Here’s a look at 10 qualities to look for in a good dive buddy, to make your dives stress free and more than just pleasant-

1. Communication
One of the most important qualities of a good buddy is being able to communicate clearly and instantly underwater. This is not just hand signs but the whole process i.e. message passed, received, returned and understood, without so much as a signal. If you find yourself having to break the flow of your dive just to get your message across to your buddy then communication between the two of you isn’t great.  Good communication encompasses everything from understanding each other’s hand signals, to facial expressions, gestures, and feelings through eye contact. Just imagine in an emergency situation trying to signal to your buddy to share air, while he/she is busy wondering what type of fish you are trying to signal. A good buddy will probably by just looking at you, signal to you his gas consumption without even you having to make the signal for “how much air do you have left?”

2. Trust
Trusting your Dive Buddy is paramount in scuba diving especially when you are essentially entrusting your life and safety to him/her underwater. Knowing your dive buddy beforehand is important to building up this trust. If your dive buddy is a close friend, acquaintance, relative or your spouse, often trust comes easily and automatically making them 50% there to becoming a good dive buddy. Often when your Dive Master or Dive Instructor assigns you somebody you don’t know as your buddy, the issue of trust creeps in, and getting to know your dive buddy before the dive will go a long way into you being comfortable diving with him/her underwater rather than stressed.

3. Matching Skills
Always dive with a buddy that closely matches your diving skills underwater and shares your depth limits. This way you won’t be forced out of your comfort zone, or force your buddy out of his/hers. Skills don’t just relate to certification level, i.e Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Dive Master etc.  Also ensure your buddy has similar or comparable experience to yours, so that if a situation arises, either of you could assist one another, rather than one being dependent on the other.

4. Complementary Interests
Having the same dive goals and sharing similar interests goes a long way towards a good buddy. Just imagine the times your buddy has been busy skimming the sea bed examining macro creatures, while you’ve been disinterested hovering above looking for sharks and other pelagic fish. Similar case when your buddy is an underwater photographer casing you to frequently having to stop and wait breaking the flow of your dive. At the end of the dive when you both excitedly chatter away about the things you saw underwater, you know you share the same interests.

5. Pace
We’ve all faced this at some point or the other where your dive buddy swims much faster than you  resulting in you having to stare at his 6 O’clock the entire dive, or vice versa where your quicker pace makes you have to constantly hold back and wait for your buddy to catch up. This causes unnecessary stress and or resentment, taking away from the fun of the dive and so it is essential that you have a buddy that has a similar pace to yours underwater.

6. Positioning
Though connected to pace but not necessarily, the formation or positioning of your buddy through the dive dictates qualities of a good dive buddy. A good buddy will stick to you like glue without getting in your way or constantly bumping into each other. You know you have a good buddy when you do not have to use more than a 1/4 turn your head to either side to know where your buddy is at anytime during the dive. Having to look up, or down or even stop to turn around constantly means you have your positioning all wrong.

7. Good Judgment
Having similar skills does not necessarily mean that your buddy will have the good judgment to act on those skills when required. A good buddy knows when it’s time to call it a day, and make good decisions based on the situation, knows limits and depths, and avoids unnecessary decompression dives. Good judgment includes the ability to call you out on your mistakes underwater and keep you in check and within the boundaries of safe diving.

8. Good Situational Awareness
A good buddy should have constant situational awareness paying attention to gas consumption, depth, navigation, pace, currents, your gas consumption, your position, your signals, your discomfort with equalization etc. We’ve all dived with the buddy that stares straight down or ahead like a donkey with blinders on. You have to wave about to get his/her attention, and more often than not they haven’t a clue where they are.

9. Similar Air Consumption
Pairing up with a dive buddy that runs out of air while you still have half your tank left is rather annoying and most of us have experienced this at some point of time. A good buddy should  have similar gas consumption rates as yourself allowing you both to have similar dive times and enjoy the dive without worrying about when your buddy is going to run out of air. Similar air consumption gives you the peace of mind and ability to ascertain from your depth gauge, what your buddy’s air would be like through the dive and plan navigation accordingly.

