Have you had to call off a dive?

[Guba]

(Continued from post #2)

Oh, yeah...forgot about that day with the torrential rainfall and the LIGHTNING! We just made a roadtrip out of that diving excursion.

 

[Bogie]

I have called dives because ears would not clear (cold), another when on a boat dive got sea sick and puking, another when my dive buddy got knocked on his arz by a wave, lost his mask.

If you put in enough dives you will be calling dives if you have any common sense.

 

[cloudflint]

Ive had to call off a few dives due to having a cold. Also called off one dive when we arrived at a site in our little rhib and discovered 30ft swells

 

[boulderjohn]

I've missed many dives for many reasons, including weather, illness, and equipment failures. In fact, I missed my last scheduled dive when the SPG for my backgas started to bubble just as we were getting started in descent. There were three of us with limited time, and it was lonely watching the other two head down for a great dive whilst I went back to fix things up.

The most maddening miss came only a few months ago. I was with a group of people in a very remote spot, on our last day there, and for reasons too complicated to describe, I ended up sitting and watching while others dived while I waited for the time I could finally get into the water and do my planned dive. (I had to get the right combination of people for that dive.) During that time, the people who were finishing their dive days packed up, said their goodbyes, and left.

Finally, the only people left were the ones with whom I was supposed to do that very special dive for which I had been so patiently waiting for so many hours. We went to the entry point, but when I went to pick my fins off the hook on which they were stored, they weren't there. The only pair of fins there were someone else's.

One of the people who had departed earlier had mistakenly taken my fins and left his, and they didn't fit me.

 

[copter53]

This is a very serious question. I must be honest.

There are times when I am to lazy to wake up at sunset and get out of bed. In that case I have called off many a dive. Yet, if I have put the effort to gather my gear, put on my boots, and travel to the dive site. There is no stopping me. I have and will always dive no matter the conditions.

 

[ratjn]

We called the second dive of two on a day trip as I did not have sufficient air for the safety stop after being down to 107' on the first. Did not enter into a deco dive but it did not feel right to head down. Likely would have been OK but better safe than bent or worse.

 

[farsidefan1]

My wife and daughter were with me on Grand Bahama. We were se to dive with Sun Odyssy. All good except for a minor weather compolications. there were about 4 hurricanes lined up close enough to Grand Bahama to cause major weather issues. It was and remains to this day the worst series of hurricanes I have ever seen (of course I live in Utah so it's not like I follow hurricanes most of the time). Francis was one of them (I think we had e,f,g, h all lined up). Anyway Sun Odyssey suggested we cancel (they were perfectly willing to refund everything - very nice folks) But I'm kinda - well I live in Utah so when I get close to a dive spot for crying out loud, I want to dive! The Captn laughed and said let's go. We loaded up into the boat went down the little canal that let to the ocean and HOLY SCHIKES!!! WTH was I thinking? We lurched around in waves that were spectacular to my way of thinking (remember, I'm from Utah and although Lake Powell and Strawberry resovoir can get nasty they are not quite the same. I said, "ok let's go back in". He laughted and said, "are you sure? this is pretty exciting". He was clearly enjoying my change of heart. we went back in and dove in the little canal. Sigh. We did see a couple lionfish but vis was about 4 feet. Then we went back to our little bed and breadfast and tried to avoid the incredibly smelly dog of the owners. I think we watched the weather channel for about 42 straight hours.

 

[TMHeimer]

The usual reasons. Weather. Arm injury. Charter boat or class cancelled for weather or lack of divers.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Knowing when to call the dive is critcally important to someone's safety. The best time to call the dive is before you put any gear on.

Learning to read sea conditions and evaluate the various factors that will allow you to have a safe dive probably takes more time and experience to develop than anything else in diving.

On the other hand, pushing through on a tough dive that you were not 100% sure about is the only real way to expand your abilities. Making it through a tough dive can teach the diver 100 times faster than doing the same old "regular" dive 100 times. There is however, a very fine line between having an "exciting" dive versus a "scary" one.

I can still remember the confidence I gained (as a young teenager) after jumping off the bow of a boat in very rough seas and having the tank pop loose from the backpack and swimming back to the stern using my teeth on the mouth piece as the only thing that retained the tank. Actually, my confidence was derived from climbing back up and making another entry off the bow, even though I was very apprehensive about it. That 30 seconds of terror, yeilded a lot of confidence, which served me into the future.

Lastly, it is always better to unnecessarily "call the dive" then to press on and wish that you had, especially when things go south and you get yourself in a situation where luck, rather than skill, allows you to come back to your family.

About 20 yrs ago, I showed up for a night beach dive and forgot my BC. My buddy and I ended up splitting up and I can't tell you how pissed he was that I caught more lobsters than him, even though I did the entire dive with the tank under my arm (except I think I dropped it when grabbing the lobsters and stuffing them in a bag).

 

[boulderjohn]

Read The Last Dive. It tells the story of how Chris and Chrissie Rouse (father and son) developed their diving skill and eventually died while part of the group exploring the uboat described in Shadow Divers.

On their last day on earth, the weather was bad. The seas were high, and most of the divers called their dives. These two, called "the Bicker Brothers" because of their constant arguing, talked themselves into doing a dive that neither one of them really wanted to do through their verbal sparring. One of them indicated not wanted to go, at which point the other one beat up on him verbally. When he gave in, the second one said he was kidding and didn't want to go either, at which point the other reversed roles and became the one calling the other a pussy. They thus talked themselves into doing a dive that neither one of them wanted to do.

It could be argued that the weather and high seas were not factors in their deaths, but they would probably still be diving today if they had followed their instincts and stayed on the boat.