lerpy - 1/02/2017 12:05 PM
Mark, you have made some very good observations. There can be a lot of complacency when it comes to diving, and complacency in diving, as in many other industries, can have serious consequences. Your experience with an insta-buddy is not uncommon. Unfortunately at times we get put with other divers, that really have no interest in diving with somebody, or simply do not respect the buddy system and why we as divers have adopted it.
You can learn a lot from divers with more experience, and more training, but there are certainly those that have more experience and training, that do not follow what they have learned, and when in your situation, do not recognize that a buddy might be looking to them for guidance on a particular dive, and what the are showing you is bad practices.
It is out there, and I have had my fair share of insta-buddies that have the complacency or sheer disregard that you speak of. Hell I had a situation on a boat in COZ on a night dive where a guy went on and on about how wonderful a diver he was, and actually openly made fun of me because I had a strobe on, rather than maybe asking me why and possibly learning something.
As for medical forms, you are so right about that. Working on a boat I have seen plenty of forms that you know are not truthful. But the other factor people get into is, " I have paid for this dive, so I am doig it no matter what". I get its hard when you have paid good money to go on a trip to then back out of a dive or a day of diving, I have done it several times, and then I went back when feeling better. The site will always be there.
The other big factor for new divers, or divers that are learning is that many training agencies, simply train you to dive at the OW level. You don’t get a really good breadth of knowledge or experience. Often people learn in warm calm waters, and learn protocols for diving that environment. They them come to a place like where I dive and work on boats in the great lakes, and feel their skill set is the same, and it is to a degree, but again if those people think that they got it no problem, they can find themselves in trouble. Part of that is having a good operator that gives good briefing and takes the extra time to address concerns of such divers.
As I say you have made some great observations, and good for you for stepping away from that buddy. The fact that you have these observations and took that action shows you are a competent diver that is not going to knowingly get into a bad situation.