To dive or not to dive?

[Coll]

First off, I'm not sure if this is the appropriate spot for this thread so I apologize if it isn't.
I am currently taking an AOW class and we met up for our second night dive at the dive locker. Our instructor told us the conditions were such : medium surge, 5-10 ft visiblity (this would be a shore dive by the way). He left it up to the class to decide whether to go diving or not. Most people, including myself, wanted to reschedule and hope for better conditions. As I said this was our second night dive so most of us had already had at least 1 good night dive experience. Anyway, majority ruled and we rescheduled the dive which I thought to be a good, mature choice, considering many of us had taken off work to make the meeting. I was thinking about it afterwards however and was wondering if it might not have been better to go and do the dive. IMHO it is good to have some unpleasant/difficult dives under your belt because you don't get better unless you are challenged in some way. I'm not saying you should throw yourself at 8' waves and strong currents everyday but some struggle isn't necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, I realized that if you were going to be faced with a difficult night dive, what better time to do it than when you are with a great instructor and probably a T.A. per buddy team? What do you guys think? Would you have voted to go or no go and why?

 

[String]

Depends what people are comfortable with and how many people.

Those conditions are normal for here so chances are everyone would dive.

Somewhere else like florida maybe those conditions are so abnormal people wouldn't.

How are you doing 2 night dives on an AOW course or have i misunderstood?

 

[1_T_Submariner]

MY vote would depend on the class and my buddy. In my AOW class my buddy and I had about 80'ish dives and 50 of them where together so we probably would have done it. The students that where right out of OW with like 8 dives probably shouldn't do the dive unless they are goign to dive witha really good mentor/buddy. That said when in doubt call the dive better to be safe than a Statistic.

 

[Coll]

We do two night dives because it's a university class so it's a semester long as opposed to a shorter (I assume?) DS class. The situation was that if we went, we wouldn't be doing another night dive but if we didn't go we could reschedule. We had to make a decision as a class because like you mentioned Submariner, the class has a very diverse group of divers in terms of experience. It was basically we all go or none of us go. I don't regret our choice, I was just wondering what you guys thought.

 

[scubadobadoo]

IMHO it is good to have some unpleasant/difficult dives under your belt because you don't get better unless you are challenged in some way.

I hate to play the beginner card but with 0-24 dives you shouldn't be pushing any limits yet. You may feel as if you are starting to "get it" now but you won't feel the same in another 100 dives. Our sport doesn't forgive lightly.

Take it slow, get your basic skills down and then you can start to push the envelope a little at a time. Add a night dive but not a night dive and low viz at the same time at this point. I think you made the right choice. JMHO's. Have a great class!

 

[TSandM]

I have learned through painful personal experience that it's best to add ONE stressor to a dive at a time. Here, you have new divers (where all diving is somewhat high stress), night diving (which is definitely more stressful and task loading) and bad conditions, all at the same time. You made the right call.

Do your dive in bad conditions at a familiar place, in the daytime, with buddies you're confident about, and when you're not feeling ANY pressure to continue if you start to feel uncomfortable.

I did a night training dive when I had about 70 dives that remains the single most unpleasant experience I've had underwater. I learned a lot from making a very bad decision -- The one you didn't make!

 

[h2odragon1]

In my AOW class there wee only two of us. The other student had 100 dives to her credit, I had my OW dives. She bugged out after the first dive, leaving me, the instructor, and a DM student. The other diver had done all her dives in the Carib., and was not used to 7mm suits, or cool water. Ialso had done my OW dive in warm water, in the Philippines, but the 7mm and the cool water did not bother me. On my deap dive I went through two thermoclines, I could only think NEAT!.
always err on the side of safety, whether class or just rec. dives.

 

[ItsBruce]

I'd recommend against a challenging night dive until you've done enough night dives that you look at a "normal" night dive as a routine dive. (Of course, never *treat* any dive as a routne dive)

 

[StraitsdiverGeo]

It sounds like you and your buddies made the right call. I have learned that I can dive another day. Sure, it's good to explore the outside of your comfort zone, but not at the risk of someone getting hurt.

Not knowing the condihsions, it sound like it could been a Challenging dive. We have all the time in the world to do it again, but only one chance to get it right the first time! Ya, know what'I mean Vern? Diving is fun times, take the time to keep it that way. Explore one challenge at a time IMHO. ;-)

Regards, George

 

[Lead_carrier]

Our instructor told us the conditions were such : medium surge, 5-10 ft visiblity (this would be a shore dive by the way). He left it up to the class to decide whether to go diving or not. Most people, including myself, wanted to reschedule and hope for better conditions. ..... Anyway, majority ruled and we rescheduled the dive which I thought to be a good, mature choice, considering many of us had taken off work to make the meeting.

You made the choice to thumb the dive so it was correct. Period. Will you second guess yourself after you thumb the next one, probably. But you and others made the decision so it was correct for what you felt at the time. We can sit and justify going or not going based on our preferences and experience but we weren't there so it's hard telling what out choice would have been at the time.
Just don't let second guessing yourself this time keep you from thumbing a dive the next time you think you should. I've yet to thumb one that I haven't second guessed myself on afterward.