View Full Version : Diving Buddy Experiences
Andy Hipkiss
27-05-03, 10:12
continued from this thread ... http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.p...&t=12085&st=15& (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=12085&st=15&)
Andy....have you dived in some of the carribbean islands.
I dived in Barbados and they were so relaxed, they didn't care what you did. They were'nt bothered about seeing your padi cert and when I did my very first open water dive (not in a cold lake in the UK), The guide took me right inside a wreck.....I was petrified.....never again m8
Andy
In that bit of the world, I've only dived (several occasions) in the Keys and in the Gulf of Mexico, never in the Caribbean itself. I've had some "interesting" experiences with buddies in the Keys!
Like one who suddenly just decided to enter the water without doing any sort of buddy check first ... bad move on her part, her BCD wasn't done up, she hadn't turned her tank on properly and I wasn't even ready. The boat master, somewhat panic stricken, was desperately helping me finish kitting up to go and retrieve her. Apparently the same company had just qualified her at OW the day before .... real quality training :( I found her about 20m from the boat, looking somewhat confused although to her credit she hadn’t panicked. I don't think they charged me for my diving that day!
Saying that, I was a complete prat on a previous occasion a few years earlier when kinda solo diving in Tampa Bay. Zero viz (literally it was about 20 inches) and strong current, no compass, storm coming in. Lesson learnt! (thankfully) although people laugh at me for always diving with a compass even in crystal clear shallow water nowadays. I don't intend to ever be almost seagull bait again!
Unfortunatly, I can't boast of such an extensive dive program as yourself m8. I've only dived 8 times....5 in Barbados and 3 in Key Largo.
I loved every minute of it...especially in the Caribbean....beautiful warm, calm, crystal clear seas which were teeming with life.
Loads of fish such as big pairs of Angels, Jawfish, blue chromis, hogs and I even think I saw a few seargent majors ;) plus the stunning sponges and gorgonia.
The wreck dives were quite scary for a novice like me....especially going inside the wreck, which had morays living in them.
Anyway, i'm sure that one day i'll go again....trouble is, i'm in the same situation as you....holidays or a new 10'x2.5'x2.5' tank....oh, and the mrs wants a conservatory too :rolleyes:
Regards
Andy
Garry thomas
27-05-03, 13:07
Andy i have dived 3 times in the caribbean, Dominican republic to be precise. I really enjoyed it, but on the 3rd dive, a so called experianced diver came dropping down to the right of me. With a wrongly inflated jacket/to much weight whatever, hits the floor and i now cant see buggerall. Start hyper ventilating, cant get enough air, and only 3 secs from total panic. So i shut my eyes and just about composed myself. I really ........ myself m8. That was a short dive, having used most of my air quickly. A Bad start to a good day, i then got married in the afternoon :lol:
Saying that, I was a complete prat on a previous occasion a few years earlier when kinda solo diving in Tampa Bay. Zero viz (literally it was about 20 inches) and strong current, no compass, storm coming in. Lesson learnt! (thankfully) although people laugh at me for always diving with a compass even in crystal clear shallow water nowadays. I don't intend to ever be almost seagull bait again!
20 inches!! That's better viz than i've had all year off Anglesey...seriously.
Off to Sharm this w/e, some reports are saying the current political climate is meaning less divers in Egypt.... might get some peace, then!!
S.
A few years back in Cyprus I came accross a bunch of Ozzy "diving instructors" on the beach who were taking people out for shallow dives from the beach. The training was "put this in your mouth, breath and kick your legs, and off I went for half an hour or so.
I was told afterward that they had a drowning a week there, not sure how true that was but wouldn't surprise me.
Garry, I did the same, got married in the morning in Barbados then......lots of diving in the afternoon :o :o :o ;) ;) ;) :P :P :D
Andy
Andy Hipkiss
27-05-03, 14:14
20 inches!! That's better viz than i've had all year off Anglesey...seriously
and that makes you how mad? :D I admire your dedication, I kinda balk at the idea of having to extend my arm to locate the bottom :P
Off to Sharm this w/e
Jealous .. me ... nah ..... sniff sniff. Have a great time and no sinking any American battleships to create new wreck dive sites ;)
so called experianced diver came dropping down to the right of me.
I wonder if they were a so-called PADI advanced diver. Maybe it's just me but psychologically, the effect of calling someone advanced makes them feel that they are more competent than the training alone means. Certainly when I got my Advanced Plus, wow was I "THE" diver, not only advanced but beyond advanced. How wrong was I!
OW+ would be a better name methinks (I don't thing changing OW to "Dangerous" and Advanced to "Mostly Dangerous" is gonna work ;) ;) ;) ). Other Cert bodies seem to have a more realistic naming convention at least.
I feel for you m8, I loathe it when someone not looking where they are going crashes into me or especially tries to take my reg out with a fin. Makes life a bit interesting if you are just about to breath in! Kill maim destroy! How instructors cope with it everyday amazes me. Heroes the lot of them.
