Mildly regretting a dive?

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I regret spending extra for a shark feeding dive in Grand Bahama. Started regretting it once we dove the same site a couple of days later and saw just as many sharks.

One one hand, I also regret bothering to dive in Punta Cana, DR. Few fish, and not much to see except dead coral, expanses of sand, and plastic bags stuck in the sand. If I had it to do over (and if I were to go back to DR), I would choose Bayahibe. On the other hand, diving in Punta Cana gave this Great Lakes diver some decent experience in dealing with surge.

My diving regrets are few. In my experience, it is almost always possible to find a silver lining. Even if the dive experience was not what you had planned or hoped for.
 
Never regretted a dive, out of my VAST dive count.....had some dives that were not great, but never regretted them, since I learned from each one.
I did regret them as on both accounts I felt I probably shouldn't have gotten in the water or should have at least delayed the dives but did them as I didn't want to inconvenience others.

The second dive in particular I definitely felt that the stress caused prior to the dive left me very susceptible to not giving enough attention to the additional task loading of controlling the dry suit and weight harness (both of which were new gear). My buoyancy control on it was not great probably due to the distracted mindset that I had and I missed a few signs that I would have picked up had I been more attentive.
 
I did regret them as on both accounts I felt I probably shouldn't have gotten in the water or should have at least delayed the dives but did them as I didn't want to inconvenience others.

The second dive in particular I definitely felt that the stress caused prior to the dive left me very susceptible to not giving enough attention to the additional task loading of controlling the dry suit and weight harness (both of which were new gear). My buoyancy control on it was not great probably due to the distracted mindset that I had and I missed a few signs that I would have picked up had I been more attentive.
But, now you know how that stress would build up and manifest itself, so you learned from it. If you never did those dives, you wouldn't learn from experience. Therefore, you came out a better diver. Not something I would regret. Would I wish I did it smarter? Sure. But would not regret it.
 
I only ever regret one dive. It wasn't due to safety or anything, nothing bad happened it was just, not worth the trouble and complete crap. In Arizona, there is really only one place to dive in the state (a lake) just outside of Phoenix and it only has 2 places to really dive from unless you go out on a pontoon boat or something. One of them is almost guaranteed to be complete crap for about 8 months out of the year (summer/heat). The other just about requires a 4x4 or being incredibly careful in a non 4x4 (twisty, dirt road descending a small mountain) to get to what COULD be made into a good place for divers, but the city/state doesn't want to put any effort into making it a "diver only zone" in a place with very limited diving yet, a good population of divers. So it's open to ANYONE and of course ANYONE will be there. Some times there's other divers and it's all good, but many times you'll show up to a group of drunken rednecks and wandering pitbulls, boats buzzing the area, etc. During the winter months and honestly the bigger part of the year it is a pretty cool dive site with several things to see and some times viz up to 50 or so feet. In the hot summer months though, especially with boats buzzing around the viz is usually only about 5 feet or so.

We went out one time because we had not been out for awhile and desperately needed to practice and refresh our skills and I'm kind of against the whole pool thing. Upon arriving we were greeted by the drunken rednecks and wandering pitbulls. Once we got down to the bottom where you enter (which is a hike down a steep embankment) we were met by about a 10 foot wide line of mulch and sludge that was lining the lake (I heard this happens when they're trying to fill it back up as it's a reservoir). Once we got under the viz was terrible, about 3-5 feet and just, brown. It was like diving in poopy sludge. I had brought 4 tanks, 2 for both of us to make 2 dives but we called it after the first dive due to being baked by the 110 degree temps outside and other conditions. With all that working against us we decided we would never dive there again. We hated it. We didn't want such a place to ruin diving for us when we've dived places like California, Florida and the Keys and want to dive Internationally as well. There's too many better options out there. We've dived in other places since but never that lake again and never will. It could be made into a solid place for locals but it is so situational and the state/city doesn't even know what a diver is nor do they care. Unfortunate, really. Props to the people who try to make it work there and get people into the sport, many of which will probably stop because they don't have a worthwhile place to dive locally.
 
Not that I've dived there, but you may try Puerto Penasco. They even have a "Drunken Donuts" and an "Eight-Twelve"--and mucho Dos Equis.....
 
Not that I've dived there, but you may try Puerto Penasco. They even have a "Drunken Donuts" and an "Eight-Twelve"--and mucho Dos Equis.....

Yeah, I've heard Puerto Penasco and Rocky Point have some great diving. Beautiful area too. The only thing is that it's about 4 hours from Phoenix. In 6 I can be in Southern California which is phenomenal diving right here within the states. Rocky point's crime is a bit... Rocky. I've heard mixed things about it. I'd not be nervous to go to the Yucatan or Cozumel, but for me personally, going to the areas just south of the border as of right now makes me kind of nervous. Maybe if I was single! Either way, I'm moving to Florida soon so it won't be an issue anymore :p
 
In Arizona, there is really only one place to dive in the state (a lake) just outside of Phoenix and it only has 2 places to really dive from unless you go out on a pontoon boat or something.
Ah, yes...Lake Unpleasant. My drysuit class dove off the Sheriff's Dock, so we followed some of the long, long, paved boat ramps by it...but there's not much else to see.
Yeah, I've heard Puerto Penasco and Rocky Point have some great diving. Beautiful area too.
When I was a member of the AZ Dive Club (probably long defunct by now; I moved away as it was dying), we took a trip to Puerto Peñasco. It was a good time, and the diving was great--lots of fish, lots of playful sea lions. Plus, the Sea of Cortez was waaaaaarm. I loved diving the CA coast kelp forests, but diving warm water was a nice change of pace.
 
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Early on in cave diving I dove with an experienced caver whom I'd never been with before. He led and I followed. He made several jumps without a line and took me on a circular route (which I did not know about) until I was getting down to calling the diver due to gas consumption, my anxiety was climbing with each fin kick. Then we came to an area that I was familiar with and my anxiety went away. Never again would I dive with anyone who didn't place line jumps. By the way my experienced dive buddy died a few years later in the same cave, out of gas, alone, with no dive buddy.
 
I've never regretted a dive, but there are parts of dives I didn't care for at all....

Like joining some people at a LDS for a cleanup dive ..... sitting in the 8C water for 90minutes while they 'geared up' (and these were the instructors and shop owners)

Or doing dives where the other members weren't ready for (simple shore dives)

_R
 
several. one was when i was brand new to side mount and my bc was dumping and i couldn't see how but couldn't stay off the bottom. gawd, that sucked. one or two were in horrible conditions offshore nc, though i did end up catching a husband. though is that worth the crap dive or not??
 
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