How often do you abort dives and why?

[The Chairman]

I call every dive at some point. You can't stay down there forever. Some dives are called sooner than I was hoping for, but limits are limits and need to be honored. A successful dive means no one was injured, gear was retained and in working order and we had fun.

 

[oldschoolto]

I've called dives because visibility was crap or got cold... Only one "abort" out of over a 1000+ dives... 1st stage high pressure seat blown and massive free-flow.... And that was at 80 feet and only after trying to get the 2nd stages to stop free flowing did I thumb the dive and used my wife's octo to get to the surface....

As to your aborts.... Not a big deal.. Remember anyone can thumb the dive at any time.. But, You need to be flooding and removing your mask and swapping out your 2nd stage and octo on "EVERY DIVE" till you can do it without even thinking about it.. Buddy breath with your husband and build your skills... You will be a much better diver in a much shorter time..

Jim...

 

[sunnyboy]

I've aborted two of my own dives in many years. Most recent was due to a failed HP hose. Funny thing was it was fine while gearing up and getting into the water, then in 5ft just after submerging it started to 'fizz'. Had my buddy check what was fizzing, verified HP hose. Since no replacement in my truck, we called the dive. This was on my Prism 1, and the diluent cylinder is small enough I'm not taking chances.

An earlier failure was a scrubber bucket o-ring leak that wasn't evident on the pre-dive check, but started to bubble after submerging. Again, buddy verified bubbles and we both bailed the dive, went home, fixed the problem and carried on the next day.

I've also been on dives that were aborted due to gear issues with others on the team. Stuff does happen, and you have to adapt as appropriate.

I have so far only aborted one dive on the beach before getting wet. It was dive 2 of a drysuit course and the weather turned extremely nasty during the surface interval. What with super low tide on an crappy entrance and the very high winds, I just called dive 2. We regrouped and did the dive the next day at a much better site.

I can't recall truly aborting a dive once started otherwise. Low viz is a fact of life here. I will adjust dive sites based on weather reports or recent storms (often affect viz) but otherwise I'm gonna get wet. In really poor viz I will call a dive early (less than 60min) but only in really, really horrid viz (< 1ft).

 

[BoltSnap]

Aborting dives BEFORE entering water: Frequently due to weather/water conditions where I live.

Aborting dives AFTER entering water: Seldom, perhaps once every few years, and reason is unpredictable weather/water conditions.

 

[Nikole]

I've done 17 dives and have never had to abort a dive. Yet.

I have seen people abort dives:

1. One guy was a blood donor and gave blood, and decided to go on a dive the next day. It was a beach dive, 3 foot waves, low tide, so you had to really kick out there. We'll he couldn't make it not even half way, had to stop and swim back, and ended up going to the hospital! We actually went online to research the reason, we'll we already know that red cells carry oxygen, so the guy's hemoglobin must have dropped after the donation. He was an older man I wanna say maybe 40s or 50s.

2.Same day, same dive, it started off somewhat calm on the beach dive, and then got rough and one girl just didn't dive she aborted. It was too rough to swim out. If she would have gone in at 8am it would have been fine but just that quick... 930 those waves and the wind picked up.
I definitely learned the importance of maintaining a level of fitness as a diver, because I ran out of air and we were still past the pier and had to kick back.it can get veery strenuous..

Also, Just come prepared, and they say to start packing at least 3? Days before a dive (if you have your own gear) , that way if you have to areplace missing or damaged parts like a fin strap, or O-ring before your dive, you gave time to do it before u go.

 

[Dogbowl]

...He was an older man I wanna say maybe 40s or 50s.

...

I definitely learned the importance of maintaining a level of fitness as a diver, because I ran out of air and we were still past the pier and had to kick back.it can get veery strenuous.

Sorry, I laughed when you said, "He was an older man I wanna say maybe 40s or 50s." I guess "older" is relative.

But I agree that fitness as a diver is very important, not to be underestimated.

 

[ScubaJill]

If a new diver is uncomfortable and thinking of bailing on a dive (whether they are on the surface or on the bottom) it is better to end the dive activities in a safe manner rather than push the stress level until somebody is considering the option of bolting for the surface. Diving is too dangerous to push things past your personal comfort/fun level.

It is important however, to develop the skills and techniques that will allow you to handle situations that unexpectedly turn negative, but this takes time and experience and progressive exposure to the stressers. One thing that can help a new diver handle stress is knowing that they CAN bail on the dive, if and when they want. Going in with the thought that I can't bail on the dive is probably going to make the diver more nervous. Give yourself an out. Take it slow.

This is great advice!

I think there is always going to be some stress when engaging in a new activity. Diving is no exception. Most of us experience stress in new dive situations. We just need to determine the amount of stress we can handle and still be in control. Maybe you can devise a discomfort scale from 1-10 and ask yourself periodically during a dive how much discomfort you are experiencing, and anything higher than an "8" (however you define this) gets serious consideration for a thumb.

I thumbed a shallow dive a couple of weeks ago. Well, we were in close to an hour, I had almost half a tank left, but I was getting sluggish from not feeling warm and getting irritated with my leaky mask and the air that kept getting in my hood. I knew if I continued, I'd probably start making mistakes.

I've ended dives on the early side because I was cold, my mask was pissing me off, not feeling well, etc. but these are few and far in between. I've not gone on dives for other reasons like concerns about the dive profile, equipment was wrong or acting funny, etc. And I've dived when I should've passed on it and stayed below longer when I should've thumbed the dive.

Question: Do you typically quit when things get uncomfortable outside of diving?

 

[2airishuman]

Maybe 5 or 6 out of almost 100 dives, but it depends how you count.

Ended one dive early because of buddy separation.

Ended one dive after splashing because it was immediately clear that my gloves were not suitable for the 45 degree water, came back several days latter with different gloves.

Ended two dives early due to the mouthpiece coming off my regulator.

Canceled a dive before splashing, due to unfavorable weather.

Ended one dive early because I was trying to use a singles wing with doubles and it quickly became apparent that this was a bad idea.

Probably there are others.

 

[Dogbowl]

Question: Do you typically quit when things get uncomfortable outside of diving?

Good question! It really depends on the situation. If it's something I really want, I'm pretty persistent, even when things aren't looking so good. I really like diving so don't wanna quit it. I think about diving all day, every day. But I just tend to abort individual dives more than others.

 

[ScubaJill]

Good question! It really depends on the situation. If it's something I really want, I'm pretty persistent, even when things aren't looking so good. I really like diving so don't wanna quit it. I think about diving all day, every day. But I just tend to abort individual dives more than others.

Well, I would nix the quarry dive from your list. That was a smart move. And quarry dives aren't really dives. ;-)

And calling a dive because you were seasick is a pretty good reason. I occasionally get vertigo and nausea in surge conditions - it's usually triggered by seasickness while on the boat and comes back with the surge. That feeling is unnerving enough with experience. I can't imagine pushing through that as a noob.

So, based on my calculations, the only dive you mentioned that I find concerning is the foggy mask dive. But it was in a cenote. So I'm sure you had a lot going on other than the mask.

.5/24 isn't bad :-D