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Diving with strangers

10K views 64 replies 38 participants last post by  gandigas 
#1 ·
A few years back my dive club used to get calls from skippers to make up the numbers on half empty dive boats sailing out of Brighton, Eastbourne, Shoreham. This worked well but you could never tell who else you would share the boat with. On one such voyage the numbers were odd so I offered to dive with two other divers from another club, we set off to dive the wreck in around 30meters.
We were first in and the three of us dropped down to the wreck without issues. At the bottom I secured the shot on the wreck and moved off however my buddies had swam off without me:frown: so I joined the next two down.
As I had less bottom time than my new buddies at the end of my dive I signalled I was going up the shot line, they gave the Ok signal and I started the assent alone.
At 15 meters I could feel my ears needed to equalise which was very strange as I was going up? The water had also started to get dark again, a few more feet of shot line passed through my fingers and I checked my gauges again 20 meters, so I put more air in my suit and fined harder, another check 25 meters, more air more fining 27meters. Not a good feeling
Then something strange the shot buoy was with me at 27 meters still attached to the line had it taken on water and sunk.
It was then I looked down, the first divers from the other club were fining hard and pulling on the shot line but without adding any air to their jackets they had pulled the shot down.
I guess with all the silt they had kicked up they could not see the rope all over the sea bed or that they had risen only a couple of meters at most.
A little worried that they may let go of the shot and fire me to the surface I let go and drifted off using my deployed my SMB when close to the surface.
When they eventually got back on the boat my buddies could only say how much they enjoyed the dive with no mention of any problem

Needless to say I passed up the opportunity to do a deeper dive with the same group later in the year
 
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#2 ·
Ooh I love diving with strangers - usually I'm the stranger too!

Highlights;

The couple of Geordies who scoffed at the size of my weightbelt as we loaded the boat, of course their belts were much lighter since they proceeded to stuff their BC pockets with lead before the dive. They then tipped it out all over the seabed and had to make an ascent clinging for dear life onto the shotline. That was my dive screwed after 5 minutes, a dive I was paying for. To add insult to injury someone from another boat descending the shotline gave me the finger as I hovered a few metres away watching my buddies try to complete a safety stop whilst hideously underweight. This diver evidently objected to the shotline being 'blocked'.

The bloke who showed me his computer was in deco before we swam back up over the reef where he lost buoyancy control and zoomed to the surface - sorry but you're a complete stranger; so I completed my stops and surfaced expecting O2 and panic on the boat. Nope, computer was wrapped in a towel to muffle the beeping.

The German couple 'just back from diving all over Thailand but we've forgotten our qualifications' that couldn't clear their masks, at all.

The DM who wouldn't, absolutely wouldn't, descend below deck level on the Hispania.

The Belgian with the "Class B Licence" who could fin at four knots and generally did the instant his head was underwater.

And many, many more...

Ooh yes, diving with strangers is my lot.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Most YD trips

I guess many YDers first diving experience through internet could be seen as a bit like that-ie diving with strangers. My early YD trips were:
Me getting on the boat with a 15ltr and pony, everyone else on a rebreather or twins and stages for a 35m dive.

Some experiences of diving with strangers include:
Divers using wetsuit, or untried dry suit, recently serviced regs, no redundant gas supply for a 37m dive on the Lucy in April.
Buddy checks no longer required after about 10 dives-experienced this on holiday and and UK(including yesterday)
No dive computer, or working watch for a 40m deco dive

OTH knowing what you will experience can also be a downside:
Chasey will hunt lobster
Dude will use conger prodders
Tom will show us how to do things properly
Adrian will catch crabs
Mattbin will overcome complacency by changing his kit arrangement for every dive
Diane will chunder
BB will engage in polite conversation
I will become lost, kick up the viz, wrap line everywhere, all before even hitting the water

Sometimes it is best to dive with complete strangers ;)
 
#10 ·
OTH knowing what you will experience can also be a downside:
Chasey will hunt lobster
Dude will use conger prodders
Tom will show us how to do things properly
Adrian will catch crabs
Mattbin will overcome complacency by changing his kit arrangement for every dive
Diane will chunder
BB will engage in polite conversation
I will become lost, kick up the viz, wrap line everywhere, all before even hitting the water

Sometimes it is best to dive with complete strangers ;)
Ah yes, you've dived with me. There's none stranger :wink: :girlhug:
 
