Lottie,

You sound tired......if that is something you can do here.

LOL

Anyway, great point I think you should always discuss that with your buddy before you dive. I was always told the standard practice was to circle around looking for your buddy for 1 minute. If you don't find him/her then you begin your acent. If you both follow this, you buddy should be at the surface within minutes of you.

Now funny thing, most of the boat diving out here do not observe the buddy system and they never really have. I personally always do, but some do and many don't. The divers with doubles and sling bottles and such don't usually have a buddy, or they decend with someone and split up at the bottom.