Plan Your Dive & Dive Your Plan Series: Part 1 "The Buddy System"

Plan Your Dive and Dive Your Plan Series: Part 1“The Buddy System”


Why do we have a buddy system in SCUBA diving? Why do we stay in a group? Why do we discuss this in the dive briefing? In a word, safety. First and foremost, in the unlikely event that a problem occurs with a diver’s air supply, entanglement, entrapment, or a health issue, we count on assistance from our buddy.

When a diver disappears from the group or abandons their dive buddy, the dive ceases to be fun for those who must begin searching for the “lost” diver. Regardless of whether the searcher is a buddy or a professional dive leader, the stress factor is huge!

I found myself in this situation when a buddy agreed to follow my lead and then abruptly turned back to shore without signaling me. Thirty seconds later, I was shocked to find that my “buddy” had vanished.

I searched underwater for the standard minute and then went to the surface. Although the water was very clear, my buddy was nowhere in sight. I was beside myself with worry and stress. Did my buddy have a heart attack or get injured? I stayed at the surface as recommended by Safe Diving Practices and continued to look underwater and at the shore until I determined that I needed to get help to search. I headed in and when I was almost back to shore, I saw my “buddy” exit at the shoreline.

I have to say my first reaction was instant anger followed by relief. After I calmed down enough to speak, I asked why this person chose to abandon the dive, the response was “I felt tired and did not want to continue the dive.” That is a perfectly valid reason to end a dive. But what happened to communication? It is not acceptable, or safe, to leave your group or buddy without signaling. Lastly, I was left without a buddy. What if something had happened to me and I could not get help? I have chosen to never dive with this person again.

Other important concerns when diving together are nitrogen loading and decompression issues. When divers stay in a group, they are more likely to have similar dive profiles and so can have the same dive times and surface intervals. Makes sense, right?

So, remember to stay with your buddy or group and have a safe and fun dive!  Aloha, Teri

Just Another Day at the "Office"

I mentioned in my previous blog entry that we instructors wear many hats. This has proven true once again.

I was teaching a class at Ulua Beach and as we were making our way back to shore I noticed a gentleman literally standing on the reef. It didn’t look like he planned to get off the reef anytime soon, so I decided to surface my class and let him know that by standing on the reef he was damaging the coral. Upon surfacing I realized that something wasn’t quite right. The man was having trouble breathing and his skin color was flushed. I asked him if everything was OK and he said he could not catch his breath. I took off my instructor hat and switched into Emergency First Response mode. I fully inflated my BC and had the man place his back on my chest. His breathing was somewhat labored, short and fast. I instructed him to try to relax, slow his breathing and take deeper breaths to which he responded “easy for you to say”. It was obvious that he was exhausted.  As fate would have it Charlie from our store was on the dive for fun and was able to keep an eye on my students. I managed to get the man to shore and did a final check to make sure he would be OK. His wife was there and I felt confident that he would be fine.

This was just a small thing that fortunately didn’t turn bad. If I wasn’t there and another instructor had noticed the same thing, would they have responded ? Absolutely. If no instructors were around, would the result have been the same. Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t see any other snorkelers making a move to help this man out. The county wants to limit our access to beaches, limit our hours and in general limit our ability to do what we do. What they don’t seem to understand is that we provide a much bigger service then just teaching and guiding divers. This isn’t the only time one of us had rendered assistance to beach patrons at Ulua (or other beaches) and it won’t be the last, unless the county decides otherwise.

Meet Zac

Hi, my name is Zac and I’m the new gear guy at Maui Dreams. I’m from the Wyoming prairie, which is where I was Open Water certified in the fall. The certification took place in Lake Desmit which had about ten feet vis! So when I got to Maui and first went snorkeling, you can imagine my excitement at getting to see at least 50 feet in front of me!!

Anyway, my instructor from Wyoming suggested that I meet with Rachel at MDDC, so I did. Once I assured them that I would scrub the floors, clean the toilet, be Katherine’s slave, and work for free, they said I could be their new “Gearboy”. Naturally, I lept at the opportunity.

Well, I found out that the job description was pretty accurate but also included cleaning equipment (under very stringent guidelines), filling tanks, and taking a bunch of guff from everyone in the shop. How much fun is it? It is a blast, and a very different brand of humor than what I’d previously experienced while working on the pipeline in Wyoming. I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

One day as I was washing gear, the boss asked me if I wanted to go diving. I was already having a good day, but my level of excitement and anticipation went through the roof as I casually said, “yeah, sure!”

So the next morning we went to Ulua Beach, geared up, and headed into the water. Mind you, all the diving I had done so far consisted of four open water dives over two days during my certification course and that’s it! This would be my first Maui and my first salt water dive. So, when we started, I didn’t even remember to breathe out during my initial descent and Rachel had to remind me. Once under water though, wow the vis was amazing (I think about 40 feet that day, which to me was like a mile!). We cruised around, looked at eels and even a turtle. On the second dive, we went to 50 feet, my deepest so far. I sat on the bottom, looked at the surface, and realized that diving is the key to a different world.