What sets off your alarm bells?

[flots am]

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).

FWIW, you always need to be ready to discover that your buddy is completely useless (or is missing) and you need to be able to save your own life in an emergency.

This simply entails getting safely to the surface and staying there. Everything you need to do this was in your Open Water class.

I know hundreds of divers ranging from "just-certified" to "built their own stuff with a machine shop and plans from a 1963 Popular Mechanics." and will dive with nearly any of them, but the number that I would trust to truly save my life if I did something stupid or had a medical problem is probably less than a dozen.

Be capable of planning, safely executing and ending your own dives, and you'll have a long and enjoyable hobby.

 

[oldschool]

I always try to watch my insta -buddy as they set up their gear. That will sometimes tell a lot. I'm also always a bit leary of those insta-buddies who are unusually quiet before the dive. This could mean nervousness, low confidence, or it could also just be a part of their pre-dive routine.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Any plan in which two divers who are new to each other would be dependent upon one another to survive would trigger my alarm bells. It makes no sense to go to game day without practice.

 

[AfterDark]

If dogs could talk they'd tell us a lot can be learned by watching so.....I watch them gear up, if they look confident and deft score one! If they need to assemble and reassemble their kit several times to get it right alarms go off, when was the last time they did this?

I go over the dive plan/ signals / SOPs when diving with AfterDark, if they understand what I'm saying they'll have a few questions because I purposely leave info out they need to complete the "loop". If they ask the right questions score two! If they nod their head as their eyes glaze over alarms go off!

I let'em enter first If they bob around in my way lost in their own world alarms go off! By then it's a little late but I at least have a heads up something is not quite right and can keep an eye open.

I'll dive with anybody, I'm a diver not baby sitter so I won't baby sit, I will play follow the leader however, if they can't keep up or get lost and don't follow the SOPs in that situation, lost buddy SOP that is, then they are on their own. I'm set up to solo dive on every dive.

 

[LowDrag]

For me its rarely one thing that puts me into full alarm but rather its a combination of little things. Of course we should all be a little bit extra cautious of a new buddy. Heres some of my cues.

new divers with muck sticks, ding. weight belt on the wrong way ding ding. Oh your weight belt should be right hand release - I'm left handed, ding ding ding ding ding. No buddy checks DING DING. A look of disapointment that we're only going to X depth, ding. Leaving your tank standing on a rocking boat,ding. allowing your alternate(potentially my alternate) dangle about, ding ding. not realising you've forgotten something till your actually in the water, ding. Tying off that pesky loose weight belt bit,DING. knife strapped to the calf, ding. Not talking to me ,ding. Big camera/video rigs ding ding*.



*usually good divers but not always good buddies.

I didn't care for this comment too much. It comes across as somewhat narrowed minded IMO. I strap a knife (BFK) to my inner right calf and one to my left forearm (smaller). There are many divers here in the PNW that do this. Am I a poor diver because I add a pair of EMT shears to the mix as well? I think not. I am a newer diver, my total dive count so far is only 25 and my last dive was in December 2013. Sometimes there are reasons for not being able to get in the water for a few months. If a diver does his/her due diligence on keeping up with their skills then as long as they do what they are supposed to do underwater I don't see a problem.

As for alarms going off for me on my first and only InstaBuddy situation:

Last August the owner of my LDS I go through asked me if I would escort two out of towners up north to do a couple of dives. One of the divers was an instructor and the other was his cousin or something by marriage. The cousin had the same amount of dives I had....12.... Now mind you my buoyancy was far from perfect but I was about equal with instructor and far far better than the cousin. The cuz was pretty much swimming not diving. He would use his arms to propel himself across the bottom stirring everything up even worse than it already was and he was walking on the tips of his fins putting him in a slightly off angle vertical position. He would go for about 20' and then sink to his fins standing vertical, then he would leap off the bottom (like Superman) and start all over again. It is a good thing that we weren't diving a reef, the bottom was mainly seaweed and so there wasn't any permanent damage. I wish I could find the video I took of him, it was quite embarrassing. I was glad that NWGratefuldiver, who gave us our site briefing did not go on the dive with us. Needless to say, I will be slightly leery of InstaBuddies in the future.

 

[victorzamora]

I didn't care for this comment too much. It comes across as somewhat narrowed minded IMO. I strap a knife (BFK) to my inner right calf and one to my left forearm (smaller). There are many divers here in the PNW that do this. Am I a poor diver because I add a pair of EMT shears to the mix as well? I think not. I am a newer diver, my total dive count so far is only 25 and my last dive was in December 2013. Sometimes there are reasons for not being able to get in the water for a few months. If a diver does his/her due diligence on keeping up with their skills then as long as they do what they are supposed to do underwater I don't see a problem.

