Did you ever say NO

[Steve_Dives]

I haven't called a dive because I thought the situation was getting beyond our skill level.

I decided to sit out the second dive on a charter once. The first dive was memorable for several reasons. At about 60 feet, a huge nurse shark bolts at us, probably spooked up the divers ahead. Near the end of the dive, we see an octopus (out in the daylight!), and all sorts of things showing up to have a look - that was exciting! A few things were off to start the day: I dropped my chapstick on the way out the door; the sunscreen I used instead of the Chapstick put a knot in my stomach; my usual buddy was not available so I was paired with two other instabuddies; I didn't get to have coffee that morning (Nooooo!). All and all, nothing too bad there (except for the coffee part ). The seas were at 6-9 and were bigger than the 6-8 the day before. One of the instabuddies got seasick on the safety stop and boarded the wrong boat. I went up and joined him in case I needed to assist him to the correct boat. The third instabuddy joined up another buddy pair and swam to the correct boat. I figured enough little things went odd that day that I didn't need to be in the water for the second dive.

 

[Mr. Bubble]

Yes. and would do it again in a heart beat. I have a wife and two children who don't dive and love me.

I bailed on two dives after four successfull deep recreational dives. I had some personal issues that were really bothering me bad....real bad. I was not controlling my breathing and got into the CO2 build up , Shortness of breath panic issue at depth. I got a grip and made three more dives. Personal issues continued, next day diving ...lots of sharks .....dive mate anxious saying sh*7%, my own troubles giving me problems...I just said..."I don't need this today" maybe next time. So I sat on the boat while everyone else went in the water............would I do the dive? yeah, but under better conditions. (everything normal...calm...no "issues"....no people pushing the "possibilities".....

I'm a fairly brave lad, but when someone starts talking **** when I have enough problems of my own......I dont need it.....if it does'nt feel right.. don't do it....even if its in front of all of your best dive buddies. If they are as cool as the ones I dive with..they wont say a thing...question it or even pretend you did'nt go.

I'll be back next year......

 

[fweber]

Have only done a couple dives in my entire career with a DM or guide. But, had a buddy/fellow student thumb a dive while with our instructor. No problems with me about it. He didn't feel right, gave the thumb, we all exit. Would much rather he do that, than carry on.

On the personal side, I've called many dives. Most, somewhere between 3 days and 3 seconds before splashing. Only on a few occassions have I thumbed dives while in progress. Usually due to ear clearing issues.

As an old pilot friend likes to say, "Every No Go decission, is a correct decission."

 

[beester]

Not so long ago I called a dive... I was leading the dive, my divebuddy was a very experienced diver-instructor (+1000 dives). We were diving 'Plompe Toren'... a place on the schelde estuary known for currents and many times very bad visibility... but when vis is good this is a very beautiful place (apparently... have been there 3 times and 3 I saw nothing past my hands)...

Anyway... we dived... 10 feet vis 1 foot, 30 feet vis 1 foot... I decided to go a bit deeper to check if it would get better... down to 90 feet nothing... I then called the dive (after about 15 min) because of lack of vis...

I think this is applicable because altho I was leading the dive... I am a real beginning diver and my buddy is very experienced... someone of authority. Anyway he realy supported me stating that it was the right decision to make.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Ok Sorry I thought the DM thing was an example. Since I have not been on too many guided dives I'll say no I havn't aborted a DM guided dive. The few that I have been on where pretty good a 1/3 of them where last week.

 

[spectrum]

Chose not to dive: I was not comfortable with entry/exit conditions
Aborted a dive: Just wasn't in the groove
Chose not to dive: Low confidence that my air nasal /sinus airspaces would cooperate
Aborted a dive: 3 person dive, lost 1 diver 2 times in the first 5 minutes in poor visibility.

My one and only DM led dive was fine.

I have had numerous dives where I was leading (as a buddy) called for the usual reasons of cold, discomfort, equipment issues and so forth. It's over, no big deal, let's all get out safe and go eat!

Pete

 

[shark girl]

Went on one that I wished I'd called... Diving with DM and a bunch of beginners (I was the most experienced there with a whole 13 dives to my name). Before we get in the water we are repeatedly told that we will all stay together, when the first person needs to come up then we will all go do our safety stop together. We descend, swim around at about 16 metres, after half an hour a guy indicates that he is below 50 barr. The DM changes plan and tells him to ascend, and do his safety stop. The guy doesn't understand- or ignores him- and keeps swimming. We continue on for a while at the same depth, about ten minutes later the others are getting low on air too, we do our safety stop and surface. The guy has run out of air upon hitting the surface- can't inflate his BCD. Lacked common sense, but it was his first dive after qualifying (same story for his buddy) and the DM changed the plan under water.

My buddy and I should have started to ascend when we saw that he wasn't going up by himself. Guess the moral of the story is always dive the plan. Didn't use that dive operator again... All my other dives with DMs have been great.

 

[Guba]

The first time to scrub a dive based only on "gut feelings" was in the Gulf of Mexico on a planned night dive. The divemasters came up from checking things out and the briefing went something like this: "Okay, guys, here's the situation. The wind is blowing us that way (pointing to the south) on our mooring lines, but the current is going that way (pointing to the north). That means our tag lines are under the boat and most likely snarled. Waves are about three or four feet, and the current is ripping pretty good at the surface but diminishes toward the bottom. We're not telling you not to dive, but those are the conditions. Who's up for it?"
One by one we all looked around the circle and everyone wound up looking at me, presumably because I was the oldest of the group, though I had been certified for less than a year at the time. "Don't look at me, folks--as far as diving experience goes, I'm the baby of the bunch, and I have NOTHING to prove!"
We all watched a movie that night.

 

[Web Monkey]

Guy,s you're so very right,but that's not what I mean.
Question is, did you abort a dive when a DM/guide says it's ok, and YOU didn't like it.
So did you ever go against a DM/guide.

I ascended "early" in Florida when I had reached my rock-bottom pressure, and the DM wanted to continue the dive. He wanted to dive until 500PSI, and I wanted to dive until about 900. We had a difference of opinion, although I really didn't give a c*** what his was.

Back on the boat he was pissed and wanted to know "why I came up with so much air". I told him it was my buddy's air (reserved in case we needed to share air), and I had no right to use it.

Unless the DM wants you to stay down because you're somewhere dangerous (like in the middle of a shipping lane), he has no right to tell you how deep or how long to dive, and you have no responsibility to dive any longer or deeper than you're comfortable, and it doesn't matter at all whether he's happy or not.

Terry

 

[RoyN]

Yes, I have cancelled many dives before but still have fun. Thats one of the rules of being a dork diver.