Do you dive with a buddy? Always, Sometimes, hardly ever?

[MikeFerrara]

Quest once bubbled...
I rarely ever dive with a buddy unless im doing a dive involving deco, line penetration etc.

im not going to argue a case for nor against diving alone as there are pros and cons to each.

And im not some wild wacky diver as those in favor of buddy diving might make me out to be.

In fact im one of those few divers that endorse the idea of not allowing people to night dive or wreck dive unless they have a C-card for that kind of diving.

However, i choose to dive alone (via beach or dive charter) depending on the circumstances.

But, one thing i dislike about some recreational diving instructors is that they instill a fear in divers about diving alone.

Sometimes if your to cautious or to protective it doesnt give the opportunity for a person to develop their own sense of awareness and abilities to perform under stress or fear.

Dont get me wrong im not saying go dive to 160FSW without proper training and experience.

But, i believe the traditional recreational diving classes preached to much "Dependancy" on your dive buddy and not enough "Self-Efficiency" with oneself.

One should be capable of resolving any emergency they may have to face while diving even though they may not be able when the emergency does occur.

Unfortunately, i see to many seasonal divers depending to much on their dive buddy or being able to swim to the surface when they need too.

I diver should know their gear and capability, they should be able to handle all their gear without help from other divers, they should always strive to be more proficient and more educated about diving and should be as redundant as possible to deal with any sort of emergency regardless whether their buddy will be there or not.

Because sometimes they might not be there for you when you need it and "in the end the only dependable person you have is yourself"!

This is a phrase you often realize from reading stories about diving accidents.

Whether its two unexperienced diving buddies lost in a cave fighting for each others last bit of gas using their diving knives or the entangled wreck diver whose buddy is low on gas and needs to complete their deco dive before getting surface help.

Again in the end the only dependable person you have is yourself.

Oh my....I think that ideas like this exist because we do a poor job of teaching the buddy system. It is clear that some divers are deciding they prefer not to use the buddy system witout having the slightest notion about how it's supposed to work. Shame on us!

 

[King Kong Matt]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...


Oh my....I think that ideas like this exist because we do a poor job of teaching the buddy system. It is clear that some divers are deciding they prefer not to use the buddy system witout having the slightest notion about how it's supposed to work. Shame on us!

No doubt that "same ocean diving" buddies claim that it doesn't work...

 

[victoriawtx]

safer with a buddy. Maybe in the future if I got comfortable with a dive site, and was very well prepared, I might do solo diving. It can be difficult to find buddies in some locations, and I have also heard of horror stories of buddies that just made the dive a disaster.