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

[The Chairman]

They brought you a medium?

To say the guy driving the ferry boat was a bit clueless would be an understatement. However, the main guide did not specify who it was for. He assumed the guy knew and he had no idea. He was told to go get a BC and that's what he did. They were willing to send him back for the "Big Kahuna" size, but I was done. Two days later, I did make that shark dive without my bladder. I was the first in and the last out. I loved my trim and buoyancy and was able to maintain a close affinity to the bottom when needed, without ever touching. A big tiger came at me once and I got flat on the sand as the wranglers knocked the crap out of the shark to get him off of me. OK, I've done it and I don't really want to do it again. I would have much preferred to go dive a reef.

I would expect to talk about why the dive was called,

I don't expect it, but it almost always comes up. Sometimes the reasons are embarrassing and I don't want to ever be so adamant about hearing the reason that they make the dive to avoid the confession. Dives should be fun and an "I'm not having fun" is as good as I need.

BTW, when I'm a guide or instructor, I don't get to call a dive just because. In fact, I've dove while sick and it's horrible to feel that you can't back out. One Saturday I had a morning dive with a bunch of SBers to the Speigle Grove and then the Benwood, my favorite. I felt meh on the surface, but really felt bad at depth, even to the point of spewing. I tried to cancel being the afternoon guide for a family of four, but there was no one to replace me and they were on their way. I was given a variety of meds to take for sea sickness (not it) and flu (bingo). My faculties were deteriorating and by the time we splashed, I felt nauseated. Ten minutes into the dive and the world started spinning. I grabbed the first rock I saw, tucked my chin under my chest, spit out my reg and chummed under me, so as not to upset my clients. Effin fish were all over me in a thrice. I wanted to kill each and every one of them. Every 6 to 8 minutes and the world would start spinning again, I'd grab another rock and repeat this process. Second dive was even a bit worse and I was dry heaving by the end. I was not so bad on the boat, but there was hell to pay at depth. Fortunately, these were all shallow dives and my clients sucked their air down quick. As we're getting off the dock, the Dad gives me an unusually large tip and says "You are the fish whisperer! Every time you would bow your head to say your prayers, they would engulf you! I've never seen anything like it, so thanks!" No, I didn't hurt myself and no, I didn't enjoy myself, but it was quite profitable.

 

[eponym]

This is a decade old but it might be useful to other instructors. I don't need any attribution - if it helps someone, that's enough. Copy and paste as you wish. I of course learned all this from others.

 

[hroark2112]

First dive I ever called was when we went out to do the U-352 and the Spar out of Morehead City NC. The current on the U-352 was so bad that we did the front half of the wreck and by the time I got back to the conning tower I was down to 1000PSI in a HP130. Got to the hang bar and thought my arms were going to pop out of the sockets trying to hang on. 3-5' my butt!! We were in 5'+ waves trying to get back on the boat and it beat me up bad, then I puked up my McD's (bad breakfast decision, I know!!). We got to the Spar and I was laying down trying to sleep below decks. My buddy asked if I was coming and I asked if he could find someone else to buddy up with! Some other jackhole on the boat told me I was being a baby and I should not screw over my buddy like that. I gave him the old double bird salute (both barrels baby!!) and told him to pucker up and kiss my rear. Buddy found someone else and had a great 15 minute dive.

I have called dives on vacation because I'd rather miss one or two dives while I nap in the room rather than miss the rest of the trip because I get bent because I'm exhausted and dehydrated. I know my limits, leave me the hell alone.

 

[eponym]

Yeah, I've been there. Not so extreme as your example, just "same site, big drift, low viz, hard surface, why repeat?"
And I'm amazed that anyone would have urged you to suck it up. Really bad form.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

If I thumb a dive, I'll tell you why. The "No questions asked" bit leaves divers to interpret that to mean no further communication can take place. I think it's necessary to communicate. If we have a dive plan and you shoot me the thumbs up and abort, I'm going to want to know why. Here's why... If you're having a problem and you don't communicate that to me, you're limiting my ability to help you and reducing my effectiveness as a buddy. What's the point of having a buddy if you won't communicate with him/her at critical points during the dive?

If you just are done, that's fine, but let me know that. If you don't say anything, I'm running all the worst case scenarios thru my mind as we swim towards the exit. Is it a medical issue, low on gas, whatever? You may be stressing your buddy unnecessarily. Also, instead of worrying, I could be planning my response to the actual issue at hand as we make for the exit. That could be valuable time lost if you wait until the surface to tell me what's happening.

