You are Responsible for You and the Paradox of Being a Good Dive Buddy

In my post on When things get wonky underwater, “Save Yourself First,” I mused about each diver’s need to “dive first,” to deal with any emerging situation second, and finally to communicate as needed. The more you get into diving, the truer this becomes. Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own safety.

Some years ago, while flying from the USA to East Africa, I was enjoying my flight by reading Simon Pridmore’s Scuba Confidential. Simon reports a number of accidents from all kinds of diving. I was sharing some of these stories with my bride when she stopped me: “I don’t want to hear about that now!” We were on our way to dive in Zanzibar, and I was scaring her. My bad. Her protest was healthy. She didn’t need additional anxiety as a newer diver.

Diving is inherently risky. We all sign agreements with this as we take classes and participate in club, charter, and live-aboard dives. Once again, each of us is ultimately responsible for our own safety. So what does this really mean? (This is the first of several posts about taking responsibility).

We need to be physically fit for the kinds of diving we plan to do. Get your physical every year and follow your doctor’s advice for diving. This doesn’t mean that we all need to be sleek endurance runners! It does mean that we need to be as fit as possible. And it means that we need to choose dives appropriate to our level of fitness. Let’s expand the meaning of this phrase: Dive within your level of training.

Mental fitness? I can be freaking out about a dozen things in my dry job, and then find calm and peace as I drop below 20 feet. The need to “dive first” keeps me from worrying about what is happening at home or at the office. Diving improves my mental health and helps me see things with a new perspective during my extended surface intervals. 🙂 But this isn’t the whole story on mental fitness. As a member of a buddy team, I have additional responsibilities. Here is a useful paradox: Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own safety AND we are members of a buddy team. Let’s explore this paradox.

Like a newly licensed car driver, new divers have a limited range of awareness. Their focus is to “dive first.” As they become more comfortable with their own buoyancy and movement, they can become more aware of their surroundings and can be more attentive to their buddy’s condition. One good guess is that it takes at least 20 or so dives to expand our awareness broadly enough to be a good buddy. Hopefully, this awareness continues to expand, and as a buddy team, you are aware of your broad surroundings and of the other divers in your range of vision. It takes most of us at least 40 dives to begin to gain this fuller awareness, and so this is a logical minimum number of dives for training as a rescue diver. Back to the point: If your mental state is such that you can’t be a good buddy—if your mental task load is such that you can only manage your own processes—then call off your dive. I need to remember that I’m carrying my buddy’s back-up equipment and she is carrying mine. If I can’t be aware enough of my buddy to see that she is getting stressed or acting goofy from gas narcosis, if I can’t be aware that she needs my help or air supply, I need to protect her and call off the dive. As I take responsibility for myself, I also take responsibility for my ability to be a good buddy. It is a beautiful paradox.

PS—My bride now reads the accident reports in the Alert Diver before I do. Of course as a Rescue Diver and as a Master Scuba Diver, she is as curious as I am and wants to know what we can plan and do differently. She rocks!

Next Up: You are responsible for you—especially on a charter!

https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/alertdiver