Have you called/ended a dive? Why?

[phork]

I called my first night dive last week. I'm still a relatively new diver, under 50 dives, and went on my first night dive and was already a little nervous about it. On top of that it was raining and we were doing a shore dive in Florida. We got everything ready, got in the water and everything was good on the way down. Ended up having an extremely string current so to get back to where we were, we had to swim against it about 20 yards. By the time we got back to where we were supposed to be, I was out of breath. Trying to hold onto a rock, catch my breath, hold my light and clear my constantly fogging mask was a real challenge. After about 20 minutes into the dive and about 10 minutes after swimming the current I still was having trouble catching my breath and decided that I just wasn't comfortable enough continuing the dive. I tried to muscle through it, but decided against it in the end.

After signaling one of my buddies, he helped get me back to the shallow area and went and got the other 2 that were with us so we could pack up in the rain and get back to the hotel. Made me fell kind of stupid at first, canceling the dive for the others. 2 of them are DM's and the other has quite a bit of experience as well so I felt like I was holding them back. But, after all of us talking later, they said that they would rather me call the dive rather than do something I didn't feel comfortable with and potentially hurting myself or someone else and that the conditions we were diving in weren't really the best for a first night dive. I was relieved by that and they also shared some similar situations where they have done the same thing.

I don't feel stupid about it anymore. If anything, I'm frustrated that I didn't trust my initial feeling and call it when I realized I wasn't comfortable in the conditions we were in. Next time, I'll trust myself more and make a decision when I fell it's the right decision instead of waiting.

 

[ktkt]

I've called dives earlier than planned for being cold.

I've also called a dive (rather, vetoed a site) before even getting in the water because I didn't feel comfortable with it. It was the first time diving with some new buddies, and they wanted to check out a rather notorious site. We went and looked, and things were pretty calm, but I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, having read about how conditions can change there quickly. I waffled a tiny bit, because they all came from a training program which seems to have a very good reputation, but in the end went with my gut. Luckily, we just went diving at an easier spot, at which point I was very happy with my decision, because their skills were nowhere near what I'd have guessed. (The sites are Monastery and the Breakwater, for anybody who knows what that means.)

 

[Prostardiver]

My wife and I were diving the Santa Rosa Wall. Everyone was going very nicely in single file through this narrow slot, except for someone who decided to climb over my wife. After finishing that spot we made a turn and there was a swim through next. People waited patiently for their turn to enter the opening, except for the diver who pushed past my wife and went ahead.

She thumbed the dive there and then. I asked if she meant to swim over the reef and pick up the DM there, but she said no, up. We went up.

To make matters worse, we had "THAT" guy on the boat that day who could not help but tell everyone how great a diver he was. He proceeded to talk to us like we were a couple of newbies who panicked and bailed. We just smiled and went about our way. There is a big difference between panicked and had enough.

 

[XS-NRG]

I have only called it for the following few reasons:
1 - Felt narc'd at around 80 feet on one dive. Had a massive headache and just wasn't able to stay deep. Ascended to 50 feet and everything was much better but the dive ended shortly after that due to time and air
2 - Equalization issues. One ear popped the other didn't and I was still descending. Couldn't get it to co-operate even after ascent and it wasn't till I ascended a good 20 feet before it finally smartened up. Time and air became a factor by that point again
3 - Buddy doing drysuit course had a problem with his exhaust valve and panicked and shot to the surface then b-lined it for the shore. By the time I made it to the surface safely he was practically crawling out. Guess that was the end of my dive. Not impressed.
4 - Last dive got tangled in some line in no vis situation then silted the bottom by accident and lost buddy, drysuit leaked, very cold and I had had enough after all that excitement and didn't bother doing another dive after that.

 

[socaljohn]

My buddy had his O ring fail a couple weeks ago, so that was that.
Also as newly wet after many years dry, yesterday was the first time we decided not to dive after driving to Laguna and checking out several sites and talking to divers coming out. Too much surge, poor viz. I finally reached the point (13 dives since Oct) where a bad dive is not better than no dive when weighing the time and effort to clean my gear when I got home.