#4 ·
i went to greece with the better half 2 years ago . booked into a dive shop for 4 dives . first 2 dives i was loaded with new ow divers (nice 1 pal ) . after 2 no. 10m dives for a whopping 5 mins 2 lifts later i argueed with the shop and said i was here to dive not to babysit . 2 free dives/ replacement dives

second day divin was put with this german ex army diver . dive depth 50 meteres to a wreck . told not by any means to go into the hole beside the the wreck that was for the following days dive . nextafter no buddy check heir german decends straight to the hole . my mix didnt allow for that depth so ooohhh no i aint goin down there . informed the dm he said leave him . at the end of the dive he returned and done less deco than any of us . comp beeping like crazy on the boat and jumps in for the next dive . aaahh i aint divin with you on this 1 my friend .

needless to say i didnt do the other 2 dives .
 
#6 ·
The first time I dived in Oz, I knew no-one, so got buddied up by the DM with a complete stranger. Seemed ok when chatting on the boat, however once in the water he was off like a torpedo. I'm used to diving literally shoulder to shoulder in the UK and so was a bit pi$$ed at spending most of the dive chasing this gimp around.
Before the 2nd dive I informed him that it was his turn to follow me, alas this did not last long, so just let him get on with it. Finished the dive alone (12 metres depth with 20metres+ viz, so not too concerned).
Have never dived with that operator since and never will.
 
#7 ·
i've had some near disasters diving with bsac club members, one memorable dive on the breda resulted in my buddy losing a fin (and freaking out), losing his weight belt and then showing me he had 40 bar in the space of the first (and last :() 10 minutes of the dive.

the strangers i've buddied with have been no problem at all. however, i'm very happy diving by myself and if they want to do silly things, then i'm not gonna play.
 
#9 ·
Ian@1904 said:
Divers using wetsuit, recently serviced regs, no redundant gas supply for a 37m dive on the Lucy in April.
Ian, do we already know each other? :redface:

Seriously though - been there / done that - not recommended.
 
#11 · (Edited)
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 :thumbsup:


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 :D
 
#21 ·
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 :D
Yes you can, my first YD dive had Bren, JAy, 2 tanks AND Davey willo.... that's at least one Davey Willo stranger...

All my regular YD buddies were strangers when i first met them.
 
#12 ·
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.
 
#20 ·
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?
 
#14 ·
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:angel: ) 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:embarassed: ) 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.:angel:
 
#17 ·
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.
 
#18 ·
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
 
#19 ·
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 :)
 
#49 ·
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.

Can you still say that? I hope so.
 
#26 ·
Mishaps!

Just came back from Egypt from doing a liveaboard on the Blue Fin. Dived in two buddy pairs down the shot line on the Thistlegorm and found a lone diver pointing that he'd lost his weight belt. Off went the lot of us down to 30m to try and find it to no avail and signalled the diver to return to surface. Now, 10 minutes into the dive, found his buddy busily taking photos in the mid section of the wreck. After asking him where his buddy was, he just shrugged his shoulders, so i opted to buddy with him for the remainder of the dive, leaving my original buddy with the other two. Got to the bow, asked him for a check his gas, (I was diving twin 12's so I had plenty), he just signalled he had loads of time left by looking at his dive computer. After insisting on checking saw that he was on 60 bar!!

Gave him my spare reg and almost dragged him to the stern to go up the line to the surface. Once at the line he dropped my reg, bunged his back in, and started the swim to the surface. All Good at this point, until we reached the safety stop, again checked his gas, Zero Bar!!. Again, gave him my gas again to the surface.

After dive debrief, he wondered why I’d given him the reg and wondered why I wanted to get him back to the boat so quickly. After sounding him out about why he had no air at the end, he just responded that he’s never run out of gas yet.

On a dive the next day (I wasn’t buddying with him), his inflator hose failed, so he gave his weight belt to his buddy (which has 2Kg on it), then gave his integrated weights to another diver, and then rocketed to the surface taking another diver with him.

My normal buddy just told me to leave him next time. How should I have handled it better? As he was on air, me on nitrox could he have been narked, baring in mind that he had total dis-regard for his original buddy on the first dive, and total panic on the subsequent ones. ?

