more "gizmos" = less chance of ability (yet there will always be exceptions).
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What sets off your alarm bells?
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DogDiver
Contributor
Rick's Law of Inverse Verbage: The more they talk.........The Less They Know!!!
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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
OP
KD8NPB
Contributor
I always go over hand signals before the dive.
If they don't understand how to signal 6,7,8,and 9 with one hand, then clearly, we are going to have problems.
On a positive side, for Great Lakes divers:
If you are in a drysuit and carrying a redundant gas supply, you're probably a seasoned local diver.
If they don't understand how to signal 6,7,8,and 9 with one hand, then clearly, we are going to have problems.
On a positive side, for Great Lakes divers:
If you are in a drysuit and carrying a redundant gas supply, you're probably a seasoned local diver.
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Met a guy on a local forum once. He tells me he's an experienced diver, and wants me to show him around my local mudhole. We meet for the dive.
- He's got about 80 dives ... about half of them are solo (ding!)
- During the briefing I mention we'll swim out a ways from the pilings and drops down ... he tells me he needs to descend at the pilings because he can't get down without hanging onto something (ding, ding!!)
- I bring up gas planning ... he tells me he just dives till his main tank gets hard to breathe, then he switches to his pony and heads in ... :shocked2:
[video=youtube;k2VhB7vaZI0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2VhB7vaZI0[/video]
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
- He's got about 80 dives ... about half of them are solo (ding!)
- During the briefing I mention we'll swim out a ways from the pilings and drops down ... he tells me he needs to descend at the pilings because he can't get down without hanging onto something (ding, ding!!)
- I bring up gas planning ... he tells me he just dives till his main tank gets hard to breathe, then he switches to his pony and heads in ... :shocked2:
[video=youtube;k2VhB7vaZI0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2VhB7vaZI0[/video]
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
New equipment is not always a good sign, and a fairly highly skilled diver is not always the best buddy.
About two months ago, I got on a boat that was setting off to a pretty nice wreck within recreational limits. I was one of the first to arrive, so I was pretty much geared up before most of the other divers arrived. I was wearing almost all brand new gear. My wet suit only had about a dozen dives on it. It is the 6th wet suit I have owned, and I do most of my diving these days with a dry suit. All my main gear was absolutely brand new and looked it--I had only a few dives on the regulator set, back plate, and wing. Why? My old gear had been purchased on employee or key man discounts at my old dive shop, and my new gear was purchased on a key man discount from a new vendor at my new store. Even my cylinders were new. I had recently purchased them to use in my doubles transition to side mount. The shiny newness of everything must have been dazzling.
A late-arriving diver, well-known by the operator, was assigned to be my buddy, and the DM who assigned him to me (who knew my credentials) had clearly told him nothing. He was obviously sizing me up. The new equipment was an obvious concern, but the fact that it was new gear with technical associations might have been confusing. He finally asked me how long I had been diving, and we exchanged some information. He was an instructor and a free diver himself, and he was wearing free diving fins. He had a big tank filled to cave fill levels, so he had plenty of gas. He said that if I ran out before him, I could go up the line by myself while he finsihed the dive alone. This wreck has a lot of interesting short penetration opportunities without the need for technical skills like line laying, and we agreed to give them a go. I followed him, as he knew the wreck well.
I could not understand why he was in such a hurry. He was putting those free diving fins to good use in terms of speed, and I had to work to keep up with him. He used flutter kicks exclusively. That meant that in every room we entered, he got a good view of everything there, while I saw everything through the cloud of silt he kicked up. As my gas ran low and I reached NDLs, I finally indicated I was going up, and he stayed down as planned. He was using a Suunto computer, so I knew he had to be pretty far into deco before he finally surfaced.
The second dive was a simple drift dive over a reef. It was a pretty good site. I handled the dive flag and got a good look in the nooks and crannies on the edge of the reef. He hung out about 15-20 feet above me. He finally came down and showed me that his computer had gone into gauge mode because he had so far exceeded its NDLs between the two dives. He was done. I wasn't even close to NDLs.
I am sure he was quite concerned that I would ruin his dives when he was first assigned to a dive with new gear. I am not sure he realized the extent to which he impacted mine.
