OP
And there goes an arm!
Night diving question
- Thread starter misdmnr
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When it comes to our weekend casual fun diving, my friends and I have long been practitioners of the "anyone can call a dive anytime for any reason" ethos, so I won't repeat what has already been well stated in previous posts.
But we do take it one step further.
When we say "anytime" that also includes
Usually there's a good reason for cancelling or ending a dive, but occasionally the reason given falls below our personal standards.
The reality is sometimes divers wake up in the morning and they're just not feeling it. Maybe thinking about the cold or the hassles of gearing up, or how nice a couple more hours of sleep would be.
Who hasn't felt that way at sometime?
We'd all like to know why a dive is stoped, or a dive plan cancelled, but we don't make a big deal about it.
Diving is a life-long activity. There's always another dive coming soon.
Get over it.
Admittedly, living on the coast near our dive sites, has advantages. Travel commitments are minimal, and we plan dives more frequently. So it's easier for us to make allowances than it is for others living elsewhere. I acknowledge this.
Bottom line is everyone is doing this for fun.
Nobody should feel they have to do this if they're not physically or mentally in it 100%.
I dive a lot with new divers.
I think I've seen the whole pre-dive spectrum from animalistic anxiety to uber-enthusiasm.
If you want to be a mentor, if you want to be a positive role model, you need to be prepared to sacrifice your plans and your expectations for the good of your friends.
Bullying buddies into doing a dive they don't want to do, or dumping blame on them for calling a dive, is rotten.
That said, there is another side to this.
If a diver consistently cancels dives, they are less likely to be invited back.
So, choices have ramifications too.
K
But we do take it one step further.
When we say "anytime" that also includes
- Before getting in the water.
- Before gearing up.
- Even before getting to the dive site.
Usually there's a good reason for cancelling or ending a dive, but occasionally the reason given falls below our personal standards.
The reality is sometimes divers wake up in the morning and they're just not feeling it. Maybe thinking about the cold or the hassles of gearing up, or how nice a couple more hours of sleep would be.
Who hasn't felt that way at sometime?
We'd all like to know why a dive is stoped, or a dive plan cancelled, but we don't make a big deal about it.
Diving is a life-long activity. There's always another dive coming soon.
Get over it.
Admittedly, living on the coast near our dive sites, has advantages. Travel commitments are minimal, and we plan dives more frequently. So it's easier for us to make allowances than it is for others living elsewhere. I acknowledge this.
Bottom line is everyone is doing this for fun.
Nobody should feel they have to do this if they're not physically or mentally in it 100%.
I dive a lot with new divers.
I think I've seen the whole pre-dive spectrum from animalistic anxiety to uber-enthusiasm.
If you want to be a mentor, if you want to be a positive role model, you need to be prepared to sacrifice your plans and your expectations for the good of your friends.
Bullying buddies into doing a dive they don't want to do, or dumping blame on them for calling a dive, is rotten.
That said, there is another side to this.
If a diver consistently cancels dives, they are less likely to be invited back.
So, choices have ramifications too.
K
In2theabyss
Contributor
Call the dive at any time...without being chastized! If you are uncomfortable then the air goes quicker, you cannot enjoy the dive, the diving routine you have is interupted so you start missing things like how much gas you have left, depth etc. So you did the right thing and should feel good with it
Scuba Lawyer
Contributor
To the OP: I applaud you and your decision to end the dive. Those who don't follow their gut (spidy-sense, whatever) become statistics. As others have said, there is no "fault " or blame here. I can't even count the number of dives I've called over the past 50+ years of diving. (Before - due to weather, sea conditions, health, uneasy feeling....; During - everything from just not feeling right to equipment issues to having aggressive large sharks circling me). If a buddy decides to end the dive prematurely, I don't care what the reason is. I figure if it was a reason in their mind it's good enough for me. A true diver does not assign or accept guilt or blame and lives to dive another day. Ok, I've rambled on long enough. Have to force myself to get back to work. Now where did my coffee go....... M
OP
I think we have a consensus here...although there was a dude on my liveaboard last year who I bet he wishes he finished the dive early when the tarpons started to circle...
