When do you call a dive trip?

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CamG

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Messages
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Location
Geneva Indiana
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Recently called off a dive trip with my dive buddy.
It was a train wreck of scheduling from one charter to another then the day before a new one.
Planned to dive one wreck then a week before switched to another then the day before back to the first wreck.
Dive plans were to do a light deco dive nothing to aggressive but gas blending was decided to allow for either wreck depth.
When I picked up my tanks they were blended rich and at 3600 psi so I just picked them up.

I had been planning to dive the second wreck 150' so I wanted 25%-26% not 28+%.
Simple to fix bleed off and top with 21% but it is the day before and already still not solid on what charter we are going on.
At this point the family plans I was going to miss won out.
My wife had been pressing me for three days what was the final dive arrangements and all I could say was I did not know.

So I called and bagged out!
That was the first time I have ever cancelled last day and I felt horrible and even still feel horrible.
What went wrong?
Well it is Great Lakes and early in May.
Dive ops still getting going, weather still a bit touch and go.
Wreck diving is fun but after you drive 5hrs to dive then drive 5hrs home it can be tough.
Just wish things were different I feel worse about abandoning my buddy than any other issue.
I am starting to really get finicky about my dives wanting things to be well organized smooth planning and not so many last minute changes when it comes to Tech dives.

I understand the environments demand changes from time to time and you can always get blown out.
These I accept what I can not accept are dive ops not communicating nor letting you know till the day before you are to go.
That is unacceptable in my book.
When you are scrambling the day before it is already to late for me.
Am I being an ass?
I feel like it, but I choose not to push my luck.:acclaim:

CamG
 
When enough things go wrong, I begin to think the universe is trying to tell me something.

I would have felt guilty, too, though. I absolutely HATE leaving somebody in the lurch, even if it's for a completely unpredictable and unavoidable problem like getting sick.
 
If anything hijacks the " fun factor " I will bag it. The list includes: logistics, gas issues, boat issues, work issues, wife issues lol!, If it feeels pushed,rushed, or just wrong, I bow out.
Eric
 
I'm just glad I'm not the only one who thinks like this. I called off a dive today because things were just not lining up. If its not fun then I'm not down. To many things to go ring already and I need to be on my game from the start anyways.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You know, TSandM, I don't feel guilty at all. In fact I refuse to let guilt be a motivation for diving. We have a lot of people coming down here to the Keys and a number of them want to go diving with me. Cold and weather will often keep me from joining in with their "fun". My second rule of dive safety is "You can call a dive at any time and for any reason with no questions asked." If you don't feel comfortable about a dive, why risk becoming an accident or worse?
 
Cam,

You did the right thing. If its not right its not right. And I would have been very surprised if they even went out in the end as the weather was very sketchy.
 
I make poor decisions when I get tired, your 5 hour drive on either end of a rec dive would make me tired, not to mention a deep technical one. When I see a series of issues come up, I assume they are the results of me making bad decisions, not random. Yeah, I know that's a pessimistic view, could be other peoples mistakes or random, but I have to deal with them. Anyway, I back away and chill. Typically I take a hike and have time to myself.

FWIW: My line with my kids is they are not real divers until 1) The plan and lead their own dives, 2) They screw up and recover calmly, 3) They call a marginal dive. I realize you are not in their class (young rec divers), but the same applies to all divers. As you get older and more experienced sometimes you get a 6th sense about situations, I would listen to it.
 
when i start thinking about calling a dive....THAT is a sure sign that it is time to call the dive.
 
I don't feel at all guilty about backing out of a dive, if the folks I was diving with have other options for someone with whom to go, so they don't lose their own dive over my decision. We did this the other day over weather and water conditions, even though the group of people who had gathered to dive had been VERY difficult to coordinate. But I do feel bad if my buddy is left with no way to dive because I canceled at the last minute, and I would feel worse if my reason for canceling was rather nebulous. On the other hand, one of the prime rules of diving, especially technical or overhead diving, is that anyone can call a dive at any time for any reason, WITHOUT RECRIMINATIONS, so if someone did it to me, I would not say a word. Nobody belongs in the water if their head isn't in the game. My own guilty feelings are my own problem. :)
 
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