How often do you abort dives and why?

[Wingy]

Aborted a dive two days ago on the second to last day of a Banda sea liveaboard because my guide and I spotted kilometres of shark long line so I opted to cut short the dive to help remove the line and cut the disgusting freshly laid killing line - and I don't regret missing the pretty fish for a second.

 

[Fin Finder]

As a Right to Dive advocate I'm against aborting dives, unless the life of the diver is at risk.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've aborted a bunch of dives over the years. Some criteria that comes to mind ...

- Class dives with bad visibility - If I think there's a risk of losing sight of a student due to poor vis, we won't go. If I get in the water, and then realize the vis isn't suitable for a class, I'll thumb it. My rule is I can't evaluate what I can't see ... and we can always reschedule.

- Wind and waves - I always consider the potential for a risky entry or exit ... particularly the latter, since they can be harder. If I have any concerns about making it into or out of the water safely, I don't go.

- Equipment issues - I have a "two strikes" rule. If more than one thing goes wrong, I'll call the dive. Even if they're fixable, it tends to take your mind off the dive and/or create stress that isn't conducive to a safe diving environment.

- Just one of those days - if I get to the dive site and realize I'm just not feeling enthusiastic about the dive, I'll call it. I do this to have fun ... and if I'm not having fun there's no point in getting in the water.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DustyC]

1 confined water training day because I'd beat my ears up and was 6 weeks from a dive trip and didn't want to risk any damage, and 1 lake dive because I, and my dive buddy (i use the term loosely, more like 2 solo divers in the same area) just both felt like crap. We each surfaced about 18 minutes into the dive, separately, and were going to chill while the other finished up.

 

[Kodad]

I thumbed my first,( and only so far) dive on my 24th dive. You can read about it here:
1st time thumbing a dive
I haven't had a problem in the next 50 or so dives since, but that dive made an indelible impression on me. I think I'm more conscious of the little things and make sure that I'm pretty situationally aware throughout my dives. I'm still pretty new so I don't have much in a way of critique, except to say you did well to thumb when you didn't feel comfortable. The last thing I say to my dive buddies before we splash is the mantra, "you can thumb any dive, at any time, for any reason, no questions asked. Now let's go have some fun!"

 

[Bob DBF]

Over the years I have aborted a lot less dives than I should have. I have since learned to abort a dive before it became too demanding, although my most exciting moments and best stories come from when I decided to continue against my better judgment. Of course it could be that I'm getting old and believe I have something to live for.


Bob

 

[tarponchik]

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.

Yeah, this is like reading Chekhov: "An old man in his 50s..."

But your #2 reminded me of another aborted dive I totally forgot about. Me and my dear wife once went in on Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach, Carl!) in rough waters. The surf was so bad we lost each other in a minute. I thought she went down already and descended to 25 ft only to find that vis was like 2 ft. I went up and back to the beach and she did the same thing, but it was all my fault, of course. So we went to Hookena and had a good dive there using the same tanks. Silly old people, sure.

 

[tridacna]

Aborted what started out as a perfect night dive on the Benwood when we heard that dreaded clanging of someone banging the ladder. Unfortunately we had a fatality on that dive. That was the first time I aborted a dive since I started diving in 1976.

 

[Dogbowl]

Aborted what started out as a perfect night dive on the Benwood when we heard that dreaded clanging of someone banging the ladder. Unfortunately we had a fatality on that dive. That was the first time I aborted a dive since I started diving in 1976.

Oh geesh, that's just so sad.

I'm really learning a lot from everyone's stories and advice.

 

[Antmany2k]

i've aborted 2 dives in my 36 logged dives. 1 about 15 minutes in because the cove we were aiming for had 100s (and thats not an exaggeration they were everywhere!!!) of jellyfish so we turned back. never seen so many jellies in my life.
the second one was last month as we descended the line to a wreck only to find the wreck wasn't there! chain had come away from the ship due to strong currents and was just dragging along the sand so we climbed back up the rope and dived somewhere else instead