Its certainly changed my attitude when diving with a camera in my hand – what I’ve learnt from this is I’m a diver, with a camera! Not someone who takes pictures and has a blatant dis-regard to his and everyone safety.

Any hoo, rant over. Took some lovely pictures, met a great bunch of people. And am looking forward to doing another next year !
 
#45 ·
Just came back from Egypt from doing a liveaboard on the Blue Fin. Dived in two buddy pairs down the shot line on the Thistlegorm and found a lone diver pointing that he'd lost his weight belt. Off went the lot of us down to 30m to try and find it to no avail and signalled the diver to return to surface. Now, 10 minutes into the dive, found his buddy busily taking photos in the mid section of the wreck. After asking him where his buddy was, he just shrugged his shoulders, so i opted to buddy with him for the remainder of the dive, leaving my original buddy with the other two. Got to the bow, asked him for a check his gas, (I was diving twin 12's so I had plenty), he just signalled he had loads of time left by looking at his dive computer. After insisting on checking saw that he was on 60 bar!!

Gave him my spare reg and almost dragged him to the stern to go up the line to the surface. Once at the line he dropped my reg, bunged his back in, and started the swim to the surface. All Good at this point, until we reached the safety stop, again checked his gas, Zero Bar!!. Again, gave him my gas again to the surface.

After dive debrief, he wondered why I’d given him the reg and wondered why I wanted to get him back to the boat so quickly. After sounding him out about why he had no air at the end, he just responded that he’s never run out of gas yet.

On a dive the next day (I wasn’t buddying with him), his inflator hose failed, so he gave his weight belt to his buddy (which has 2Kg on it), then gave his integrated weights to another diver, and then rocketed to the surface taking another diver with him.

My normal buddy just told me to leave him next time. How should I have handled it better? As he was on air, me on nitrox could he have been narked, baring in mind that he had total dis-regard for his original buddy on the first dive, and total panic on the subsequent ones. ?

Its certainly changed my attitude when diving with a camera in my hand – what I’ve learnt from this is I’m a diver, with a camera! Not someone who takes pictures and has a blatant dis-regard to his and everyone safety.

Any hoo, rant over. Took some lovely pictures, met a great bunch of people. And am looking forward to doing another next year !

I know its a bit generalist, but I will not, ever, dive with a stranger if they have a camera. I've had too many bad experiences like this one. I am convinced that there needs to be more training / experience before a diver is allowed in the water with a camera. Its kinda like driving and mobile phones for me.

S
 
#27 ·
I can understand that it wasnt you that caused the shot to be pulled
down, but a little confused as to how you went with it? We all know that
the idea is to be slightly positive to aid the ascent and not to "hang" on the
line, but to use it as a guide.

If you went down with it, then you must have been hanging on at some
point. I'm not knocking you for doing that, but just pointing out that there
is a better conclusion of "I learned diving from that".

It's not "dont dive with strangers", it's "dont always rely on a shot line to
stay put".
 
#31 · (Edited)
I can understand that it wasnt you that caused the shot to be pulled
down, but a little confused as to how you went with it? We all know that
the idea is to be slightly positive to aid the ascent and not to "hang" on the
line, but to use it as a guide.

If you went down with it, then you must have been hanging on at some
point. I'm not knocking you for doing that, but just pointing out that there
is a better conclusion of "I learned diving from that".

It's not "dont dive with strangers", it's "dont always rely on a shot line to
stay put".
Yes I agree it was in my early dive years, when you spend too long looking at gauges and adjusting kit and not looking around getting the full picture.
My assent was quite slow and it was more because of the tide I was holding on rather than negative buoyancy

The diving with strangers title is just to show it sometimes can go wrong, but I have had many good dives with groups made up of people from all clubs that just let me tag along on the day.
 
#28 ·
As have no regular buddy (all together awww!!) & usually always dive with strangers, or at least people whom I have not dived with before. It sometimes ruines a dive, i.e. if they screw up the dive, but usually I learn something new from them or them from me (hopefully). This I hope has made me a more self sufficient diver and better off for it. I now plan my dives as if I am diving with someone less able and expect it, and its a plesant dive if they turn out to be a decent diver.

Dave C

p.s. Ian1904 is a decent diver, as is Adrian Kelland. Just two of my most recent YD buddies.
 
