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This happened to me off the coast of Virginia when I was about 18. I'm not sure if it was a DM or Instructor speaking but we got a speech that went something like this (after we had already been heading out to sea for for about an hour or so):
"Attention everyone, the Coastguard has just issued a severe storm warning, suggesting that all small craft head back to shore to seek shelter. Don't worry, we have the biggest boat in the marina so we should be OK. Just make sure to surface with at least 1000 PSI, in case you cannot get back on the boat when you surface due to rough seas."
Fortunately, the storm passed us by so we surfaced to a bit of chop that was nothing too major. As soon as I got on the boat a crew member asked me if I saw the big shark. When I asked "What Shark?" he told me that he saw a large fin that went under as soon as he noticed my bubbles.
This was a dusk dive on the 4th of July. A vote was taken to see who would like to ancor the boat a few miles out so we could watch the fireworks from a beautiful vantage point. Since the sea was still very choppy and Scopalamine had not yet been invented, I singly voted against it. I got to spend the next two or hours taking inventory of every item that I had put in my stomach earlier that day. Oh yea, rmember the shark comment made by the friendly crew mwmber? It was the only thing that kept me from venturing a long swim to shore that night!
I actually heard a similar "biggest boat in the marina" speech a second time in New York after having already shoved off on the way to diving The Lizzie D. Everyone except the crew, and some diver who was chewing tabbacco the entire time, fed the fish on the way out. My dive buddies vomited through their regulators while I sat the dive out completely dehydrated. Well, a lot of time has passed since then and I learned to plan my boat dives better and ask a lot more questions before committing to a trip with a particular dive operation. I tell you, you can't make this stuff up!
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