Strike's article "Life's a beach" pointed out a few points that when not
kept in mind, can cause a lot of aggravation.  Want an example?  Here is one:

Last week, I managed to get away from the office and spend two days of
diving in Eilat.  Everything seemed to be going well and the three dives of
the first day were magnificent.  The next morning we decided to do a deep
dive in a site called THE AMPHI.  There were the 4 of us, getting ready for
the dive.  The Doc the Painter the Shark and yours truly.

This was only the third time the Shark had dived with us so I suggested
that I would dive with him as a buddy team.  The other pair - The doc and
the Painter had been diving together for about 12 years so I wasn't
expecting any problems.

We decided to make quite a deep dive (45 msw) there so we had to swim a
long distance out.  After a 20 minutes swim on our backs it seemed like the
right spot and we started  preparing for the descent.  Before descending I
looked at the Painter who was a great diver but a bit reckless and reminded
him that he was the buddy of the Doc.   An O.K. sign by everyone, a "down"
sign by everyone and we all started our descent.

The water was very clear (30M + visibility) and the descent was very
nice.  My buddy the Shark was very close to me and everything seemed
great.  We inflated our BC's a little at 30 meters and glided slowly
towards the bottom which was at about 45 meters.  I was quite surprised to
see the Painter below us, without the Doc.  With hand gestures I asked him:
"Where is your buddy?".  The Painter replied with an innocent look, showing
two hands and lifting shoulders : "How should I know".  I insisted:  "Where
is your buddy?" and got the same reply.  We all looked around but in the
crystal clear water we couldn't see the Doc anywhere around us.

I made the "up" sign and the three of us started going up.  45 msw is not a
negligible depth so we made a very slow ascent (less than 10 meters a
minute) looking around and up, hoping to see the Doc, either on the surface
or somewhere near.  During the whole ascent there was no sign of him.  I
started feeling anxious.  Some dreadful scenarios were running through my
mind.  After about 6 minutes from the beginning of the ascent, we hit the
surface and started looking around.  Nada.   No sign of the Doc.  I asked
the Painter: "When was the last time you saw the Doc?"  He replied: "In the
beginning of the descent.  Then I was descending and every time I looked up
I saw you guys and I thought that everybody was descending".  I asked:
"Didn't you see that the Doc was not with us?".  The Painter replied:
"Hmmmm, well, I wasn't counting, I just saw bubbles."   What an #$%^&!

There we were, far from shore, above a bottom down 45 msw.  With one diver
missing.  No use in getting down and searching because it was too deep and
you shouldn't risk another accident trying to find someone whom you were
not sure where he was.  We decided that the Painter would swim to shore, to
call for help, while the Shark and me would stay there in case the Doc
surfaced and needed help.  We agreed that if the Painter was so lucky to
find the Doc on the beach, he should signal us.

20 minutes.  20 minutes of agony.  It took the Painter 20 minutes to get to
shore.  I rehearsed the words that I might have had to say to the widow and
to the orphan.  I was torn between anger at the Painter for leaving his
buddy and between hope that everything was O.K.

After a while, the Shark, who is younger than I am and has better
eyesight  told me: "The Painter is waving.  Hey, everything is O.K.  I can
see the Doc standing next to him."  Can you imagine how relieved I was?

20 minutes.  It took us 20 minutes to swim to shore.  In those 20 minutes I
was busy specifying the profession of the mother, the grand mother and the
great grand mother of the Doc.  This was for not waiting for us on the
surface.  I was also quite nasty with the dynasty of the Painter for
leaving his buddy on the way down.

When we got to the beach, the Doc explained that after descending a few
meters he felt bad.  Stopped.  Puked in his reg.  Then he felt bad
again.  Puked again and decided to ascend.  When I asked him why he didn't
wait for us on the surface he replied that he waited for a few minutes ("
...ten minutes he said ..."  the @#$%^ ) and when he felt that he was
drifting, he decided to swim to shore.

When one has such friends, who needs enemies?


Regards,
                    Kuty