Choosing the Right Dive Buddy

Together with the fundamentals and basic skills, your Diving instructor or anyone in the diving community would always emphasize this safety principle: Never dive alone. Just like any other sports, diving also has risks. Hence, it is important that you have someone whom you can confide and entrust your safety into during your dives. The buddy system could help prevent some of these risks. However, there are important things that you may want to keep in mind when taking a buddy on a dive. With that, here are some tips in choosing the right dive buddy for you.

• 

• 

Why Should you Dive with a Buddy?

Your dive buddy is more than just someone whom you can share experience with or takes photos and videos of you as you explore the depths of the ocean together. As mentioned, getting a dive buddy is also getting someone to look after you and your safety and the other way around. You are each other’s responsibility the moment that you enter the waters. When something goes wrong, you have each other to take an action; thus, prevent accidents or worse, deaths.

Choosing the Right Dive Buddy

The big question here is, “who should you consider as your dive buddy? Here are some points to help you with that.

Knows how to Rescue

While the knowledge about safety and rescue in diving can be acquired anywhere, practice and drills would still be necessarily useful. There are diving schools and groups who offer modules or courses in Safety and Rescue. Apart from discussions, there are also simulations where students could learn and try themselves how proper rescuing is done. Attending so would allow you to do simulation rescues with supervision of an instructor.

It is important that you and your dive buddy know how to calmly put everything under control and rescue shall the inevitable risks get into your way. Proper orientation and training would help you do so. You’ll also learn from this course as to when should you take an action by judging the behavior of your buddy underwater.

You may also want to read: How do I Start Freediving? A Beginner’s Guide

Dives By or Beyond your Depth Limits

Imagine this: you can dive at twenty meters but your dive buddy couldn’t. If an unforeseen undesirable event happens to you at that depth, would he or she be able to perform the safety procedures?

It is a must that your dive buddy could also go by or beyond your own depth limit. In this way, you could rescue one another confidently at a certain depth. If you are unsure about this, you may also train and dive with a certified and a professional instructors who may guide or assist you. Lastly, if you are only diving for recreation, it is a must that you set a safe and max depth for you that you can both reach. In this way, you won’t have to worry about not being able to rescue your buddy at a depth that you can’t dive into.

Establishes Good Communication

Among the most important things that you need to consider in choosing the right dive buddy is your ability to establish good communication. When underwater, it is a must that you watch out for your dive buddy’s body signals and gestures. While you’ll learn some of the crucial ones and what they mean when you take an Introductory and Safety and Rescue course, you could also maintain other personal signals that you mutually understand prior to diving. Apart from establishing gestures or signals, you should also know what actions shall you take for it.

• 

• 

Choosing the Right Dive Buddy, In a Nutshell

This buddy system doesn’t just work for Freediving alone but also in all sorts of diving activities. Regardless of the diving activity you are engaged into, risks would always be present. One of the ways to prevent such is through diving with the right buddy. These tips are just few yet the most essential things to consider when choosing a dive buddy. How about you? What else do you consider when choosing the right one?

Next tot Read:

• Amazing Health Benefits of Freediving
• Dealing with Stress and Anxiety through Freediving
• A Day in the Life of a Freediver