How to Find A Dive Buddy – Everything You Need To Know Is Here

If you are passionate about scuba diving but don’t want to travel without a dive companion. In this post, I’ll tell you how to find a dive buddy.

Today, I will be telling you about the characteristics of a good dive buddy along with 8 GREAT ways where you can find a buddy. I also have an interesting video I know you will enjoy watching,

There are times when your best friend or family member just can’t go diving with you and you know you’ve been taught to have a dive buddy with you at all times when diving underwater. Often times you go on a vacation with your family but no one knows how to dive and they’re not even interested in learning.

You feel like you might not find a buddy who will not dive close to you or understand your anxieties or you just can’t find anyone close to where you live who likes to travel and dive. Feeling sad or frustrated, maybe you are ready to quit diving forever.

Finding a trusting dive buddy who is like-minded like you is important for safety reasons.

Ideal Dive Buddy, Characteristics

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It’s important for you and your new dive buddy to have certain common traits after all you two will be diving together from the start to the duration of the dive.

When looking for a dive buddy, compatibility and trust are the key factors and you will want to consider the following:

1) Common dive type interest. There are many types of diving like cave diving, drift diving, wreck diving, shore diving, and deep diving.

Your new dive buddy is impatient with you and decides to keep moving while you are taking pictures of some interesting sea creature leaving you behind. Maybe your dive buddy enjoys wreck diving but you don’t.

If you can find a dive buddy that has the same interest as you, certainly the dives are much more enjoyable but sometimes it doesn’t happen like that and so both of you need to give and take if you decide to dive as buddies.

If that doesn’t work, and you are in with a dive group, you can let your tour guide know that you will be staying close to him/her. I have done this before and it works extremely well.

2) Communication. Both you and your buddy must be comfortable discussing each other’s fears and anxieties if there are any. This helps each of you to understand what is going on inside your head. Agree on the hand signals, the depth, how long the dive will be and the conditions of when to end the dive.

3) Proper buddy checks. Your buddy must be willing to also do a buddy check.

4) Considers diving seriously. Your buddy should take all means of doing safe dives and not take any risks. A good buddy is always there for you and vice-versa no matter what happens. Both you and your buddy should dive close together at least within 16’/5m.

You’re probably wondering how you can even find a dive buddy with all these characteristics.

Ways to Find Your Dive Buddy

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1) Friends and Family Members

See if any of your friends and family members are interested in learning to scuba dive. Share with them the stories of your dive experiences, show pictures and videos and who knows, one of them may take an interest.

2) PADI Travel, Liveaboards

PADI Travel, whether you are a single diver, meaning you travel alone, or you are a diver who travels with family or has a non-diving partner, liveaboards are organized diving vacations. I have dived with liveaboards and found many ‘new’ dive buddies in various places in the world. The neat part is the connection and how you get to know them.

Because you live and dive off the liveaboard, you will have plenty of time to get acquainted with your new buddy. It may seem strange at first, getting used to this kind of travel to remote and exotic dive sites but it is definitely an exciting and unforgettable adventure of its own.

You can make long-lasting relationships, where you and your ‘new’ dive buddies will keep in touch and will want to know where your next dive vacation will be.

3) ScubaBoard

ScubaBoard is one of the world’s largest and most friendly scuba diving communities. When you join you can ask questions, help other divers, put a post in and share your dive pictures. I go in here several times and often see other divers’ request to see if anyone is looking for a dive buddy.

4) Scuba Diving Clubs

This is a great way to join and meet a bunch of new dive buddies and they could be just right around the corner from you. These clubs usually have a great working relationship with their local PADI dive centers. Many of the clubs offer regular dive trips locally and long-distance destinations along with specialty dive trips like wreck and cave diving. You can also get involved with their social activities.

5) ScubaEarth 

Part of PADI, Scuba Earth is another site that has been around for years and you can find a lot of new dive buddies and dive sites and destinations. You can also log your dives here and share all your dive photos with the members or keep them private.

While looking at a local dive site you can see divers’ comments on the site to give you an idea of whether or not you want to go diving there and converse with them.

6) Book a dive trip with your local PADI Dive Center

If you live in the city, chances are there are local dive shops and you can visit and ask the owner(s) if they know of divers looking for a dive buddy. Sometimes they may have group dive trips that go to local dive sites and destinations all over the world and you can join in with them and find a buddy.

Some of the dive trips may be for the day, on a weekend, or on long-distance trips which are always exciting because you would be diving with people you have just come to know.

Perhaps this is the place where you will find your forever dive buddy.

7) Book Dive Trips While On Vacation

This is how I also find my new dive buddy. Seems I do all my dive trips on my own. My family is too busy with their kids and my friends either don’t dive and are not interested to learn or they are too busy with their significant other.

I have met a lot of dive buddies who are spread over in various places throughout the world and usually don’t see them again. I have had nothing but great dive experiences and memories of diving with them.

When I do this, the dive groups are very small like 2 -3 people and sometimes, it’s just me and my tour guide who is my dive buddy. I get all the attention!

8) Scuba.com

This is a large scuba diving social network community made up of divers from all over the world. It’s another great place for you to meet your new dive buddy (buddies). You can look for them in your area too. Sign in and set up your profile which is free and see a list of divers in the area you are interested in. 

I hope I was able to give you helpful information. If you have any suggestions of any other ways to find a new dive buddy, it would be awesome to hear from you. How did you find your buddy?

Hey, I’m Here Too!

If you’re looking for a dive buddy, let me know by responding in the Comment Box below. I like diving from liveaboards so you might want to look into PADI Travel a bit more if you haven’t yet.

If you have any questions or comments, I would be happy to hear from you and I will get back to you.

Thanks for reading,

Monica