What's your personal scuba-related curse?

What's the one thing that always goes wrong for you when scuba diving? (Let's define it broadly and count anything from repeated, unfortunate incidents that are totally out of your control, all the way to to skills that you've had trouble mastering.)

My personal scuba-related curse is being unable to get an underwater photo of myself.

During my OW checkout dive in late '96, the instructor took a photo of me and enclosed it with my certification card. I really appreciated that; the picture made a nice memento, and I still have the original print. Shortly afterward, I took my AOW class from the same fellow, and for one of the skillset dives, he lent the entire class point-and-shoot cameras so we could putz around and have some fun taking pictures. My buddy and I shot an entire roll of film--mostly of each other brandishing our dive knives and "wrestling" with killer kelp--but when we surfaced, the instructor popped the camera open without rewinding the film, and our tough-guy posing was irretrievably lost.

That experience set the tone for the next 20 years. From 1996 until 2016, I had absolutely ZERO success in obtaining a photo of myself underwater. I have plenty of topside photos, and lots of other divers took my picture underwater...but none of them ever shared so much as a single pixel. Sure...I saw the pictures on people's cameras post-dive, and I gave my email addresses to all those photographers, and I looked at the dive shop FB pages where I was told the photos would be appearing... But no. Nothing. Ever.

It drove me nuts.

 

Mine would be Duncan Rock ... the dive site out at the mouth of the Straits where my dear friend TSandM disappeared nearly two years ago. Over the years I've made arrangements to dive that site on six different occasions ... and have yet to dive it for a variety of reasons ranging from boat problems to weather to unexpected tidal conditions. Actually made it to the site twice, only to observe what appeared to be a gigantic washing machine and say "not today". At this point in my life I'm probably better off saying "not ever" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

Preemptively venting my drysuit. Between a BZ400 undergarment and being 6'7", it took me until my Fundies course last week to realize that I can't actually hold a safety stop on ascent in shallow water--I've just kinda gently been floating through them.

Now I have a couple weeks to get my body position and awareness in shape so I can pass Fundies. Venting a drysuit like a BCD makes for a baaaaad time.

 

going to the 352.

it's a popular wreck, but if i'm on a boat, it's guaranteed to be going there.

 

Conditions. I've had so many bad dives, only to be told I should have been there last week when it was great. It happened to me again last week.

 

I can't even remember the last time I went out where it was calm seas with good visibility and no current...If the vis is good then either the current is ripping or there's heavy seas...If seas are flat, then either the vis sucks or the current is ripping. If there's no current, then there is heavy seas or bad vis...SOB! What sucks even more is the first scenario happens all the time apparently, just not on the days that I'm going out...SOB!

 

Cold. Getting very, very cold. Even in 82 degree water where most people aren't even wearing exposure protection at all.

 

When you pass your BC to the boat, may it sink to the depths below you.
May the whale sharks alway be there the day after you are.
May the big wave surfers show up at all beaches you think to dive.

Ok, that's enough curses. Time to balance that out.

May the cleaner shrimp always give you manicures.
May the boats you use always have fresh water tanks to soak your gear.
May the harbor seals alway come by to say hi.
May there always be kelp forests and coral reefs for you to dive.
May your only bubbles be ones you blow.
May you always surface with 500 psi. (Edit: adding the last two)