About two months ago, I got on a boat that was setting off to a pretty nice wreck within recreational limits. I was one of the first to arrive, so I was pretty much geared up before most of the other divers arrived. I was wearing almost all brand new gear. My wet suit only had about a dozen dives on it. It is the 6th wet suit I have owned, and I do most of my diving these days with a dry suit. All my main gear was absolutely brand new and looked it--I had only a few dives on the regulator set, back plate, and wing. Why? My old gear had been purchased on employee or key man discounts at my old dive shop, and my new gear was purchased on a key man discount from a new vendor at my new store. Even my cylinders were new. I had recently purchased them to use in my doubles transition to side mount. The shiny newness of everything must have been dazzling.
A late-arriving diver, well-known by the operator, was assigned to be my buddy, and the DM who assigned him to me (who knew my credentials) had clearly told him nothing. He was obviously sizing me up. The new equipment was an obvious concern, but the fact that it was new gear with technical associations might have been confusing. He finally asked me how long I had been diving, and we exchanged some information. He was an instructor and a free diver himself, and he was wearing free diving fins. He had a big tank filled to cave fill levels, so he had plenty of gas. He said that if I ran out before him, I could go up the line by myself while he finsihed the dive alone. This wreck has a lot of interesting short penetration opportunities without the need for technical skills like line laying, and we agreed to give them a go. I followed him, as he knew the wreck well.
I could not understand why he was in such a hurry. He was putting those free diving fins to good use in terms of speed, and I had to work to keep up with him. He used flutter kicks exclusively. That meant that in every room we entered, he got a good view of everything there, while I saw everything through the cloud of silt he kicked up. As my gas ran low and I reached NDLs, I finally indicated I was going up, and he stayed down as planned. He was using a Suunto computer, so I knew he had to be pretty far into deco before he finally surfaced.
The second dive was a simple drift dive over a reef. It was a pretty good site. I handled the dive flag and got a good look in the nooks and crannies on the edge of the reef. He hung out about 15-20 feet above me. He finally came down and showed me that his computer had gone into gauge mode because he had so far exceeded its NDLs between the two dives. He was done. I wasn't even close to NDLs.
I am sure he was quite concerned that I would ruin his dives when he was first assigned to a dive with new gear. I am not sure he realized the extent to which he impacted mine.
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I rarely dive with a buddy--usually on a charter once a year in FL or the odd deep shore dive here in NS. Obviously a buddy's dealing with their own equipment is big. The alarm bells may go off if I seem to be the only one with ideas on planning the dive. I only patronize boats that allow shell collecting, so a buddy's opinions on that aren't a factor.
If I am with a new buddy, what sets me off is what they reveal as we meet each other. I ask about their dive experience, last dive, whether they have dove this site, and what they'd like to do on the dive. Whether new gear, seasoned gear, or rental gear, I make note of that and ask about their familiarity with it. If any red flags emerge, I discuss them. I share this same information with my "buddy." I also ask all of this of students in AOW class, and of divers I lead if working as a DM at a dive destination. MY red flags: no diving for several months; uncertainty of weighting; lack if familiarity with equipment; overly stressed attitude; overly carefree attitude. Oh yeah, and alcohol on their breath.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
This story made the fire alarm go off. Many years ago i was taking a group of divers. 1 guy was so fat and he actually sounded like a pig whenever he breathes. So i take them to nice reef and sent a safety diver first into the water. When the guy makes his water entry he started panicking so into the water i go for assistance. Managed to take off his weightbelt and give it to the safety diver and manage to calm him down for a bit. Since there was a slight current and the banca moored to a bouy i had to tow him back to banca. When we reached the banca the guy was busy assembling a 22 caliber bang stick which i guess he had kept hidden away inside his bcd pocket. Banned him from diving for the duration and confiscated the bang stick which i later turned over to the resorts security which was returned to him minus the bullets upon check out.
Given that I am new and inexperienced, just having an instabuddy raises my alarm bells. I want to have a buddy check and I want to talk about the dive plan and find out if there is anything I need to know. I like to take pictures, but I'd have an agreement that we don't stray from each other. I'd be considerate if he/she wasn't in photographer, but if he/she was, I'd hope we'd stay close when the other is taking a snap. If I miss a few shots, no problem.
I haven't had a instabuddy yet, so this is just what I'd do given my lack of experience (I might be one dive away from qualifying as a master scuba diver, but master, I am certainly not).
I haven't had a instabuddy yet, so this is just what I'd do given my lack of experience (I might be one dive away from qualifying as a master scuba diver, but master, I am certainly not).
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