A Good Dive Buddy Is Hard to Find

What makes a good dive buddy? Some divers buddy well together, while others do not. As an open water scuba instructor, I can (and frequently do) dive with just about anyone who is thrown into the water with me. When it comes to diving for pleasure, however I am much more selective in my dive partners. The more I learn about diving, the pickier I become. Many acceptable dive buddies are floating around, but a good dive buddy is hard to find. Here are some characteristics I consider when choosing a dive buddy.

Attitude Towards Safety Procedures

Dive buddies should share a similar attitude towards safety. I am an open water instructor, but I still like to review routine safety checks before every dive. I frequently have to force clients to run through the predive safety check. When diving for pleasure, I do not want to feel like a fuddy-duddy for insisting on reviewing gear and emergency prodedures, but I do understand that not everyone takes pre-dive safety protocol as seriously as I do. What is important is finding a buddy who shares your views on what is acceptable. My ideal buddy runs through the predive safety check with pleasure. In fact, he insists on it.

Reason for Diving

Every dive has a purpose, even if it just to doodle around the reef. Divers in a buddy team should share a similar sense of purpose. I like to dive with buddies who are interested in observing fish behavior and looking for hard-to-find creatures. A buddy who wants to cover as much of the reef as possible during a dive is not a good match for me. There is nothing wrong with swimming fast and far, it just isn't what I enjoy.

Ease of Communication

Underwater communications can be difficult. Sometimes divers who can clearly communicate on the surface have difficulty understanding each other under water. What is a logical signal improvisation to one diver may be totally incomprehensible to another. While standardization of hand signal helps with this problem, sometimes there is just a gap in communication. I can think of several divers with whom I communicate well underwater, and several with whom I do not. No one's signals are necessarily better than another's, but some diver's signals are just not logical to me. When considering ease of communication with a buddy, a diver should also take into account how close the buddy likes to stay during a dive, and how easy it is to call the buddy's attention.

Air Consumption Rates

I hate to say it, but your air consumption rate matters. A divers air consumption rate effects the length of both his and his buddy's dive.  I do not judge a diver's ability by his air consumption rate, but when I am diving for fun I prefer to dive with divers who breathe a similar amount of air per a given amount of time as I do. This said, I see many great dive teams with dissimilar air consumption rates. The pleasure of diving with a friend is sometimes more important than the amount of air he uses. The point here is that divers should consider their air consumption rates when choosing dive buddies, and make sure that each buddy is happy with bottom time he is likely to get on the dive.

Diving Philosophy

I knew I had found a good buddy for me when upon surfacing from a dive, we agreed that the dive was good, and then started listing all of the things that we could have done better. We shared the philosophy of always evaluating and improving our diving. Your diving philosophy can be as simple as, "That was great, let's go get a beer!" What is important is that your buddy agrees.

Speak Up! Who Is Your Ideal Dive Buddy, and Why?

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