34 replies to this topic

[ereediver]

[b]

I would at least talk to them about it first. In this scenerio she may have had a catch 22. If she just said yeah I thought you'd be okay and swam off which it what it sounds like, but there may be another explaination. Do I leave you ascend, or do I leave the other diver. Yes they where not working together enough to stay together which I would attribute to no clear leader. But to as I said fix things you have to finds whats broke. Saying your bad I'm never diving with you is too limiting. Your dangerous yes, you made a mistake no. Again if trust is not there I would not dive with them again, but I would think allowing an explanation would be fair. Plus even if you don't dive with them again. It would give the "bad" buddy a chance to think so hopefully they can fix that behavior... She will be diving with someone else somewhere.

Here are my thoughts about the catch 22. Both of these divers stopped, and both saw my signals, one had agreed to be my buddy. They both turned and swam off together at the same time.

Here are also my thoughts on not diving with them again being too limiting. If I had passed out under water from the CO2 build up from hyperventalting or not been able to control my ascent--I SOOO wanted to shoot to the surface and had to fight it the whole way up--what would my expansive limitless possiblities be at this point??? Had things not turnd out as they did you would likely be reading--she took off, did not stay with the group, we tried to catch her but could not as she bolted to the surface--she violated all the rules, if she would have stuck to the dive plan all would be well. I read these sorts of accounts all the time on the accident pages on other sites from eye witness buddies.

Again, I made many many mistakes on this dive that are my fault and no one elses. However, I will not make the mistake of diving with these people again.

As far a excessive bubbles in the water, I went through something close to 1000 + psi in about 2 minutes. Lawrence Welk would have been proud. My pressure gauge was moving fast in the downward direction. There were lots of bubbles

I had a long winded explaination of my rational for my posts. I hate seeing someoone get turned off of something because of one bad experience. However I went back and re read the ealier posts. Seems you are more then justifed in you feelings. That shold teach me to skim the topics. Anyway glad to see your sticking with diving. There are always two sides to every story, but all in all someone thinking of becoming a dive master should have more awarness to their charges and surroundings. Thanks for sharing.

[6Gill]

Even though they will not admit it your 'buddies' were narced which in no way excuses their actions.I don't .
know whats worse their indiference underwater or on the surface.
You yourself did well and most importantly learnt from the experiance.

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

I did talk to my gal buddy last night. She kept changing her answers, blamed the guy we were with and said he took off even though I point out that they swam off together, then said there was no plan, then said well no one paid attention to the plan, poor communication. I said well, the guys didn't specifically agree to be my buddies you did and you left. Then she said my signals weren't clear and thought I would just wait for them at 106 while they went deeper even though she did say she knew I was cold and said that they were planning to come back for me. The guy in the group acknowledged post dive that he knew I was going up so they continued on.

Anyway, I said I thought we had a plan, first person to 1000 psi we come up, I asked you to be my buddy you said yes, one guy said if we got separated to meet at 40' foot platform, I said NO one minute search and surface in case the separated diver is in distress so we can help if we are below we won't know, we agreed to turn around if someone got cold. Again the reply from her I guess we just had poor communication and no one was listening.

So here is the deal if people don't take a pre dive brief seriously, I shouldn't be diving with them. If they don't pay attention or listen what is the point of diving with buddies and having a dive brief? I learned in basic open water to set a dive plan, stick with it, and if Murphy and his law show up get your butt out of the water and don't wait for the whole Murphy family to pay you a visit.

She said next time we will have to communicate better, but how will I know next time if they are taking the dive plan seriously. I find out after the fact that they didn't take it seriously this time. She said nobody paid attention everyone came up in different spots so you know she said it wasn't just me. To which I said, but nobody else agreed to be my buddy you did.

Anyway, she was either quiet or back peddling answers on the phone. That just reaffirms my decision not to dive again with said buddy.

[fbp]

Yeah, move on... let them go...

You should have no problems finding a more "User Friendly" dive buddy.. at least know you know what to look for, what to make perfectly clear and what the comm signals are... set all that up front and you're probably good to go..

heheh.. You might be best served by finding a buddy at your skill level or a little above as it would be a great break-in for both and you can both set up the proper procedures... old bad habits are hard to break.

Some, LOL... no all, older, more experienced divers tend to take some things for granted that are important to newer divers... ie.... "Aw, they'll make it to the surface ok... " Just a thought..

Unless I'm focused on diving (not photos) with a newer diver, I'm a terrible (not really though) buddy... that's why I got a pony as I kept getting left... (no, not trying to stir up the Pony debate... that's been hammered to death..)

Thanks for sharing eh??

[ereediver]

Good to hear you talked to her about it. You may not dive with her again, but someone else probably will, and you let her know she messed up. Hopefully she too will learn from it.