What do you do?

[Pink & Fluffy]

Originally Posted by torbaydiver

But would they allow you to dive solo on a liverboard ?
When I found myself without a buddy in Egypt I was happy to go solo but wasn't allowed , same with over here as well !
Steve

I don`t know about liverboards as have not done one yet. but I have not had to much trouble booking on to boats as a single in the UK . A couple of opperators round portland will only let bookings go ahad if you were booking as a pair . Sometimes I get a couple of polite questions from the skipper ,sometimes not .
Fiona.

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by torbaydiver

But would they allow you to dive solo on a liverboard ?
When I found myself without a buddy in Egypt I was happy to go solo but wasn't allowed , same with over here as well !
Steve

I have booked liveaboards as a single twice in the past, same boat two years running and the same guide was on. He didn't mind me diving solo as unfortunately I had been buddied with the same women on both trips and she was a bit of a pain in the you know what.

I have also booked the same RIB charter a few times in the UK and he didn't mind either. None of those were all that deep.

[torbaydiver]

Originally Posted by Janos

Hum. Dived in Cozumel last year. First dive was with a yank who had bent his buddy on an 80m dive the previous day (leaking BCD hose apparently - didn't suss that he was putting in air but it was pissing out until 25m on the way back up). However he thought that Nitrox was "dangerous" (I suppose it is at 80m).

Next day my buddy was a Canadian who didn't understand that my gauges were in bar and my computer was in metres. He managed to break his computer (geeee - my computer won't turn on) but dived anyway, had a look at my computer (in bar) then swam off and stayed by the dive guide for the rest of the dive.

I distinctly remember thinking "this is going to be a solo dive then" and just making sure that I was within a few fin-strokes of Someone (not necessarily my buddy) as I was on a single tank.

Having said that, I felt I was in control of the situation for the whole dive and had a great dive. If you're diving with muppets, as long as you know that, then yoiu can dive appropriately. It's when you don't know that you're diving with a muppet that's the problem.

Laters,
Janos

Unfortunately most of the time you don't realise they are Muppets until it's too late! When I found myself without a buddy in Egypt the first one had no control of her buoyancy, took her several minutes to leave the surface on descent (which meant we lost the dive guide) then she went straight down to 40 m very quickly then straight back to the surface again .With no guide and a yo-yo for a buddy dive terminated! Second dive a new buddy , claimed to be very good on air ended up breathing from the dive masters octopus after 15 minutes !
Both holiday divers me thinks !

[torbaydiver]

Originally Posted by cragcrawler

I don`t know about liverboards as have not done one yet. but I have not had to much trouble booking on to boats as a single in the UK . A couple of opperators round portland will only let bookings go ahad if you were booking as a pair . Sometimes I get a couple of polite questions from the skipper ,sometimes not .
Fiona.

Charter skippers I've come across so far in the south don't seem to mind you coming up from a dive solo as long as you went down as a pair ! hmmm , I guess it takes the responsibility away from them as it's not their fault if you separate during a dive either intentionally or not !

[DanE]

Dived with this Merkin chap as a buddy while out in Jamaica. What a hoot! Kept an eye on fairly frequently, since he'd not stayed close or exhibited good buoyancy control on our first dive.

Turned to check on him, couldn't see him. Did a 360 and still couldn't see him anywhere on the wreck (The Cathryn, the only good dive in the area). Checked over the side, but he wasn't burried in the sand. Checked above and there he was, 20m above me on the surface where.... (you won't believe me) .... he'd gone to clear his mask before coming back down and continuing the dive. Now I was checking on him every 10 seconds or so, so you can guess the speed of his ascent!

At this point I signalled to the guide that he had a new buddy and I went and joined another, more competent pair and enjoyed the rest of the dive I'd paid for.

dan

[KimH]

With all due respect to anyone I may have dived with in the past I treat any new bud as a muppet until I've done a couple of dives with them, same as while driving a car - everyone else on the road's an idiot.
Personally I would never sign up for a liveaboard unless I was either buddied with someone I know and trust or could dive solo, it's too much of a risk and IMHO likely to be a waste of a good weeks diving.
Even at best you've got to do a couple of dives to find out what your new buddy's like and you're miles from anywhere with limited choice for a different buddy.
Respect to anyone who takes a chance but it's not for me.

[Noel Johnson]

Personally, I wouldn't put myself in that situation as there's 2 of us booking the liveaboard - However, I've booked to do Scapa in July next year and only know one other chap on the trip, so far, but thankfully he is no muppet. I just hope he say's the same of me...