#803
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Diverray and others: While it is a great idea to practice emergency procedures with your regular dive partners, I assure you the RSTC has standardized recreational dive training to include offering/receiving basic, life-supporting assistance (air sharing, hand signals, buddy-assisted ascents) down to the Open Water level. Think about it: Did you go through your Open Water class, Advanced Open Water class, or even your Solo course diving alone? Didn’t you have a buddy, even if only you and the instructor? Every diver in the water is a potential rescuer who can assist with a problem - regardless of their skill level, so let’s focus on assisting one another rather than people hindering or worse: ignoring, a potential rescue. With proper training, you can rescue anyone and you can know how to position yourself when a buddy doesn’t know exactly what to do.
Worried about buddies? -> Get the training to self-rescue / manage situations and stop thinking that buddies are hazardous to your safety. Fact: More of my random-paired dive buddies on mixed charters have been Divemasters or Instructors than the "4-and-out, minimally certified but haven’t dove in years and lied to the dive shop so they could get on board because diving sounds fun today" vacationer we all dread diving with. This is your hypothetical problem diver and I’m telling you: Even they can’t hurt you if you know how to manage their stress. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, but you can generally cue on their nervousness before the dive even starts. Casually inform a crew member if you see this and they’ll take care to get that nervous diver the extra attention he/she needs, or to cancel their dive and set you up with a new partner. While it’s often your responsibility to dive with a buddy, it is never your responsibility to conduct a dive with an inadequately trained person Unless you’re an instructor training them in a reasonably controlled environment.
Want to dive alone? -> That’s your prerogative but be aware that many dive boats (and INSURANCE COMPANIES) don’t endorse the practice of solitary scuba diving. Many boats and resorts will simply not allow it due to the added personal liabilities, as their insurance policies may have clauses requiring in-water supervision that may or may not include a dive professional. Legality of such clauses may be questioned, but they do exist. Another, more discretionary reason is, whether anybody chastises me for saying this or not, I’ve observed a tendency for solo divers to disregard crew instructions because they "don’t need anybody telling them how to dive". Not all, but some I’ve met hold this mentality.
I support solo diving with proper equipment and knowledge for special purpose, time-consuming dives such as professional photography, boat maintenance, food/specimen collecting, etc. (When taking a quick dip to observe a reef or wreck site, there’s no good reason NOT to share that beautiful experience with a buddy!) I do not support solo divers spreading ideologies that buddy diving is less safe because of a hypothetical idiot dive partner who will drown you. This is just not realistic in broad practice, and I also urge all solo divers to consult their insurance policies to validate coverage in the event of an accident while diving alone.
Last question to end all questions on this topic: Why would a diver be on DiveBuddy if they don’t want to dive with buddies? Greg said it best: From Greg: Be prepared to save yourself, but having a well qualified buddy is always the best choice. Especially if that buddy is also prepared to save himself.
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