Diving with strangers

[Fiona]

Arh yes diving with strangers and in a 3

Mark Davies had our own interesting dive a few years ago when we had to dive with someone unknown to us.


It hasn't put me off though I still dive with strangers and it's me who is the newbie - thank heavens for people willing to dive with those unknown to us


However when I joined YD everyone was a stranger, in fact the first dive saw me on a RIB with Jay, 2Tanx and Bren - you can't get stranger than that

[steveharriss]

I've been lucky then.

Only surprises I've had was a shore dive at St Abbs where I found that the OW diver I was to buddy with had cable tied his weight pockets to his harness because; "they kept coming loose". It was allegedly a Poseidon harness but was a typical EBay counterfeit. That was rectified before we got in the water.

The other was a American Marine and his much younger girlfriend in Hurghada. He declared he had 2,500+ dives and his GF had 500+. She wanted to jump in with 14Kgs on a weight belt with a 3mm shorty, and he arrived back on the boat having gone OOA and sucking on the DM's cylinder! Fortunately I'd declined their offer to join them.

[Sipadan]

Originally Posted by GTRJazz

I don’t think it matters which type of club you belong to or did your training with , a diver with 50 plus deep dives in his book is going to be a more competent diver than someone with a dozen shallow dives under there belt.

i totally agree

[Sparky750]

I've had some very dodgy buddies but i've also learnt a lot from others so it's swings and roundabouts for me we all make mistakes occasionally (obviously i'm excluded from that because i'm an internet dive god ) but some things are just plain stupid. Yd has been a source of good buddies and some good friends for me i've only had one bad dive with a YD member and hopefully it won't be repeated. You live and learn we generally holiday with my best mate and his wife so i know my buddy and trust him with my life so i'll hopefully negate many of the problems. Incidently in my club there are a couple of divers i won't dive with one of whom is better qualified than i (not hard ) they know i won't dive with them and the reasons why. I hope others would be straight with me if they had a problem with my diving everyone is different and has different personalities and ways if you don't like something speak up i know of some that slag others off behind their backs my stance is how will they learn for the future if someone doesn't tell them.

[ratcliffe]

Originally Posted by Buoyant Babe

Ah yes, you've dived with me. There's none stranger

Musssst Resssissssssst


Stuffs hanky in mouth to prevent commenting!

[Kalahari Diver]

I won't say anything rude because there are people out there who might be stuck with me. and you don't get any stranger than that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David.

[Twinsetmad]

I was on a Plymouth trip with a guy from our club, which I'd never dived before....

Buddied for a 30m dive on the Percier.... he'd just sorted out his twinset and was eager to get in... 2 single 12lt cylinders... banded together with one old style Scubapro band and then cam band, attatched to cam band wrapped around them onto his Buddy Commando.... then 2 single sets of regs... complete with all the extra BCD, Drysuit hoses and both with Octopuses....

I said no way.... and sat it out.. I won't be responsible for a guy that was irrisponsible.

[scuba steve irl]

Originally Posted by Twinsetmad

I was on a Plymouth trip with a guy from our club, which I'd never dived before....

Buddied for a 30m dive on the Percier.... he'd just sorted out his twinset and was eager to get in... 2 single 12lt cylinders... banded together with one old style Scubapro band and then cam band, attatched to cam band wrapped around them onto his Buddy Commando.... then 2 single sets of regs... complete with all the extra BCD, Drysuit hoses and both with Octopuses....

I said no way.... and sat it out.. I won't be responsible for a guy that was irrisponsible.

over here we are encouraged to dive with independant twins before progressing to full twins with stage . is that not the same over there

[ratcliffe]

In terms of YD I have done around 130 dives with YDers either on trips or independantly organised dives through the "find a buddy" part of the forum, and I guess I have been lucky as I have never had a bad buddy.
It is luck to a certain extent, and it is also as good as you make it. I find being completely honest about what I want/can/can't do on a dive makes it a much better dive as everyone knows exactly where they are.
It can't stop the muppets though I think most muppetry like some of the examples in this thread tend to happen at holiday resorts when a lot of people dive for the first time in ages, as opposed to regular divers, who pick up a dive...

Just my 0.02

[Kev]

Originally Posted by steveharriss

The other was a American Marine and his much younger girlfriend in Hurghada. He declared he had 2,500+ dives and his GF had 500+. She wanted to jump in with 14Kgs on a weight belt with a 3mm shorty, and he arrived back on the boat having gone OOA and sucking on the DM's cylinder! Fortunately I'd declined their offer to join them.

I am sure I have dived with this guy in Florida! Did he have a full camo wet suit?