When to call a dive... a question of limits.

[purbeast]

I called my 4th OW certification dive in December of 2018. And it really sucked because it was in Grand Cayman and I had planned on doing AOW right after.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done dives 1-3.

We flew to GC on Thursday and the OW dives started on Friday. About Tuesday of that week I started to feel like I was coming down with something.

I remember waking up at 7am on Friday and just felt kind of off. I had no appetite and had a headache and just felt kinda "blah". I talked to the instructors and told them how I felt and they said it was completely up to me and that we were going max depth 25ft, and if I felt bad at any moment to just signal up. It was a shore dive right off the shore from the shop so it was easy to go right back. Considering I wasn't dying or anything i gave it a go.

I did fine but I remember on the final dive I was starting to feel pretty cold. I was in a 3mm wetsuit and in Grand Cayman the water is pretty warm.

I remember going home and just started to feel worse and worse. I took some medicine and fell asleep at like 8pm, which is super early for me.

Next day I woke up and just felt like complete ****. I felt so bad I went to a clinic in GC. The worst part was I had to wait until 9am when they opened and I was up at like 6:30am. When I got there I had a fever and they basically diagnosed me with the flu. They also checked my ear and said it was super clogged. I remember they drained it and I had no clue that you could even have that much wax build up in the ear. They gave me like 3 prescriptions, and the doctor told me that she would write me a note to say I'm not medically fit to finish, in case I needed to get money back.

So it really sucked to travel to Grand Cayman a month after my training back at home, only to not be able to actually complete it. I ended up staying in bed for nearly 36 hours or so and on Monday I at least got a beach day before we flew back on Tuesday. The only good thing is that not completing this meant that I had to book another trip to get certified, so it was another excuse to go back to Grand Cayman 3 months later in March. I ended up going that and everything went smoothly 3 months later and I left with OW and AOW certification.

 

[CanadaDan]

I've called off a few dives. A couple in water due to a deep sinus block that only showed up at around 2-3m. Felt fine shore-side but there was no denying the pain when trying to descend.

The others were due to mental health reasons. I've coped with anxiety and depression for most of my life. Randomly I've been in my low spots on days when I was scheduled to dive (and train/assist as a DMC). I contacted my LDS coordinator and told her what was happening. She and the instructors are more than understanding and supportive. Those days I would usually help run shore support. Headcounts, handing out lead and defog I can typically handle but having students' safety in my hands underwater isn't something I'll risk when I'm 'distracted'.

 

[mi000ke]

Man, those were some conditions! Water off the west side of GC has been like glass the past 10 days. Dive ops here are pretty conservative and will usually call dives based on sea and wind, even before clients might. Fortunately I have never had to call a dive, but I wouldn't hesitate for a minute if conditions warranted. (I did call a snorkeling outing last year when our visitors couldn't get out past the surf on an unusually windy day here.) We have 7 dive days a week in this part of the world, so if you miss today you always have tomorrow.

 

[The Chairman]

I love reading why all of you have called dives. Knowing when to say "when" is the hardest lesson to learn. Like @purbeast, quite often I'll think of a dive long past and shake my head that I even went there. That shows your critical thinking is improving and that's a good thing.

The problem is: I always feel pressured. There's always the one diver who brags about being able to do it all and seems oblivious to those who won't or can't. That's OK, I've learned to call them anyway. There's nothing down there worth getting hurt over, much less killed.

 

[Kimela]

I've only called one dive - that I remember at this moment. It was at a quarry where I was wearing an 8/7 semi dry suit that was a PITA to get on. I worked myself up into a lather donning it and never quite calmed afterward. I was a newer diver and was easily stressed anyway. I remember hyperventilating at the surface as I watched my little bottle of Sea Drops float away and wondering if I should try to get them (I did, and worked myself up more). By the time we began to descend I was a mess. We got to about 30 ft and I called it. I was nearing full-blown panic. I was able to calm myself at the surface and do the dive - but in retrospect I never should have hit the water. My husband called a dive when his inflator valve got stuck open.

I've been on a few dives that I wish I hadn't gone on - in the Keys where the surge and chop got bad and the divemaster kept a pace that was too much for this old person.

We ride motorcycles and we have the same rule for riding as for diving. If we're just not 'feelin' it' we don't go. Live to ride/dive another day. It's a little harder to decide not to splash because there's so much money tied up in it - we have to fly to get there, pay for the dives, and then 'waste the money'. But if we get that 'feeling', we don't ride. We'd do the same for diving.

