We are straying off the OP.
If the moderators want to move this OK.
The issue about diving solo, aborting dives, when to thumb a dive, when to cancel diving is difficult, and sometimes contentious, sometimes very straight forward.
Cancelling diving.
This apt, having just had notification from the trip organiser for this weekend that the skipper has cancelled the diving. The skipper cancelling means we get our charter money back, but not the money for the booked accommodation.
Normal UK booking rules mean that if the skipper cancels we get our charter money back, if we had cancelled we wouldn't!
Earlier this year, we had a weeks diving. Mid week if was very windy, the skipper was planning to take us out (rough crossing) and have us dive in the lee of the Island, (a backup site). We elected not to do a 2nd class dive in rough conditions - we still paid for the days charter, we cancelled.
There is often a financial issue to cancelling diving. Both for the skipper and the group.
We don't book with skippers that will never cancel. The good skippers will cancel. Some skippers have gone back to taking fisherman, they don't need the weather to be as kind for fisherman than they do for divers.
Aborting a dive
Some of you will have seen my comment in an earlier thread;
"It's better to be on the boat wishing you where in the water, than in the water wishing you where on the boat."
I strongly believe in this.
I am however very aware, that there are pressures.
When diving with new divers I always reinforce the point that they can abort if they want to, for any reason, during the briefing.
With more experienced divers I don't.
I have spent over 10 years wanting to dive the Scilly Isles. This year I finally made it. We had a great week.
I missed one dive, I choose not to get in, having kit problems. (As it turned out, I did have a fault on the CCR, good call on my part.) My buddy dropped in and made a three. His call, he was experienced, we all know each other, he had paid his money for the trip.
Diver Seperation
The usual rule is;
"If you loose your buddy, look around for a minute or so, then ascend."
On a trip earlier this year, in poor visibility, my buddy and I Iost each other (we where both concentrating on cameras). We both did the above. We both dive with redundancy, but both ascended. We both considered carrying on the dive.
A mix of reasons, training, procedure, and the fact that the dive wasn't great anyway.
A dive later in the year, a different buddy and I separated, we both tagged on another 10 minutes before surfacing, partly because the dive was good, partly expecting to see each other, partly because we both had enough redundant gas to do the dive multiple times.
Solo Diving
I have dived on my own over the years, both planned and un-planned.
As an Instructor, I have been in first, put the trapeze in and checked the shot before the lead instructor and students have entered the water. I was more than comfortable with that, and enjoyed the solitude at the start.
I remember joining a group that did deep(er) diving on the south coast. My first dive with the group, I dived with one of the established members. I had run times (5min, 30min, and 35mins on the bottom), the plan was a 30minute dive, the options to extend to 35minutes. Conditions where good, and we pushed out to the longer time. We where back on the shot, and I signalled up and started up the shot. When I looked back, my buddy had moved back onto the wreck, I signalled up again, he gave me an OK, then didn't come back to the shot. There where others still on the wreck. I left and started my ascent, questioning if I should have gone back. He caught me up on the shot later. When we got back on the boat, he came over and apologised. He was in the wrong, he wanted to push on, even tho he new my gas / runtime restrictions.
He new he was in the wrong.
One of the group came up to me later and apologised for the rest of the group, I shouldn't have been put in that position. Especially when I was on 'trial' to see if I would fit in. The fact that I didn't make a big noise about it, but had run my agreed plan, and kept my displeasure between my buddy and myself had been noticed. I was accepted on the team for future trips.
When I was gaining experience on CCR, I had three initial rules, no more than 5 minutes of compulsory decompression, no diving on my own, nothing over 30m (100ft). I took a place on a boat for the weekend. I was buddy up with a CCR diver (CCR divers where unusual at this time), I told him I wouldn't run more than 5minutes of deco'. We did the dive, I got to 5minutes of deco, and signalled time to leave, he waved me goodbye, watched me get the DSMB off and start my ascent, then he carried on his dive. I would have been happier if I had known that was his intention when we got in. It was the first time I was in the water on my own on a CCR.
There are often competing pressures. Buddies, conditions, opportunity. The biggest issue is diving with people you don't know, mentally, I take it that I am on my own!
Gareth
