Posted by Ken Kurtis on September 02, 2000 at 00:39:33:
In Reply to: Re: Criteria for Solo Diving posted by Sea Urchin on September 01, 2000 at 14:03:21:
(Sea Urchin wrote) I have been doing this for more than 20 years and must agree with you that diving with someone you don't know is diving solo anyway.
Just for the record, that's not what I said. What I said was that when, as an instructor, I'm diving with a class, or anyone else not ready to respond to an emergnecy, it's the same as diving alone.
However, I fully believe that I can be a good buddy to someone I've just met on a boat (and, IMHO, I do it all the time when we do escorts). All it requires is a little pre-dive get-together, and being attentive on the dive to both yourself and your buddy.
(Urchin continued) One thing is that you can't talk to the other person and that is a big problem u/w. "Hey look out" just doesn't work u/w. "Hey I'm stuck" as you buddy swims away doesn't help.
You CAN talk. It's called hand signals. of course, it requires being attentive to each other, which means at least making frequent eye contact, as well as staying close together, preferably no further than arm's length. If you do all that, the second part of your scenario doesn't happen.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.