Here's the story:
I was on a charter to the Straits of Mackinaw. Friday was a gorgeous day and I did a deco dive on a shipwreck at 120 ft. followed by an "off gas" dive on a shallower (70 ft). This was a lovely day to be on the water.
The next two days get more complicated. We had twelve or so people sign up for the two day charter (The first day was considered an Advanced/ Tech charter.) which is geared more towards newer divers. The charter operator is not based out of Mackinaw and had to trailer a smaller boat up there. This boat is a six-pack meaning that we split the charter into a morning and afternoon grouping. I orginally took the morning and agreed to move to the afternoon to let a married couple dive in the morning.
Saturday's dives went great. Weather was beautiful. Our first dive was on a schooner that was discovered last year. The second was on a shallower boat (about 70 ft again). The highlight of this trip to most of us was going to be the Cedarville which is about 100 ft. down.
Today was where the "rock and a hard place decision" came in. The weather kicked up (as it will on the Great Lakes). The morning group was in the middle of it and got to continue diving. They did two dives on the Cedarville and got back a little late. Prior to their coming back, the decision was made by the shop representative in the harbor to send the afternoon divers home.
I agreed with it, but have to admit that it is a major inconvience. The dive location is roughly 2 1/2 hrs. to 3 hrs. one way from where most of us live. On a dive schedule like this that necessitates staying in a hotel after a long dive. If I could have predicted that I wasn't diving Sunday, I could have skipped the room for Saturday night (definite) and would have considered it for Friday as with an afternoon schedule I could have driven home after Friday's dives and been back on the pier for dives Saturday afternoon. I wasn't going to try this if three days of diving with very little recovery time was involved. It was really frustrating when I saw very little but clear skies and sun on most of the way home, LOL.
I little of this is whining, I admit. Much of it though is saying that many times making the safe decision can be very difficult. The shop representative who presented me with that decision had also wanted to dive the Cedarville. He wasn't overly happy about it either, but what will you do when you see lightning in the horizon.
I am certainly glad that they made the decision early as I would have hated to go to the trouble to have my gear out of my car on the pier (parking here is a ways away when you are lugging gear and tanks) and be told "Oops, we're blown off!". Imagine what my response would have been to that!
I was on a charter to the Straits of Mackinaw. Friday was a gorgeous day and I did a deco dive on a shipwreck at 120 ft. followed by an "off gas" dive on a shallower (70 ft). This was a lovely day to be on the water.
The next two days get more complicated. We had twelve or so people sign up for the two day charter (The first day was considered an Advanced/ Tech charter.) which is geared more towards newer divers. The charter operator is not based out of Mackinaw and had to trailer a smaller boat up there. This boat is a six-pack meaning that we split the charter into a morning and afternoon grouping. I orginally took the morning and agreed to move to the afternoon to let a married couple dive in the morning.
Saturday's dives went great. Weather was beautiful. Our first dive was on a schooner that was discovered last year. The second was on a shallower boat (about 70 ft again). The highlight of this trip to most of us was going to be the Cedarville which is about 100 ft. down.
Today was where the "rock and a hard place decision" came in. The weather kicked up (as it will on the Great Lakes). The morning group was in the middle of it and got to continue diving. They did two dives on the Cedarville and got back a little late. Prior to their coming back, the decision was made by the shop representative in the harbor to send the afternoon divers home.
I agreed with it, but have to admit that it is a major inconvience. The dive location is roughly 2 1/2 hrs. to 3 hrs. one way from where most of us live. On a dive schedule like this that necessitates staying in a hotel after a long dive. If I could have predicted that I wasn't diving Sunday, I could have skipped the room for Saturday night (definite) and would have considered it for Friday as with an afternoon schedule I could have driven home after Friday's dives and been back on the pier for dives Saturday afternoon. I wasn't going to try this if three days of diving with very little recovery time was involved. It was really frustrating when I saw very little but clear skies and sun on most of the way home, LOL.
I little of this is whining, I admit. Much of it though is saying that many times making the safe decision can be very difficult. The shop representative who presented me with that decision had also wanted to dive the Cedarville. He wasn't overly happy about it either, but what will you do when you see lightning in the horizon.
I am certainly glad that they made the decision early as I would have hated to go to the trouble to have my gear out of my car on the pier (parking here is a ways away when you are lugging gear and tanks) and be told "Oops, we're blown off!". Imagine what my response would have been to that!