If you're having a medical issue, maybe the right answer is to slowly make our way back to keep the stress level to a minimum. Maybe I follow you at your pace so I can keep an eye on you. Maybe I need to take the lead so you can focus. Maybe you got bad gas and are impaired mentally and need me to monitor everything you do and make all the decisions for you. Or... maybe you had bad tacos for lunch, and it's time to light the afterburners and get out. To which the only proper response is, "Go... Don't wait for me... I'll be right behind you..."

This story shows how communication after the thumbs up can alter the outcome of a dive, or not...

During cave class, the instructor wanted us to go thru the Mud tunnel at Ginnie and come back down the main line to see our buoyancy skills, The Mud tunnel is like a roller coaster, and very silty and tight. He specifically told us that if we have an issue in the Mud tunnel, the best thing to do was to continue thru the tunnel to the other side and go back down the mainline. Do not try to turn around in Mud tunnel! So, I'm in the lead. Everything seems to be going ok, but I can see buddy kicking up a fair amount of silt. We exit the mud tunnel and I can see the mainline like 100 feet away, which is a much faster silt-free way out. Ah... we survived the Mud tunnel now all we have to do is... Suddenly, buddy starts signalling me with his light. I get a big thumbs up. I try to find out why, but I'm getting no response. I point to the main line, which is clearly visible at this point, and wave for him to follow me. Instead, he turns and goes back into the Mud tunnel. I follow and it's a mess. I can only see a foot at first, but every so often I see his fins. I can see he's now a little panicked and full-on flutter kicking - in the Mud tunnel! I can't see anything now. My face is literally 6 inches off the bottom, because somehow I can see the outline of the darker mud on the bottom with my light. So I follow the contour of the bottom and eventually find my way back to the main tunnel and clear water. After the dive, he said his experience in the tunnel shook him. I explained that he didn't have to go back in and we could have coasted back down the main line. Instructor comes over and asks, What the hell, why did you guys go back into the Mud tunnel after you trashed it? I had a solution to buddy's problem, but because he wouldn't communicate, I couldn't help. Buddy fails cave in large part because of his flutter kick in the Mud tunnel on the return pass. He eventually retook cave and passed, but it cost him time and money.

If you don't communicate with your buddy, you're reducing his ability to help you.

 

[hroark2112]

I interpret the "no questions asked" part as "you call the dive, we head to the surface and there's no discussion about not ending the dive". Any good buddy is going to ask if his/her buddy is OK after the dive and there's nothing wrong with talking about why they ended the dive.

 

[The Chairman]

I interpret the "no questions asked" part as "you call the dive, we head to the surface and there's no discussion about not ending the dive".

Yeppers, when someone calls the dive, the dive is called and there is no question about that. We can discuss what happened, but the dive remains "called".

In the case of @DeepSeaExplorer, once a buddy panics to the point of being unreasonable, then I have to make decisions for ME. Why on earth would I follow someone flutter kicking into the mud tunnel? It's a hard decision, but I'm not going to play party to a silt show. Once, I was a tag-a-long on a NAUI 1 Cave class. We came up to the Sistine sink and without further ado he scampered up to the surface. I was about to tie in a spool and the instructor waived me off. Rly? Reluctantly I surfaced and the instructor waited a bit before he asked the student the big question. "So, which way is out?" OK, it wasn't my first time in that sink, so I knew left, but he said "right". I guess my eyes or head jerk clued him in and he asked if that was right. The instructor demurred to him to make the decision. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he was right. At some point I mentioned that no matter which way he went, I was heading left. Wow. He accused me of being a horrible buddy to which I replied that I'm not blindly following him anywhere. I would rather be alive and a bad buddy then loyal to my death.

Sure, I'm arm chair quarterbacking here. I wasn't there, he was in a class and that always affects how you make decisions. I seem to make my worst decisions when someone is looking over my fins and I've made some horrible ones. After the fact analysis of dives and why they were called or should have been called is a valuable tool. Seeing things from someone else's perspective can sometimes be embarrassing, but it should always be illuminating.

Yeah, I've been there. Not so extreme as your example, just "same site, big drift, low viz, hard surface, why repeat?"
And I'm amazed that anyone would have urged you to suck it up. Really bad form.

For those who have problems with such files, here is the text of that file, and I really, really like it.

Any team member can call off a dive at any time. Suiting up, floating on the surface, or partway through the dive, it doesn’t matter. Other team members should agree immediately, without argument or criticism. Discussion can wait until everyone is back aboard/ashore. The decision to call the dive can be easy and obvious (“Was that thunder?”) but other times the decision is tough. Here are some thoughts that might help . . .

