Beware of the buddy system. You might get addicted and not be able to dive without your fix.
I come out of a "go for broke" spearo background. Of course we always (well, usually) dove with a buddy. You know, like my buddy is somewhere in the same ocean, I'm just not exactly sure where. Of Course we dove alone. We weren't going to black out, not us. That's some rare thing that happens to somebody else. Never really thought about it. The way we dove was just what you did. Amazing we are all still breathing.
Well, enter Deeper Blue, Performance Freediving, learning how to dive much deeper and longer and safer, getting to play rescue diver for a couple of blackouts during recreational dives that were supposed to be low key. Learned a lot. For the last 3 years or so I've always arranged it so I was diving in a fairly tight buddy system. No big deal, its just what we did. That brings me to last Friday.
I had the opportunity to dive an extremely nice spot, deep, very clear, super easy conditions, lots of the kind of wildlife that doesn't bite, unspoiled, a sweet place. The only drawback was I could not scare up a buddy. Well, not to worry, I won't push things. This will be fine.. . . . . . until I actually started to get in the water. Then, I suddenly realized I wasn't comfortable, I did not like something. No, I actively disliked the idea of diving alone. I'd come a long way, to a great spot, and I was actually a little afraid to dive. This from a guy who all his friends consider a one track, diving fanatic who never lets ANYTHING stop him. It was weird, bizarre. I figured it would pass, surely. So, I got in. Great conditions, very pretty. I expected to get comfortable quick and go from there. No chance. I stayed more or less distinctly uncomfortable. Cut my "no urge to breathe" time by almost 20 seconds. It slowly dawned on me that I was seriously addicted to buddy diving, had not had my fix and needed it. Broke it off after about an hour and got out.
Well, I think all this is a good thing, but I got to admit, there is a bit of uncertainty.
Connor
I come out of a "go for broke" spearo background. Of course we always (well, usually) dove with a buddy. You know, like my buddy is somewhere in the same ocean, I'm just not exactly sure where. Of Course we dove alone. We weren't going to black out, not us. That's some rare thing that happens to somebody else. Never really thought about it. The way we dove was just what you did. Amazing we are all still breathing.
Well, enter Deeper Blue, Performance Freediving, learning how to dive much deeper and longer and safer, getting to play rescue diver for a couple of blackouts during recreational dives that were supposed to be low key. Learned a lot. For the last 3 years or so I've always arranged it so I was diving in a fairly tight buddy system. No big deal, its just what we did. That brings me to last Friday.
I had the opportunity to dive an extremely nice spot, deep, very clear, super easy conditions, lots of the kind of wildlife that doesn't bite, unspoiled, a sweet place. The only drawback was I could not scare up a buddy. Well, not to worry, I won't push things. This will be fine.. . . . . . until I actually started to get in the water. Then, I suddenly realized I wasn't comfortable, I did not like something. No, I actively disliked the idea of diving alone. I'd come a long way, to a great spot, and I was actually a little afraid to dive. This from a guy who all his friends consider a one track, diving fanatic who never lets ANYTHING stop him. It was weird, bizarre. I figured it would pass, surely. So, I got in. Great conditions, very pretty. I expected to get comfortable quick and go from there. No chance. I stayed more or less distinctly uncomfortable. Cut my "no urge to breathe" time by almost 20 seconds. It slowly dawned on me that I was seriously addicted to buddy diving, had not had my fix and needed it. Broke it off after about an hour and got out.
Well, I think all this is a good thing, but I got to admit, there is a bit of uncertainty.
Connor