10. Will not push you out of your diving comfort zone and skill level
A dive buddy that will dive to depths beyond your prescribed comfort zone and skill levels, or attempt maneuvers, dive in strong currents, unsafe conditions, poor visibility conditions, push decompression limit times or descend and ascend at speeds you are not comfortable with, is not a good buddy.  Even if your buddy is more than capable of it, just putting you in a situation that is outside your comfort zone is inconsiderate and possibly risky.

* Photo Credits: photos by Scuba_thib, Saspotato, Daniel, Daniel Kwok, leafbug on flickr

Rule#1 -Be a Solo Diver: This rule doesn’t entail ditching your dive buddy and diving alone. By all means stay close to your buddy and be ready to help him. But, as far as your own safety is concerned, pretend he’s not there or… won’t be when you need him, in other words be self reliant. In any emergency your most dependable rescuer is you. Think solo, plan smarter and rehearse before-head how you could deal with a situation so that if one arises you know how to react without wasting time looking for a rescuer.

Keep at hand all the dive gear and equipment you may need as if you were diving solo. For example: Have your own completely redundant air source, like a pony bottle, instead of relying on your buddy’s octopus. You may want several cutting tools instead of just one, mounted so you can reach at least one with either hand. Be prepared for yourself and carry your own backups.

RULE #2- Be Lazy: Mimic a sloth. Doing everything in slow motion will stretch your air supply. Move like you’re too exhausted too. Every fin stroke, arm movement or even a head turn requires a lot more energy under water as it’s 800, yes that’s 800 times more dense than air. Energy in diving equals oxygen, so the faster you burn energy the faster you empty your dive tank. It’s that simple.

It takes a conscious effort to move at slow motion speeds, but practice will make it second nature. The payoff is bragging rights over your air-hog buddy at the end of the dive. Be lazy out of the water before and after a dive too. Sit down as much as possible and relax to conserve energy and you won’t feel fatigued. Most importantly stay lazy with your body in order to stay alert with your mind.

RULE #3- Breathe Efficiently: One of the first diving No-no you learn is to never hold your breath. And certainly don’t. To significantly improve your breathing efficiency, reverse your normal breathing pattern from inhale-exhale-pause to inhale-pause- exhale- -the pattern many experienced divers adopt naturally over time. What you have to keep in mind is the pause you take when your lungs are filled is not held with your throat closed and most definitely not forced.

The few seconds pause while your lungs are full of air allows more time for gas exchange, so you take in more oxygen and dump more carbon dioxide with each breath. Therefore, your need to breathe will lessen and you will get more cycles out of your cylinder. This breathing technique is not taught cause a pause can be confused as holding your breath with a closed-throat. So, if you aren’t sure of the difference or of not inadvertently closing your throat to pause, don’t try it.

RULE #4 – Avoid Using Your BCD: Using the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) throughout a dive for control is a mistake made by many divers, especially rookies. Since water is denser momentum gathered takes a little more time to slow or stop. While you’re squirting a little more air in you BCD thinking you’re a little negative even before you realize it you’re actually a little positive then. But you won’t feel positive because you come to a stop and pause there for a moment or two before that little squirt of air in your BC begins gathering its strength before raising you slowly.

Naturally, you need to use some judgment and assess the need to use those buttons when you’re dropping like a rock or rising like a cork. But, as you zero in on neutral buoyancy you don’t want to mess it up by touching the buttons again. You can make depth changes of four or five feet by using your lungs alone, without messing with your Buoyancy Compensator and losing that hard-to-find neutral buoyancy.

Rule #5 – Don’t Overdo the Gear: By don’t overdo the dive gear we don’t mean off load your weights, ditch spare regulators or don’t wear a dive computer, it simply means don’t let your equipment get the better of you. Diving with an all new kit of diving equipment with a fancy new dive computer on one hand, an underwater camera in another and a squeaky new BCD you’re unfamiliar can be overwhelming. The use of your dive gear should be intuitive and not take up your attention. Another reason to avoid carrying extra gear apart from unnecessary fidgeting is the temptation to seek security in equipment rather than in technique. As a general rule, get more experience before more gear.

That said, we like to encourage divers to own their own gear and not rent, because owners know their gear better and take care of it better. We also think divers should buy their gear new and of top quality. There’s no such thing as too much performance and you definitely can’t put a price on safety.