When do you call off a dive?

[PerroneFord]

I would have called the dive.

Reasons:

1. Viz too low to maintain visual contact with all divers.
2. Only one diver properly prepared with lights. Were there backups for this one light?
3. Heavy or choppy water.
4. Divers ill at surface and quite likely dehydrated by the time the dive started.
5. Unfamiliarity with "team" members

You were in the equivalent of a silt out, with one light, and a team you didn't know. Conditions were poor, and you didn't have a tight team. I would have called it then and there. Discretion is often the better part of valor...

 

[Rick Inman]

1. Viz too low to maintain visual contact with all divers.
2. Only one diver properly prepared with lights. Were there backups for this one light?
3. Heavy or choppy water.
4. Divers ill at surface and quite likely dehydrated by the time the dive started.
5. Unfamiliarity with "team" members

Ha!! Around here, we call this the Weekly Fun Dive!

 

[TSandM]

Most of my first dozen dives were in viz like that, or almost that bad (I could see my gauges, although I didn't have the brainpower to breathe and look at them). Had we called all those dives, I would have taken even longer to get my "sea legs", so to speak. If your newly certified buddy had confidence in you, and you felt confident with the conditions, and you felt you had the skills to cope with your buddy if he lost it physically or mentally, then it may have been reasonable to proceed. Seems to be pushing the edge of the envelope real hard to take responsibility for two other strangers in those conditions, though.

 

[Gary D.]

Ha!! Around here, we call this the Weekly Fun Dive!

He's not kidding!

Gary D.

 

[utnapistim]

I don't think you should have relied on the others to call off the dive if they didn't feel confortable with it.

Based on how I was, I didn't know I could have called off a dive until recently (I did so last weekend). I mean, sure, I had been told, but until recently I didn't see myself doing it except maybe if somebody asked me something obviously over my head (like diving a cave);

I'd never have called off a dive on the boat with all my gear on, and even less while in the water.

I think since usual OW/AOW training (I'm with PADI) involves following the instructor/DM and letting him make the decisions, you don't get the responsability part of the dive until you start either planning it or getting seriously involved in the planning.

And newly certified divers are just not there.

I'd have called it off ... i think :huh:.

my 2c.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

I think one light between four divers in zero vis is probably a good reason to spike the dive.

Jeff

 

[ba_hiker]

My rule is simple

Anyone can call the dive at any time for any reason. If they feel uncomfortable with the conditions, feel physicaly uncomfortable, get spooked, get a bad vibe, whatever. No second guesses, no recriminations.

If they feel uncomfortable it is up to them to call the dive, not up to me to intuit their comfort level.

On a dive with poor visibility the only problem is how to communicate that they want to call the dive. I generallly suggest that they bang their tank 3 times, wait a second and then 3 times again. When I hear the three bangs the dive is called. We surface, with a safety stop. I check my buddy to check they are ok, then go up.

 

[wreckchick]

Once upon a time, I thought people who enjoyed low/no vis diving were crazy. Now, I realize that doing dives with very limited visibility are fun and challenging in their own way. I actually miss diving cold and murky.

You should only have called the dive if you believed that you were taking people beyond their comfort level and that for some reason they weren't able to call the dive on their own. In that case you're making an conservative decision based on other factors. If you asked them all and they wanted to continue, there's no reason I can think of to call the dive.

Rachel

 

[Blitz]

Call a dive anytime that you feel unsafe or uncomfortable. It is far better to be emabarassed than embalmed.

 

[Gary D.]

Call a dive anytime that you feel unsafe or uncomfortable. It is far better to be emabarassed than embalmed.

There is NO reason to be embarassed for calling a dive. Nobody should ever put someone in an embarassing position for calling one.

But you are right and it happens, both the Embarassing and the Embalming.

Gary D.