we both have the boat in sight and then wave goodbye.")
4. Dive the plan. Have fun.

Rick

Very good, Rick! I really like "would you like to brief the dive? or shall I?" I tend to be one to just share my ideas too bluntly (I know, pretty obvious here), not good on diplomacy, and that's a nice way to lead into the need for a plan, even a very simple one. Poor experiences with boat pick buddies lead me to adding a pony rig along with the expenses and hassles of traveling with it, but a good approach there.

I still differ on separating tho. Some very much safer to stick to descend together and ascend together, when the vast majority of the accidents seem to happen - unless he wants to go same ocean solo divers? I've got my pony (altho I find ways to screw that up too), but I'd like a witness to that request.

 

[funrecdiver]

Hello,
.... I was nearing the pre-determined air limit and was fighting to stay down, so I tapped him to get his attention and signaled to surface. He returned the signal and I started to ascend. I was watching him and instead of ascending, he descended further and swam away taking pictures. ....

It would be helpful to understand what other communications happened prior to your "thumbs up" signal?

1. Did your buddy give you the "how much air do you have?" signal?
2. Did you ask your buddy "how much air did he have?"
3. Did you communicate, either directly, or a response to a question, how much air you had left?

For example, if you and your instant-buddy had been communicating regularly during the dives (Are you OK? I'm OK. How much air do you have? I have 100 bar.) then the likelihood of a misunderstanding as you described is less than if you guys were not communicating.

Also, another question. Did you signal to your buddy that you were "Low on air" and also "having trouble with your buoyancy" and then signal "let's ascent together" by (1) pointing to your buddy, then to yourself, (2) making the signal for buddies to swim together, then the (2) signal to surface, and ask (4) OK? (and then wait for a response).

When I read your description, quoted above, you say you tapped on your buddy's shoulder (and signaled "one thumb up"), and they signaled thumbs up, accidentally perhaps communicating "OK" as it is easy to sometimes confuse "OK" and "thumbs up, ascend"...... as most of us often use the "thumbs up" signal on the surface for "OK" (or something like that).

In your situation I would have communicated using the four signals outlined above, because if I signaled "thumbs up" to someone, and they signaled "thumbs up" in reply, I would not be comfortable with that unless we had been communicating and diving as a good team the entire dive. As someone mentioned earlier, it can be a bit tedious for both photographer and non-photographer when diving as a buddy pair, since the dive objectives and techniques are very different.

(One of the "less enjoyable" dives I have had was with (a.) a photographer who was also the (b.) dive leader and (c.) "navigator"... needless to say, we ended up with very long surface swim back to the boat after a very sloooooow and boring dive, LOL.)

 

[JamesBon92007]

I wasn't there, but considering all the info if I was the other guy I probably would have thought you said you were surfacing and understood that I was gonna stay down taking pictures. Under the circumstances.

 

[DennisS]

It would be helpful to understand what other communications happened prior to your "thumbs up" signal?


When I read your description, quoted above, you say you tapped on your buddy's shoulder, and they signaled thumbs up, accidentally perhaps communicating "OK" as it is easy to sometimes confuse "OK" and "thumbs up, ascend"...... as most of us often use the "thumbs up" signal on the surface for "OK" (or something like that).

That's one of my pet peeves, thumbs up means Good/OK everywhere in the US. (Iranians and Iraqis giving troops the thumbs up mean something else). I don't know how many times I give it and then have to correct with the thumb circle. Why someone changed it's meaning when used underwater is beyond me. I give the Iraqi thumbs up to them.

 

[ndboi]

I'm not sure why but it is my understanding that there is a 34 logged dive minimum for the AOW....At least with SSI. Even with the specialties, 25 seems rather few although many instructors are doing this, including mine, although I'm not sure why???

 

[DandyDon]

I'm not sure why but it is my understanding that there is a 34 logged dive minimum for the AOW....At least with SSI. Even with the specialties, 25 seems rather few although many instructors are doing this, including mine, although I'm not sure why???

In Padi at least, Aow is really a good idea right after OW and some do it. Doesn't mean so much, but more training is always good.

 

[Tigerman]

Hello,
I am a relatively new diver. I only have about 25 dives, but have my AOW certification. Last year on a dive in Hawaii, I was assigned a buddy who was more experienced. He was a nice guy but I was a little apprehensive when someone asked where they could shore dive and he described a place where you just "walk out on the coral".

Our first dive went well. On our second dive, in about 30 feet of water, we were near the end of the dive. I must have been a little light because I was having trouble staying down. I was nearing the pre-determined air limit and was fighting to stay down, so I tapped him to get his attention and signaled to surface. He returned the signal and I started to ascend. I was watching him and instead of ascending, he descended further and swam away taking pictures.

I surfaced at the back of the dive boat and the crewman immediately asked where my dive buddy was. (I liked that, because if my dive buddy surfaced without me, I would hope someone would ask where I was.)

I told him that I had signaled to surface and he returned the signal, but that he swam off. The crewman seemed a little perturbed with me that I was not with my buddy. I could have mis-read that though. It is possible that he was upset with my dive buddy for swimming off alone. Nothing was said to him by the crew when he surfaced; however. I asked him about it and he said that he knew I was surfacing but he wanted to keep going alone.

So... in my training, I learned that a signal to surface was not a question, it is a statement. Should I have tried to descend and chase him to stay with him?

Thanks for any responses!
-Mike-

Been there, done that - on both sides of it.
Yes PADI frown upon solo diving, but in the end its your choice if you want to do it or not. If theres a group of divers you also have the option to hook up with another pair/group of divers. Its less room for missunderstandings if its discussed before you go into the water though.

What I do in those situations if Im the one staying below is making sure the buddy gets safely to the surface, then go on with whatever I do.