Keeping Your Buddy

[JohnduhB]

Ok,
Been looking at videos and pictures and reading a lot of threads...

And most every question's answer is available if you take the time to read...

But I got one I'm not exactly sure about.

When diving in "crowded" locations where there are some other divers and everyone is outfitted similarly how on Earth do you really keep track of your buddy?

Everyone seems to be wearing black wetsuits (I'm assuming that there is a reason)...the goggles and regulators seem like a small thing that might not be pointed towards you to see the difference.

And a moment's distraction can easily make you lose track.

Is there some way of flagging yourself?

 

[Marie13]

Light/bright colored fins, a colored hose, colored/distinctive mask strap, etc. I have white fins, hot pink SMB, and black wetsuits with lime green trim.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .

When diving in "crowded" locations where there are some other divers and everyone is outfitted similarly how on Earth do you really keep track of your buddy?

Everyone seems to be wearing black wetsuits (I'm assuming that there is a reason)...the goggles and regulators seem like a small thing that might not be pointed towards you to see the difference.

And a moment's distraction can easily make you lose track.

Distinctive gear, such as fins in bright colors or marked with a colored marker (white marker on black fins, for example) can help. And some wetsuits do have colors. However, that's no substitute for good buddy contact. My buddy and I dive more or less within a body length of each other, and we look at each other often--like every few breaths. If one of us were to need assistance from the other, we want to be within a breath or so, or a couple of fin kicks, of each other. Ideally, we check how our buddy is looking. Does he look stressed and fidgety or calm and in control?

Also, I think the "skill of keeping track of one's buddy," as we might refer to it, improves with experience. I remember as a new diver thinking that everyone looks the same and having a hard time keeping track of my buddy. Nowadays, even when I'm in a big group, I can identify individuals pretty well. "Oh, that's the guy with the Zeagle BC over there--I noticed that on the boat." I think maybe we become less subject to distraction and more attuned to our surroundings, and that includes the other divers around us.

 

[Mrs. B]

Tank boot is a good one for low viz

 

[MargaritaMike]

On the boat I do a fin check by mentally noting who has what. When we splash I match fins with body size / shape / colors / etc. for future reference. It's something that I started doing when I was actively divemastering. Old habits die hard. For just your buddy start with their fins.

Cheers -

 

[Mrs. B]

We dove with this crazy German tech but solo diver one week in Palau and he had taken neon electrical tape and spiraled it around all his hoses

We still laugh about that, he was one giant candy cane. VERNER if you see him out there

 

[BalekFekete]

Depends on your relationship with your buddy - I'm married to mine, so am already tethered by shackles and chains.

Seriously tho' and to piggyback on prior responses, having unique gear and color scheme goes a long way. All our dives have been on vacations, so most people were in the dive shop gear and clones of each other. We took our own, so were (thankfully) very distinct in the water.

 

[Superlyte27]

I don't dive with crowds. Typically my buddy is the only other person I see in that 4 hours

 

[Mrs. B]

And you both wear Scuba Pro jet fins

 

[Superlyte27]

Dive Rite for me