I don't think any of the "alarm bells" listed have been certain cues pointing to an absolutely atrocious diver.....they're little things that make you assume the person is a bad diver. Big Friggin Knife is HIGH on my list of alarm bells. It's typically a more inexperienced diver that does that. Under 25 dives? You qualify as inexperienced. I'm not saying you're a bad diver, I've never seen you in the water. I'm just saying you have few dives completed. Go another hundred or so dives, and see if you still carry your two BFKs with you. I'd be surprised if you did, especially if you honestly looked at your gear configuration and decided what you did or didn't need. If you ask about ANY piece of gear I have on me at any point on any dive, I can tell you WHY I have it on me, why I like it over alternate options (if applicable), and why I have it where it is.

I asked someone this in another thread, specifically about big knives, and I'll ask you the same thing. Why do you carry a big knife?

As far as your EMT sheards, that is a sign of more thought than a BFK. I actually think EMT shears are a good thing to have under some circumstances.

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't think any of the "alarm bells" listed have been certain cues pointing to an absolutely atrocious diver.....they're little things that make you assume the person is a bad diver. Big Friggin Knife is HIGH on my list of alarm bells.

The biggest knife I ever saw a diver use, by far, came on some dives I did this past winter. Both the diver and his buddy had dives bigger than anything I had imagined anyone would consider carrying. The diver even used the phrase "Big Freaking Knives" to describe his preferences on a blog post. His name is John Chatterton. He has more than 25 dives, though.

 

[flots am]

I don't think any of the "alarm bells" listed have been certain cues pointing to an absolutely atrocious diver.....they're little things that make you assume the person is a bad diver. Big Friggin Knife is HIGH on my list of alarm bells..

I carry a BFK and a line cutter and EMT shears and a steak knife.

Having actually been trapped, I'd carry a chainsaw if there was a place to stow it and it would run underwater.

flots..

 

[parzdiver]

One insta-buddy I managed to avoid was setting off bells at the dive shop. He was renting all his gear and while he was trying on a wetsuit was talking about his latest trip to the Great Barrier Reef. He told the shop owner the suit didn't fit right and she informed him, "That's because it zips IN THE BACK." Then on the dive boat, I noticed something funny about his gear and gave a heads up to the dive master. His reg was attached with the hoses on the wrong sides. How he didn't realize that when attaching the hose to his LPI, I just don't know. The dive master came back to me with a quick thanks and a new buddy.

 

[victorzamora]

The biggest knife I ever saw a diver use, by far, came on some dives I did this past winter. Both the diver and his buddy had dives bigger than anything I had imagined anyone would consider carrying. The diver even used the phrase "Big Freaking Knives" to describe his preferences on a blog post. His name is John Chatterton. He has more than 25 dives, though.

Again, I'm not saying that only incompetent, new divers use it. I'm just saying the majority of BFKs I've seen have been on newer divers. There are obviously exceptions. That's why I asked WHY he had one on him, instead of saying he was going to die because of it. I have no need for a BFK because my little trilobite or other line cutters will handle everything in MY environments. If he needs a BFK, good for him. If John needs a BFK, good for him. If John Chatterton carries one because his LDS sold him one because they're cool and that's what Mike Nelson wore.....I'd say he had a pretty bad reason for carrying one, even if he IS John Chatterton.

It doesn't matter who you are or how many dives you do. If you might need something, take it with you. If you don't, don't. Most new divers don't know what they need, but see a BFK and think it's cool....so they buy one.

Note: John Chatterton, being the wreck and commercial diver he is, has MUCH more of a need for a BFK than the VAST majority of divers in the world. The one story in the blog you pointed to is not enough for me to carry a sword with me on every dive. However, if I were a wreck diver or a commercial diver that frequently had to cut through a whole bunch of crap.....I'd consider carrying one. I don't carry a line cutter because it's politically correct (I'm VERY far from politically correct, myself)....I carry it because I have no need for anything bigger. If/when I do, I will.

---------- Post added April 14th, 2014 at 03:20 PM ----------

Having actually been trapped, I'd carry a chainsaw if there was a place to stow it and it would run underwater.

This is me honestly being curious: What were you trapped in? How'd you get out? Would a BFK actually done more than EMT shears or a good line cutter? PM me if you don't want to derail this thread.