How Often Do You Abort Dives?

How often do you abort a dive? I'm asking purely out of curiosity after going through my own logbook. There can't be a 'right' number. I was going to ask 'how many dives have you aborted?', but realised those of you with hundreds or thousands of dives logged probably couldn't count. You might be able to give a rough estimate of how frequently it's happened in recent times, though. By 'abort', I mean end the dive some time after kitting up for 'abnormal' reasons.

I've aborted four so far out of 80-something dives. My first post-cert dive I swam out to the buoy line, descended to about 0.5 metres (~2 feet) and came straight back up -- to nervous. After getting composing myself I dived later that same day, just needed to take it a bit slower than everyone else when kitting up and doing checks and such. The next was the deep dive for my AOW cert -- my buddy gave the thumb after descending to around 10 metres. The water was pea green, terrible vis, and he was a little spooked. The only I was really disappointed about ending was when I couldn't equalise -- the vis that day was beautiful, but I just couldn't get down to the wreck. The last one I aborted was last weekend -- terrible vis, just wasn't worth it.

So far I've had no 'interesting' ends to dives -- equipment failures or incidents of any sort. I've cancelled a good few more dives before getting out to the site, the weather being what it is. And I've had a few where we've opted for an alternate, more sheltered, site due to conditions at our first choice. I don't count those as 'aborted', though.

About 1 aborted dive for every 50 or so..

Twice, both because a buddy was uncomfortable and thumbed. I've only got 70 dives logged.


Fortunately for me, the only serious equipment failure I've had has been in the pool when I checked my gear prior to a dive trip.

Twice out of about 400. One, I went to 15 ft and my ears would not clear. After multiple attempts to clear, no luck and the thumb came out. The other was because of a camera case leak that, fortunately, caused no lasting harm. The leak became apparent at 35 ft on a gradual downward slope to the reef. We reversed course and the problem went away.

I have aborted a couple of dives when the weather worsened to the point that we all (not just me) agreed that diving was not a good idea.

I aborted a dive when the spool on my pressure gauge started leaking.

I aborted a dive when I went to the entrance point where we left our fins and found that someone who had just left the area had taken my fins and left his--wrong size. (Very frustrating--I had been waiting patiently for hours for the chance to do that dive.)

I aborted a dive when I began to feel unwell.

Last dive I aborted was earlier this year, visibility changed from about less than 1M to a black 0 at 28M on a wreck off the east coast of UAE.

Rarely abort dives unless when I am already in the water. Had to abort some due to weather conditions in the past, and a couple of times due to ears not clearing.

I’ve aborted dives as necessary, maybe 1-2 out of 50ish. Totally depending on the luck/bad luck of the conditions, equipment issue, dive buddy issue, or how I feel.


For me, aborting a dive either before getting suited up, or after you’re in the water has been one of the best psychological experience I’ve had. I believe, to know that it’s ok to abort a dive, and to own that experience of taking control over a situation that could possibly turned out bad, is essential to becoming a better diver. I know Ken Kurtis always says something like, no one has gotten hurt from a dive they didn’t make.

.5/50 for me during dives, and I've cancelled a few days of diving due to head cold/fevers.

Didn't abort, but I couldn't clear past 70ft, So I just stayed near the top of the wall with my buddy while everyone else was 15ft further down for that part of the dive.


BRad

Not often ... but the important thing isn't the frequency, but rather that you recognize when you should and act on it without hesitation.

The last time I aborted a dive was in Raja Ampat in early October. We were 25 minutes into the dive, the current was kicking our ass, and the dive guide was trying to get us to hang onto things so as to not get blown completely out of the area. I tossed a thumb, we surfaced and got back on the boat. The dive guide was mortified because he thought we weren't having a good time. I told him no ... I wasn't having fun, and it wasn't a big deal. I'd rather sit this one out than push it past my comfort zone. In more than 3200 dives I've probably aborted a dozen or so ... some of them dives I'd paid a lot of money for. Doesn't matter ... if it doesn't feel right, I ain't doing it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I am sure I have, but can't remember any after actually entering the water. I have cut plenty of dives short due to unenjoyably bad conditions. There have been lots of long boat rides where we aborted before getting in the water due to conditions or mechanical failures. There have been way too many quick bounce dives that revealed we missed the target. There were several times when I didn't feel right, but the "impending doom" faded after moving shallower. Ran out of air lots of times, but that was standard procedure before SPGs. Increased breathing resistance was the signal to leave bottom.

Military and commercial, there have been tons of equipment and weather induced aborts. Fortunately, none were allowed to escalate to the point of life-threatening.