Small bit of advice for new divers

[dbulmer]

I had a sea dive booked for yesterday and got the phone call on Friday night that the dive was cancelled due to bad weather. Although disappointed my buddy and I decided we'd go to our local inland dive puddle and do some skills practice.

Well, I woke up today unexcited about today's dive, looked out the window and saw the pavement pounding with water from above. About 5 mins ago I called my buddy to call off the dive and he too was delighted that we were staying at home.

My advice to new divers is a simple one: Never be afraid to sit out a dive if you don't fancy it or conditions are too miserable to have fun. There can be a myriad of reasons not to do a dive but a lack of enthusiasm on the day is a good one.

 

[koozemani]

Great advice. Along those same lines, don't give anyone any grief over thumbing a dive because their noT comfortable with the conditions whether it be above or below the water.

 

[Doc Harry]

Great advice.

We in the diving community need to make sure that it is "safe" for any diver to cancel any dive for any reason at any time without question and without subsequent "teasing."

"Peer pressure" should not be a reason to continue a dive beyond your personal comfort limits.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Exactly. Sometimes it's harder to follow this rule than other times. If you paid $4000.00 for a trip, and expect to get in a certain amount of diving, remember this rule still applies, just like it does for a local dive.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Perhaps even more so. An air ambulance 3000 miles from home can make that 4000 for the trip look like chicken feed.

 

[flots am]

Exactly. Sometimes it's harder to follow this rule than other times. If you paid $4000.00 for a trip, and expect to get in a certain amount of diving, remember this rule still applies, just like it does for a local dive.
DivemasterDennis

That never actually bothered me. The $4K isn't coming back regardless of whether you dive or not.

Now the question becomes "Would I rather spend the next 6 hours puking my guts out on a dive boat in heavy seas, or go back to bed and have a nice breakfast when I wake up?"

Once you realize that the money is already gone, the answer to "Should I dive? becomes a lot easier.

flots.

 

[fjpatrum]

I've only done a couple of "dive trips" and each one had dives cancelled. There's always something else to do with your time when you can't dive.

 

[Bjarki Christian Gram]

That never actually bothered me. The $4K isn't coming back regardless of whether you dive or not.

Hehe true In economics that principle is called "Sunk Cost"

 

[tdtaylor]

I've only done a couple of "dive trips" and each one had dives cancelled. There's always something else to do with your time when you can't dive.

Actually, I was on a live-a-board the week before last when Hurricane Sandy made her presence known in the Bahamas. We hightailed it for Nassau Wednesday and holed up in a protected berth for two and a half days. With 50-90 knot winds, there was little else to do.....so we ate and drank and watched movies (some really bad ones) for three days. Guess you are right- there was something to do.

 

[Sleepdr]

This is a valuable lesson that saves lives, not just in diving.

Countless pilots have died due to "get-there-itis" when they should have canceled their flights.

In anesthesia, we sometimes need to postpone a surgery for reasons that might seem trivial to someone else. Just last week, I put a child to sleep and was not happy with her breathing after inducing anesthesia. She was still suffering from a cold, despite her healthy appearance and parents' insistence that she had no symptoms. It was a stealthy respiratory infection that didn't show itself while she was awake. The surgeon and I had a quick discussion, with him saying, "if you're not comfortable, I'm not comfortable." We never started the operation, which ended up being the right choice. Even trying to wake her up from anesthesia without surgery was as rocky as I've seen in quite a while. That event turned a few of my remaining hairs grey.

It makes some people upset. I've had parents angry at me for telling them their coughing child can't have surgery that day, or that someone needs to wait several hours because they have a full stomach. My job first and foremost is safety, not the convenience of someone's work schedule. I don't get paid more to postpone surgery. Not only that, it often takes me more time and energy to reschedule and make appropriate referrals to specialists if needed.

The easy answer is to say, "they took the day off work, and I've already invested this much time. We might as well go ahead." The right answer is to say, "despite all of the other pressures, I'm going to cut everyone's losses and make the inconvenient but safe decision to cancel." I hope to be able to keep that in mind when faced with the decision to forfeit an investment in a dive.