Sat out my first dive
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ShallowSeasGallery
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I am a Blue Heron Bridge Troll, and practically dive 10 through dive 500 were all Solo at the same 20ft deep dive site. Naturally I feel very comfortable in this place and I've dove it in practically every condition it can be, including during a tropical storm, sneaking in from outside the park. This past summer I called my dive at the blue heron bridge due to a series of "omens" which started to build up until I was practically convinced some higher power was telling me not to dive.
- My Alarm ran out of batteries so I didn't wake up on time (I get there very early so nbd)
- i-95 was closed due to a big crash so i had to take backroads, which was partially blocked by minor flooding.
- A big freight train blocked Blue Heron Blvd for like 15 minutes
- I get there exactly 1 hour ahead of high tide and it was a ghost town. Weird.
- I suit up quick and realize my camera had a orange light on the vacuum seal, I fix it.
- Thunder started rolling In.
- Finally I go to get in late (only 30 minutes ahead of the tide) and my fin strap/ mask strap break at the same time while sitting in 5 feet of water.
Now, I have spares of everything in my truck, and could have done the dive, but its so very rare for any of my stuff to a malfunction like that. I was so spooked by that point that I figured there's always another day and drove the hour home to rinse my stuff.
- My Alarm ran out of batteries so I didn't wake up on time (I get there very early so nbd)
- i-95 was closed due to a big crash so i had to take backroads, which was partially blocked by minor flooding.
- A big freight train blocked Blue Heron Blvd for like 15 minutes
- I get there exactly 1 hour ahead of high tide and it was a ghost town. Weird.
- I suit up quick and realize my camera had a orange light on the vacuum seal, I fix it.
- Thunder started rolling In.
- Finally I go to get in late (only 30 minutes ahead of the tide) and my fin strap/ mask strap break at the same time while sitting in 5 feet of water.
Now, I have spares of everything in my truck, and could have done the dive, but its so very rare for any of my stuff to a malfunction like that. I was so spooked by that point that I figured there's always another day and drove the hour home to rinse my stuff.
Good for you in recognizing your limits! Several years ago, I think while I was an assistant instructor, I had the chance to do some dives out in San Diego (wasn't a dive trip, just tagging along when the wife went out to a conference). I hired a local 'guide' for two days of diving, plan was 2 dives per day. On day one, the first dive just kicked my ass - lot of surface swimming, probably a little jet lag. Thumbed the 2nd dive - still paid my guide, but wasn't worth it to me to put either of us in a bad spot by over-doing it.
Did the 2 dives the next day - had a great time! Other than dealing with the La Jolla cove steps...
No regrets at all about skipping a dive.
Now when I'm teaching OW students, it's one of the first things I tell them - any diver can thumb any dive, for any reason, no harm, no foul, and I mean it. Especially early in a diving 'career' - pushing yourself to a point where you're not having a good time is a recipe for not diving again. I would much rather spend an extra night in the pool to get a student comfortable.
Kudos on knowing your limits and sticking to them.
Did the 2 dives the next day - had a great time! Other than dealing with the La Jolla cove steps...
No regrets at all about skipping a dive.
Now when I'm teaching OW students, it's one of the first things I tell them - any diver can thumb any dive, for any reason, no harm, no foul, and I mean it. Especially early in a diving 'career' - pushing yourself to a point where you're not having a good time is a recipe for not diving again. I would much rather spend an extra night in the pool to get a student comfortable.
Kudos on knowing your limits and sticking to them.
stretchthepenn
Contributor
In retrospect, I wish that I'd thumbed my first day of the Tec40 class.
I'd had a day full of small unpleasantnesses -- my fast-food breakfast had cheese when I specifically said no cheese; a rock chipped my windshield on the drive to the quarry; a stick stabbed my foot when I was lugging my gear from the car to the setup area; I was sweating like a mofo in my drysuit before getting in the water -- and it all culminated in my doing a stupid-stupid on the valve drills during dive #2 and going OOA. And then a DIN post came loose, and I got a free-flow from a first-stage reg. It was a miserable, defeated-feeling day.
A quote from my logbook: " Lessons learned: (...) NO tech diving while stressed."
I'd had a day full of small unpleasantnesses -- my fast-food breakfast had cheese when I specifically said no cheese; a rock chipped my windshield on the drive to the quarry; a stick stabbed my foot when I was lugging my gear from the car to the setup area; I was sweating like a mofo in my drysuit before getting in the water -- and it all culminated in my doing a stupid-stupid on the valve drills during dive #2 and going OOA. And then a DIN post came loose, and I got a free-flow from a first-stage reg. It was a miserable, defeated-feeling day.
A quote from my logbook: " Lessons learned: (...) NO tech diving while stressed."
RobPNW
Contributor
I lied earlier, I thought of another sit out dive. Right after a mondo burrito lunch, I did a wreck dive at 125 ft and when we came up, I thought I was going to be in the National Enquirer as the first dude to ever give birth.