My only diving buddy has been my brother so it is usually ok. But if i need to kill him off it shouldnt be too difficult 80ft down. lolol
On a recent trip, a mate came along and did his PADI courses, never having dived before. All credit to the instructors there and he got his advanced in 5 days. That is quick, but he is a keen athlete and a sharp chap, so he picked it all up quickly.
All, that is, apart from buoyancy control. I had the privelige of him as my buddy on the last dive of the trip - a lovely lagoon in about 9metres called Turtle Bay, just out of Hurghada. Anyway, after he had drained half the contents of my cylinder duruing the buddy check :D "I just had to make sure your tanks were switched on" :D , we entered the water. During the following 50mins or so, he was up and down like a yo-yo, arms and legs flailing everywhere. He had decided that he would half his weight when he moved up to a 15l cylinder, it turns out...
Anyway, he was nicknamed 'windmill' for his underwater choreography and I was just glad most of the dive was in about 6m!!
S.
Andy
I dive in Barbados with my son- as we are both experenced divers the dive marshal on the boat asked us to split up and take in a pair (husband and wife) of qualified PADI divers. The wife had qualified on the holiday but her husband had 3-4 years experence of holiday diving. So as the husband wanted to do a more challenging dive I agreed to take him to 25 meters to a wreck while his wife and my son went with the rest of the group to the reef.
The plan was we would do 20mins on the wreck and then follow a canyon in the rock wall and join the others at the reef and surface together. However :o after 20ish mins I signaled to the guy to follow me to to the canyon, he pointed to his air and 'said' he had plenty left and wasn't going up yet :huh: . I tried to order him to come but he refused. So to cut a long story short I gave him the W**ker sign and left him (because the dive marshal would be waiting and wondering what had happened to us). I met up with the rest of the group and explained in signs what had happened. We surfaced and this guy surfaced about 5mins after us and started shouting at me (in German) about leaving him, Fortunatly the DM stepped in before I hit the guy and immediatly banned him.
I found out later that the dive operator had contacted all the other operators in the area and this guy was not allowed to dive for the rest of his holiday :P :P .
Haydn
Nice one Haydn.....some people are arrogant to**ers. Where do you dive in Barbados ? All my dives were off Carlisle bay in the south west of the island.
Lovely diving although I thought about giving it a go on the East side of the island.....then I saw how rough it was and how many long spined urchins were there :unsure: ....so I kept to the calm caribbean side :D
Andy
Andy
I had 2 weeks there- the first week just me and my son on a trip organised by BSAC doing 'serious' nitrox diving on the Adlantic side (as you said a 'little' rough :o 6 meter buddy checks were fun!). The second week my wife and other son joined us so it was only fun dives when we could get away. The incident was on one of them.
Just a quick (and serious) question- why don't PADI like people doing deco diving??
Haydn
Paul-woodcock
28-05-03, 23:49
Originally posted by haydn Gopsill@May 28 2003, 22:05
Just a quick (and serious) question- why don't PADI like people doing deco diving??
:lol: :lol: :P :P :P
I think the previous posts answer your question.
and to think - you are asking a serious question!!!!
:P :P :P :P :P :P :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Interesting Thread.
My worst experience, mmmm, 12 Years ago was over in OZ for a year & 1/2, fist ever dive was a resort dive off IIRC the coast of Bundaberg, anyway , kitted up, was explained the basics, got into water with instructor, went down to 10 metres, there swimming around with the instructor. He was holding my hand ( very romantic ) :) , after few minutes I ran out of air, they had given me an empty tank.
Luckily I didnt panic and tapped him on the shoulder and in pidgeon scuba language , explained I had no air, and he gave me his alternative air source and we continued on happily. Anyway was hooked and did loadsa diving all over OZ after that. What an incredible sport, I love it !
Though thought afterwards what pratts ! , if I had panicked, could have been nasty. since that have dived in Hawaii, Cuba, Mexico, Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam, Maldives & Malaysia ( Blatant name dropping :) ), with never a serious problem encountered, its a great safe sport if the attention to detail is adhered to in the preparation.
Brian.
Brian with that experience you can only improve!
I am sure at times I have been the buddy from hell, especially when I first started. But since diving in the Seychelles I feel it has all finally clicked. Just wish I could get back in the water asap. Unfortunatley I use alot of air so I am usually first up which can be annoying to other divers, however i am pretty competent at surfacing on my own now :o so i tend to just get on with it and leave the others to enjoy the end of the dive.
My worst experience is the Russian pilot who flapped his arms around so much that he knocked my reg out of my mouth, not very amusing. It made me understand what a pain I was when I was flapping in the water. Also a couple of french divers who decided to swim for the boat which was miles away (well too far for a surface swim) were also interesting. I guess I can be very agressive when I need to be (or lazy), which reminds me I must get a good whistle before we go again.
My second best buddy has to be Andy but my best was the bonnet ray who went straight over my head on Shark Bank. You could hear me screaming with delight at the surface :wub:
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