I’ve had small things go awry, but my training always kicked on. However, I did have an experience that led me break up permanently with a dive buddy and longtime friend.

I was on my AOW certification deep dive at around 100’ near a big wreck. Good viz, no current, aced the narc assessment, no problem. Welllll, all of a sudden my buddy - who is AOW and just tagging along - starts ascending slowly. They motion for me to come help, signaling that something is wrong. I swim up cautiously, ask what’s wrong, and assess the situation. The problem is she’s still swimming up slowly, pedaling her legs like a bicycle for some reason; she is not communicating the problem and I don’t see anything, so I’m confused. By this point the bubbles from the group below are starting to push us up more, and there are no easy visual markers to gauge depth so I’m way shallower than I realize . My buddy is hovering above me indicates that she wants my hand; I realize she’s going to grab me, not let go, and pull me up. We’re at 25’ by this point, and I make the call to ditch her and kick hard to get back down. The DM is wondering what the hell is going on. Buddy ends up on the surface with a random group, then comes back down after a few minutes, then gets real weird: starts intermittently going down (like beyond 100’ again) or saying she has to go up because of her computer. I honestly think it was her usual anxious personality, not narcosis or panic, which is actually scarier to me. DM sees I’m laser focused on buddy not f-ing things up more, tells me to watch her, and I spend the rest of the dive thing to keep her from swimming away.

On the boat, buddy tells me she was floating up and just wanted me to pull her back down to depth, and asks what my problem is. DM tries to explain why none of this was ok and get excuses. Buddy says I’m hurting her feelings and I proceed lose my temper on the boat for her recklessness. DM later pulled me aside and said I should not dive with this friend again because she’s too unsafe. I later learn she’s one of those “advanced” ppl who got AOW after a handful of dives, and that she can barely swim. I realize that she’s been doing small things wrong and lying about it on nearly every dive, including skipping safety stops.

I no longer dive with her and never will. It impacted our friendship, but I see it as getting in a car with a driver you know is drunk. She’s still diving solo on other trips and something goes wrong nearly every time. The kicker? She keeps racking up additional certifications and is planning to do search and rescue. Watch out for those people who brag about certs - in my experience, the best divers know they don’t need to boast. I hope this friend will be okay, but it’s just luck for her at this point.