 

[The Chairman]

I've been on a few dives that I wish I hadn't gone on - in the Keys where the surge and chop got bad and the divemaster kept a pace that was too much for this old person.

Sometimes I call the DM. Yeah, I'm not going to try to keep up: they can keep back with me instead. It's a big ocean, we're not going to see it all in one dive, so why try?

 

[The Chairman]

Best call so far (I have nothing as exciting) was a former student and I were going on a fun shore dive. I could tell he wasn't feeling it, so I asked if he minded if we went to eat nearby instead. He perked up at that and said "Yeah!".

You are my hero. Calling a dive for a stressed out partner is awesome. You know they want to and might even need to, but they really don't want to spoil your fun. Learning to do this is especially important for couples.

 

[ibj40]

Great photo. I want to know what he was thinking.

The pelican, that is.

My impression is that the pelican was expecting fishing to improve in a very short time, due to the excess chum in the water.

 

[markmud]

I get your point - but that pic was posted in a different thread and described as the boat going out with crew only to test the cut and they stated that they cancelled the dives after this experience (from the picture, it seemed a bit crazy to even try - but suspect they felt pressure to get folks out diving). Are you saying that they took folks out in conditions like that? If so, that's crazy and you made the right call for sure!

My best call was the first boat dive scheduled after finishing my OW cert. I had done the last 2 OW dives the day before in 20-25 knot winds with 5-6 foot seas and moderate currents. The next morning was 25-30 knots and seas were a solid 6 feet with currents expected to be stronger. As I would not have the security of an 1:1 instructor, I cancelled as I did not feel ready to dive "on my own" in those conditions. Went to the beach with the wife instead and had no regrets!

Hi Joneill,

I was there. I was a passenger on another vessel that crossed that bar approximately one hour before the OP's picture was taken (our vessel was inbound and not outbound--the boat pictured was outbound).

The conditions weren't that bad if the captain timed the sets correctly. Make a mistake and people get hurt (as one did) and equipment gets damaged.

To iterate, I recall diving that day.

Here is the score card that I have: Two damaged vessels and one damaged diver.

The diver was back at the resort that evening. Evidently, according to people who spoke with him, he has chronic back problems that were exacerbated by the pounding he received when his captain misjudged the sets. Judging sets is an artform, and not a science.

I called dives on this trip for myself. My wife asked if she should go on our last dive day, I told her that if our boat broached and turned turtle over the reef, we would be in trouble. I felt I had a chance at saving myself, but not aiding my wife while I tried to save both of us. We were crossing a bar in a surf zone.

She called more dives for herself than I did. We both made the right calls for each of us. We received no negative repercussions or judgmentalism for our decisions not to dive.

JonelliI, I think you made the correct decision for your situation detailed above. The second day that my wife stayed on the dock we dove in poor conditions, in terms of visibility and enjoyment. I did not dive the second dive of that day. Two of us stayed on the boat while others dived.

So what was your best "call". You can see mine in the picture above. I'm hoping this will help all of us learn a little more about our collective limits.

Hi Big Kahuna,

Cathy, you, and I made the right call for each us. They were all good calls.

The difference is that you and Cathy weren't willing to consciously take risks that I was willing to take. I knew that if an engine died at the wrong time, or the rudders broke at the wrong time, or the captain misjudged the sets, I would be fighting for my life. At 60, I probably judged my ability to clear a capsized boat and swim through a surf zone poorly. Optimism can kill.

Yours truly,
markm
Former professional fish boat captain and tug boat captain. I sailed between Alaska and the Panama Canal and through the Caribbean.

 

[Hoag]

I called a dive while on my AOW course. It was the night dive, so it was also my first night dive. The boat ride from Panama City (Florida) out to the dive site (the Black Bart wreck) was kind of rough. At the dive site, the waves were 3-4 feet high. The boat's diver did the usual "bounce dive" to tie us off on the wreck and when he surfaced, he commented that the current was "ripping all the way down to the wreck" and that he "almost got blown off the site". On top of that, he reported that the vis was less than 20 feet. I looked at my instructor and told him that for my first night dive, I did not think that this was a good idea, and called the dive. He agreed and actually said that he was proud that I would do a risk assessment and that I was willing to call the dive rather than to push ahead with it.

We untied from the wreck and when back to shore. A few nights later, we did my navigation dive and my night dive in Vortex springs under much better conditions