Diver Experience Buddy Malfunction
The BCD was only part of the problem
Text by Lilla Clare I
t started like most dive days, with clear skies, calm seas and vigorous activity hauling equipment onto the dive boat. It was a typical two-dive day charter catering to a transient group unfamiliar with the local dive site
topography. What followed was a common enough scene across the sport diving planet. The dive guide partnered everyone into dive buddy pairs before laying out the overall plan for the guided groups. And as divers we understood that the plan assumes each individual is trained, has some logged experience and, importantly, is fully aware of his or her duty-of-care as a buddy within this system. Later, speaking to my local dive
shop owner and operator Mike McKinnon, I asked if there was an international standard for dive operators when making these random on-board buddy selections. “No,” he replied. “It’s pretty much up to the individual operator and is usually based on the number of logged dives, certification and date of last dive. We tend to group the inexperienced together and it’s why we have dive guides.” I asked the same question of dive guide Katie Glasheen, an instructor
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on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. She has over 20 years experience and 6,000 dives under her belt. “The circumstances vary, but I also look at certification levels and experience,” she said. “Pairing someone who is inexperienced with someone more experienced, makes good sense,” but she noted, “this can hamper the dive for the more experienced person.” With four out of five people in my
group holding professional quality cameras, it was clear that I was tagging along with an experienced group. I was thrilled. I enjoy slow going bottom time. Nothing ruins a good dive for me more than an inflexible dive guide who heckles and pushes you along at break-neck speed. But my buddy was one of the photographers and I imagined he’d be focused on picture taking. Things were shaping up. I thought it wise to mention to
the dive guide that I had 12 dives logged and that I would be using a weight integrated BCD for the first time, indicating I’d likely need some guidance on the weighting. The dive guide assured me she would be close by at all times. I re-checked my air, regulators and gauges, inflated and deflated
even once since we got to the bottom, which was too bad for me because…
I couldn’t recall that he’d looked up
Buddy...what buddy?
my BCD. Check. It felt snug and it was a dream not having to struggle with a weight belt. In the water, I inflated and deflated the BCD again just to make sure it was working properly. For that second check I exhausted the air from the dump valve on the shoulder. Check. Fully deflated, we headed down the mooring line to the top of a flat rock ledge at about 40 feet (12m). The conditions were perfect. No
current. Visibility was about 50 feet (15m). Beautiful. My buddy’s strobe was already doing disco-quick-time, lighting up some great images of Eastern Blue Gropers and schooling Trevally. There were a number of Wobbegongs and turtles about too, which was more than enough to make a photographer’s lens boggle… and it did. I thought I’d have to grow fins on my body to get my buddy’s attention at that point. But the dive was proving a bit of
a roller-coaster ride for me. I was inflating and deflating, shifting the
Photos: David
Fleetham.com, Lilla Clare
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