#37 ·
I'm usually "billy no mates" when i dive overseas because the rest of the "addams family" don't dive or i'm travelling alone. This means i'm one of the lost souls (aka hairy weirdo!) that the DM has to find a buddy for. Sometimes it's the DM (cool), sometimes it's "put the brits together" (variable), sometimes more random. I have learnt a number of things from the experience!.
1- You don't need to speak the same language to have a great dive you can both enjoy and share (universal hand signals) above and below the water.
2- Both speaking english is no guarantee of safety or friendship!.
3- Italians are fun, but can get excited! ("where's the boat" + 20 assorted swear words in italian in 10sec).
4- German women are more fun (thanks Pia)(and most have a good sense of humour!)(no, honestly!).
5- Canadians are usually pretty laid-back and also good drinking buddies (if you have hollow legs!).
6- Russians are scary and gung-ho and think a pre-dive check is for sissies.
7- Be wary, very wary of a new buddy with all new + matching gear "all the gear - no idea".
8- Arriving on a boat with no mates is a great way to make new friends, if you have the right attitude.

Still looking forward to diving with YD members (but not in a quarry in the UK in my trunks, even if scu-bamboo asks nicely!!)
:cat:
:shade:
 
#38 ·
Was diving in foreign climates and did a beach dive with 2 other Britts, one calling him self the assistant instructor, the other being joe tourist like me.
My self and joe tourist where both gob smacked as the AI asked us to sit on the sandy bottom a signal I had never seen before and then the AI decided to surface in the middle of screaming jet bikes... NO SMB .... Just a hand an arm above his head. This was to find his bearings ( the beach line ran North to South ) we where only 40 mts from the shore and my Viper was quoting 12 mts. I found out after there is no such qualification as AI for CMAS / IDA moral to the story Point 2 of Aerodrive, both speaking english is no guarantee of safety or friendship!.
 
#40 ·
A few years ago myself and my buddy were in Plymouth to dive the JEL. There were a few lone divers on the boat and the skipper asked if we would mind making a threesome with a welshman in a semi dry who regularly dived the wreck.This was fine as we had never been on it before and were pleased about our new guide who said he would show us all the best bits. We descended the shot to the sea bed,where our guide shot off like a short fat rubberised torpedo ,inches above the sea bed! We followed his silt stream at break neck speed waiting for him to show us his "best bits". It soon became clear as our NDL approached that we had virtually circled the wreck ,still inches above the sea bed.
To this day we still have no idea what the JEL looks like!
 
#42 ·
Wrecky.

I am probably the muppet you don't want to dive with. I still get moments of angst underwater - last time I was in Stoney my dry suit decided that air retention was a fun idea - OK going down but not so good coming up. Luckily Stoney is stony. I have got to sort that undersuit out by ditching it and using my thermals (which to be honest I prefer - I thought that the undersuit would be a clever idea given the water temp).

So I will apologise now if I upset any future buddy.:redface:
 
#44 ·
I hate being buddied by operators. They never seem to get it right. I pick my buddies on the grounds of similar kit, attitude, diving style and air consumption.

One memorable day in Sharm I got a girl on the first dive who did not breath. At all. I'm no guzzler, but after 45 minutes I'm on 60 and signalling up (at 10m) and she shows me her guage at 120. Unbelievable. And she just wouldnt surface. Last 20 minutes of the 'dive' me swimming on the surface above her still at 6m. Give me credit for staying in touch with my buddy.

Second dive, after remonstrating with the DM about no-breath-girl, I get an older guy, hideously overweighted, who was on 50 bar after 20 minutes.

Its ok for that to happen at home, but travelling is expensive! I would expect to enjoy most of my dives!


Si
 
#51 ·
After reading through all the posts on this thread it seems to me the answer is very simple.
1 Always have a dive plan agreed before you start.
2 Buddy check. (Dantam1 and I always carry this out, even if it's a cursory glance)
3 And lastly have a debrief afterwards where you can be open as you like about the dive.
How do they know if you don't tell them that you didn't like something they'd done? OR even enjoyed-dare I say!
I've only completed a lowly 60 dives, so diving with a complete stranger is something I'd want to feel as comfortable as possible about.
Russ
 
#52 ·
1 Always have a dive plan agreed before you start.
2 Buddy check.
3 And lastly have a debrief afterwards where you can be open as you like about the dive.
Russ

Totally agree :angel:
 
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