I Just Canceled a Dive

[JTinSD]

For the first time since I started diving late last year, I canceled a dive. It was a boat dive scheduled for tomorrow morning, on a WWII P-38 at 135fsw off La Jolla. I canceled because it feels like the dive exceeds my training. It was a hard call to make, as people knew I was going on it, my tank was filled, my gear mostly packed, all ready to go. Except it didn’t feel right.

I have PADI AOW certification. I have 63 logged dives, 29 dives to 65 ft or less, 33 dives from 65-100 ft, and one over 100 feet (119fsw), all in cold water. My buoyancy is pretty good, if I do say so. I really work at it. My SAC rate is improving, but I am a big man and diving wet, so it’s not great (.7-.8). I had my HP120 filled with 27.5% nitrox for a MOD of 135’ at PPO2 1.4. My weighting is absolutely dialed in. Descent and ascent are along a guideline, not an anchor or roped buoy and this would not be a problem for me. I do not need to hold on. I really want to see this wreck. I feel like it is a dive within my capabilities, as long as nothing goes wrong.

I was going as a single, and would pick up an insta-buddy. I don’t have a redundant air source and this dive would probably best be done a 40 cu ft bailout bottle. And, it pains me to say, the fact is I am just not trained for the depth.

When I began diving I committed to a safe approach. As a younger man riding fast motorcycles, the saying was, “Crashing is learning,” a philosophy that doesn’t have any place in diving. As I gain experience, I struggle to stay within the limits of my training. There is always a voice telling me to go for it, you can do it, nothing will go wrong.

Probably nothing would go wrong and it would be a great dive, but I am opting to stay within the limits of my training, and I am actually listening to the other voice that tells me, you know the right thing to do.

This is a dive I will make before long, but I will make it when I am trained for it and prepared for it going bad. There is another saying in motorcycles, a little oblique maybe, but I think it fits: “Dress for the crash, not the ride.”

 

[TMHeimer]

Have you considered the Deep Diver course? Sounds like you are ready for that. It's good to be with an instructor at first with those depths.

 

[theduckguru]

For the first time since I started diving late last year, I canceled a dive. It was a boat dive scheduled for tomorrow morning, on a WWII P-38 at 135fsw off La Jolla. I canceled because it feels like the dive exceeds my training. It was a hard call to make, as people knew I was going on it, my tank was filled, my gear mostly packed, all ready to go. Except it didn’t feel right.

I have PADI AOW certification. I have 63 logged dives, 29 dives to 65 ft or less, 33 dives from 65-100 ft, and one over 100 feet (119fsw), all in cold water. My buoyancy is pretty good, if I do say so. I really work at it. My SAC rate is improving, but I am a big man and diving wet, so it’s not great (.7-.8). I had my HP120 filled with 27.5% nitrox for a MOD of 135’ at PPO2 1.4. My weighting is absolutely dialed in. Descent and ascent are along a guideline, not an anchor or roped buoy and this would not be a problem for me. I do not need to hold on. I really want to see this wreck. I feel like it is a dive within my capabilities, as long as nothing goes wrong.
I was going as a single, and would pick up an insta-buddy. I don’t have a redundant air source and this dive would probably best be done a 40 cu ft bailout bottle. And, it pains me to say, the fact is I am just not trained for the depth.

When I began diving I committed to a safe approach. As a younger man riding fast motorcycles, the saying was, “Crashing is learning,” a philosophy that doesn’t have any place in diving. As I gain experience, I struggle to stay within the limits of my training. There is always a voice telling me to go for it, you can do it, nothing will go wrong.

Probably nothing would go wrong and it would be a great dive, but I am opting to stay within the limits of my training, and I am actually listening to the other voice that tells me, you know the right thing to do.

This is a dive I will make before long, but I will make it when I am trained for it and prepared for it going bad. There is another saying in motorcycles, a little oblique maybe, but I think it fits: “Dress for the crash, not the ride.”

You can always hire an experianced instructor as a buddy and gain the training you desire. There are actually a lot of wreck dive charters that offer the service.

When the little voice in your head gives you a warning, there's usually a reason for it. "You can always call a dive" is the number 1 rule in scuba.

I like my saying better than yours, "Drive slow - don't wreck".

 

[sabbath999]

Great decision.

Doubts about your safety are not something you want running through your head at 135 feet when you are heavily narked... that can turn into a dark nark pretty darned quick.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

You made a wise decision to cancel...for many different reasons. I'm actually kind of surprised that you got as close to going as you did. In my opinion (take it with a grain of salt), the P-38 dive is beyond your training and experience. You didn't mention your planned profile. If you hadn't thought about this yet, then you shouldn't be doing this dive. Was the dive op actually willing to let you go on this trip? That's troubling.

I've dived the P-38. It's a nice dive but it is rather deep. The wreck is in fairly good condition (last I checked). When I last did the dive, there was a juvenile wolf eel that inhabited the cockpit area. Some unused munitions lie in the sand behind the starboard wing. Some rather large sheephead and treefish inhabit the plane. The wreck will still be there when you have more experience and training. Besides, it's kind of a long motor from Mission Bay to Torrey Pines Beach.

I realize you didn't state this in your post, but I can see which dive op you were going to use for this dive and I looked at the schedule. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be doing Scripps Canyon as Dive #2 right after the P-38. Scripps Canyon is a wonderful dive -- arguably one of the best dives in San Diego -- but it is also another deep dive. It's a wall dive that, from a recreational diver's perspective, drops off into an abyss. The interesting stuff (swell sharks, eels, etc.) lies in the 90- 120 fsw range. For various reasons, I prefer doing Scripps Canyon as a shore dive. As a follow-up to the P-38, I'd prefer to do something shallower like God's Rock or Quast Rock on the way back to Mission Bay.

I wouldn't even think to sign up for deep dives without knowing that I have a reliable buddy team in place. I don't want to have to guess how a new-to-me buddy is going to react at such great depth vis a vis narcosis, buoyancy control, gas management, and equipment issues. He/she is an unknown quantity. His/her gear, experience level, training, and attitude are all wild cards. I'm just not comfortable with that. But that's just me...and I'm a fairly risk-averse person.

 

[lavachickie]

Thanks for posting your thought process on this great decision! You rock! Turn this into opportunity--get signed up
for a deep diver course. Then find an experienced bud and sign up for this dive as your reward! Or, ask your instructor to go or hire a deep experienced DM as a buddy. In the meantime you can get practice with the redundant gear you want to add too.

Good luck!

 

[ItsBruce]

You've made a wise decision. Someone suggested hiring an instructor as a buddy to help you gain experience. It is a good suggestion so long as you understand that gaining experience and gaining knowledge are not the same thing. If you do deep dives, you may develop a sense of confidence. But, even if you do 100 successful deep dives without a hitch, you won't have the knowledge of what to do or the experience of practicing it, when something goes wrong.

 

[Rainer]

I applaud your decision. If a dive doesn't feel right, come back another day. This is meant to be fun. Feeling unready is rarely fun.

 

[TSandM]

Good call. I wouldn't do this dive, either. The combination of single tank and instabuddy and 135 foot depth means . . . no gas reserves to speak of and no redundancy that you can count on. It's over my risk acceptance.

Good judgment will keep you diving a long time.

 

[kathydee]

Congratulations for honoring your limits and respecting your feelings. With that attitude you'll stick around long enough to further your training, so later you can dive to those depths safely.