Recreational Diving is diving done for the fun of it. If you need to make a judgment call, don't ask yourself, “Can I do this dive?” Your ego may respond, “Hell, yeah!” Ask yourself Instead, “Does this dive look like fun?” After all, if you can replace a stressful hassle with a relaxing hour on the water by not diving, why not?

Re-Evaluate Conditions. A good diver continuously re-evaluates conditions to decide whether to continue with a plan or to modify it. Conditions include mental states of all team members.

Don’t Suck it Up. The bigger the buildup and anticipation and effort expended before the dive, the harder it can be to disappoint yourself and your team members. But sucking it up can be the first step into the incident pit.

You won’t remember the dives you called. I’ve long ago forgotten them. I do remember dives I should have called early but didn’t. They were not fun (to put it lightly) but everyone came back aboard/ashore healthy, which is the over-arching goal of every dive plan.

Have a Plan B. Your save-a-dive kit might include a Plan B (waders and a tidepooling bucket, Audubon book and binoculars, whatever) so you can still have a good time even if the diving doesn’t work out that day.

You’re Still a Diver. There is no shame in sitting out a boat dive. Sit back, wait for the rush to the gates to clear, then think things through again. Maybe plan a simpler dive. If it doesn’t quite come together, don’t go. The boat crew will be happy to have someone to talk to, and you get first crack at the munchies. If you mention your reasons for not doing the dive, their advice will likely be more valuable than what you might have discovered down there.

Always remember: having the wits to call off a dive makes you more of a diver, not less.​

 

[Neilwood]

I have called quite a few dives now at various stages:
1) AOW dive 3 - we dropped into the water, got ready to descend, gave the signal, I dropped and was met by a wall of green. Vis was approx 1ft. Waited for my buddy and instructor to drop but I didn't see them so made my way back up (lost diver procedure) and met them still on the surface (buddy had had an issue with his drysuit). Instructor says "Well, what do you think?" to which I replied "I think we call it". "Good call" came the reply. Skipper returned us to the same spot 2 weeks later (he didn't charge us for the aborted dive trip) to perfect conditions (vis approx 60ft).
2) LOB trip 1 - made a number of dives but was finding that the continual diving was causing an issue with my boots and heels. I ended up with open wounds on both the sides of my achilles tendon on both ankles. Sat a couple of dives to let them dry out and scab up. Next day dived with a pair of socks inside the booties and had no further issues.
3) LOB trip 2 - made the decision on waking one morning that I would see what the briefing was like as I didn't feel great. Turned out they were predicting that there would be a strong current in our faces on the return leg - called the dive at that point (my buddy joined another diver as there were a couple of us that called it). Good decision as they had to send out the rhibs to pick them up - even the strongest swimmers were barely holding position in the current. Also while the divers were away a fully grown whale shark swam between our boat and the next one - absolutely amazing to watch.
4) Slipped a couple of times on my way down to a shore dive with gear. Felt my back aching and thought better of diving despite the 2 hr drive there.

Strong believer in that it is better to be on the surface wishing you were down there than to be down there wishing you were safe on the surface. The ocean/sea/loch will still be there next week/month/year.

 

[eleniel]

I don't think this counts as calling a dive, but on the last Cozumel trip my buddy declared that he felt too 'waterlogged' periodically, which resulted in us not scheduling any dives for the next day in order to give him a break. I could've handled double the diving we were doing but I respect that he communicated his needs, especially in light of the way DCS risk varies between individuals - I'd rather spend the day snorkeling while he relaxed by the pool than deal with a chamber trip for one of us.

 

[Esprise Me]

@eponym I love the idea of having a Save-a-Dive kit that includes a Plan B! For me that might be a flask of Scotch and a good book; I can have a good time just about anywhere with those.

I came up with a kind of ego detour thought experiment while doing my AOW course. I felt a little nervous before the deep dive but still wanted to do it. I imagined something happening that was completely out of my control (and therefore not my fault)-- the boat captain decided we had to go back to shore, my reg exploded, whatever, there would be no dive. I would of course be disappointed, but I asked myself if I would be even 1% relieved. I decided if I ever was, I'd call the dive myself. On that occasion, even though I felt a little apprehensive at the thought of going deeper and the sudden realization that I would have to do my first backroll, there wasn't even a tiny voice inside me that hoped someone or something else would call the dive for me, so I went. And I had a great time.