Cthippo
Contributor
I have over 1000 dives and was a recreational and technical instructor until I retired last year. I've driven 3 hours to a site, got out of the car, looked around and even though the conditions were flat calm, got back in the car and drove home.
I've thumbed dives in warm clear water because something felt off.
And that's with being perfectly fine most times in black water, wedged inside a wreck 120 ft down in 40 degree water and having to back up an inch or two at a time to get free.
If it feels off, it is off and time to end the dive.
I would never criticize a student for thumbing a dive because it didn't feel right.
I would ream a student a new one for fighting to complete a dive where they were struggling with feelings.
I've thumbed dives in warm clear water because something felt off.
And that's with being perfectly fine most times in black water, wedged inside a wreck 120 ft down in 40 degree water and having to back up an inch or two at a time to get free.
If it feels off, it is off and time to end the dive.
I would never criticize a student for thumbing a dive because it didn't feel right.
I would ream a student a new one for fighting to complete a dive where they were struggling with feelings.
Ooohh, another personal example - we drive 4 hours to go to a quarry for a weekend of diving. Got there, checked into the hotel, and then found that we *could not turn the car off* due to a defective lock cylinder. Thought of ways to try and pull fuses/etc to stop car, but the battery in the trunk meant no good way to keep from killing the battery. So, we used the bathroom in the hotel (most expensive bathroom break ever), and turned around and drove home. Diving would have been fun (this was pretty early on in our diving career) but not worth getting stuck 4 hours from home.
Wife and I have a 3-strikes rule too. Too much goes pear-shaped, time to find something else to do that day.
Wife and I have a 3-strikes rule too. Too much goes pear-shaped, time to find something else to do that day.
Around my 100th dive, I had paid for a dive charter out of Jupiter; I went down early the day before to join up with some folks for a night dive at Blue Heron Bridge. If you know anything about BHB, you know it's tidal - you base your dives around slack tide. Well, the folks I was with...I'm not sure if they mistimed it, or just didn't know any better (although they should have). We entered the water way too early, and got whisked right under the bridge on the incoming tide. I was literally clinging to pylons under the bridge, desperately hoping not to get swept out further. Also it's night; it's dark; I have no experience in current, and it's a site I've never been to before.
Fortunately, my buddy was incredible; I signaled to him that I was ending the dive. It took probably forty-five minutes for us to make our exit against the current; he helped as best he could, I just couldn't make headway against the current and was exhausting myself trying to. What I didn't know then was that there's a boat ramp on the other side of the bridge; we should have just let go and made our way to that exit and walked back to our entry point.
In any case, I got back shaken, completely out of breath, and feeling awful about the whole thing. The next morning, when I went out to the car, I discovered that my SMB was broken, and that was it - I called the two boat dives I had already paid for, never even drove down to the dock (I did call to let them know I wouldn't be making it).
To this day, it's one of the only dives I've called, but it was the right call. I wasn't in the right place mentally to do those dives. But I felt terrible for a long time about not going - I love that you came here and asked for others to share their stories, it normalizes that these things happen and it doesn't mean anything about you as a diver (other than that you showed good judgment!).
I was chatting with dive buddies the other day, about how we decide whether to take newer divers to more challenging sites - and one thing we all agreed on was the need for them to be able to recognize the difference between "I feel uncomfortable, but that's okay" and "I feel uncomfortable, and it's NOT okay." The ability to recognize that something is off (in a bad way), and to communicate and act on that limit - that's what lets us grow, and take on new challenges, in a way that keeps us safe and around to dive again another day.
Fortunately, my buddy was incredible; I signaled to him that I was ending the dive. It took probably forty-five minutes for us to make our exit against the current; he helped as best he could, I just couldn't make headway against the current and was exhausting myself trying to. What I didn't know then was that there's a boat ramp on the other side of the bridge; we should have just let go and made our way to that exit and walked back to our entry point.
In any case, I got back shaken, completely out of breath, and feeling awful about the whole thing. The next morning, when I went out to the car, I discovered that my SMB was broken, and that was it - I called the two boat dives I had already paid for, never even drove down to the dock (I did call to let them know I wouldn't be making it).
To this day, it's one of the only dives I've called, but it was the right call. I wasn't in the right place mentally to do those dives. But I felt terrible for a long time about not going - I love that you came here and asked for others to share their stories, it normalizes that these things happen and it doesn't mean anything about you as a diver (other than that you showed good judgment!).
I was chatting with dive buddies the other day, about how we decide whether to take newer divers to more challenging sites - and one thing we all agreed on was the need for them to be able to recognize the difference between "I feel uncomfortable, but that's okay" and "I feel uncomfortable, and it's NOT okay." The ability to recognize that something is off (in a bad way), and to communicate and act on that limit - that's what lets us grow, and take on new challenges, in a way that keeps us safe and around to dive again another day.
RobPNW
Contributor
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