One big boy scooted by him and in one move, swallowed a brand new sola 3800 from his loctite arm on his GoPro rig..just took it right off in a second...on the first daythe poor guy was inconsolable...it was basically a $750 dive for him
Here fishy fishy.....guys we are having fish tonite, I need my light back
It almost goes without saying that anyone can call a dive before or during a dive. I can see that a buddy might be disappointed , but should be grown up about it. It does not matter wether the reason is anxiety, kit failure, illness or another reason in my view. If your ''buddy'' cannot actually be a good ''buddy'' then get a new one. Do not remotely feel that you were at fault.
So now that you have gotten this conversation started (and I agree with the conventional wisdom about anyone can thumb any dive without question), can you share a bit more about the specifics?
Was this a regular buddy? What was the conversation before the dive? Were you mainly concerned about the Tarpon being aggressive? The night dive itself? Something else more related to diving in general? How did your buddy communicate the fact that they were upset?
I'm not implying that you did anything wrong, but a more informed discussion might be a good teaching experience so that this doesn't happen again, and others might learn from the process.
Of course pretty much every reasonable diver is going to say that anyone can thumb any dive at any time for any reason, but the thread could be more interesting if it wasn't just a series of those posts.
This weekend one of my buddies was very apologetic because she was feeling too cold and ended the second dive early.
Told her she should just end the dive whenever she needed to.
She was probably apologetic because she invited a friend to test a new drysuit and I called the dive when I saw him being unable to recover his buoyancy because he was underweighted, so she thought maybe I would feel annoyed that both dives were called by herself and her friend.
You were right to call the dive and if your buddy makes you feel bad about it, you should consider either setting the record straight or find another buddy as safety comes first.
@doctormike makes a good point though.
Was the buddy angry because he does not opportunities to dive this spot again or was he travelling from far ? Just trying to under more what happened.
Told her she should just end the dive whenever she needed to.
She was probably apologetic because she invited a friend to test a new drysuit and I called the dive when I saw him being unable to recover his buoyancy because he was underweighted, so she thought maybe I would feel annoyed that both dives were called by herself and her friend.
You were right to call the dive and if your buddy makes you feel bad about it, you should consider either setting the record straight or find another buddy as safety comes first.
@doctormike makes a good point though.
Was the buddy angry because he does not opportunities to dive this spot again or was he travelling from far ? Just trying to under more what happened.
Scuba Lawyer
Contributor
All of this discussion got me to thinking about the extremes of when I have called a dive (excluding weather and sea conditions and illness).
As best as I can recall, the silliest reason was a dive in 40 feet of water off my boat. Beautiful day, calm, warm water, great visibility, equipment working great..... All of the sudden I started thinking about a legal issue involving one of my clients and I could not get it out of my head. I realized I wasn’t paying attention to depth, direction, air consumption, let alone where my buddy was ... I have zero problem separating work from play, or diving on my own for that matter, but that day was different. I just came up, opened a beer and stuck a fishing pole over the side.
The most extreme reason was during a cave dive maybe 19 years ago. To set the scene, there were five of us. We were maybe a 1/2 mile back laterally from the cave entrance under the floor of the Mexican jungle laying new line in a side passage. We had twin back-mounted 80s and two 80 cu ft stage bottles each (we had dropped the stages on our way in by that point). We were going through a long restriction single file (I recall we didn’t anticipate the restriction to go on for that length). I get claustrophobic in an OPEN MRI unit but never when cave diving; until this one point. All of the sudden I realized that if any of the three guys behind me had a problem and blocked the passage I was screwed. It was not possible to turn around at that point due to the size of the passage. I resisted a rising panic, and as soon as we all emerged into the next big chamber where we could turn around I called the dive. Just was not comfortable and I didn’t want to continue the dive knowing we had to ultimately traverse the same long restriction on the way back out. Just wanted to turn around then and there and get it over with. I took the lead and we spaced out so everyone went through not all bunched up. Of course I got teased, chided, cajoled, and made to buy drinks for everyone back at the hotel but I did what I had to do and everyone respected that.
Funny how memory is. All of that seems like yesterday. Mark
Cenote Esqueleto (Temple of Doom) - Bill & Mark
As best as I can recall, the silliest reason was a dive in 40 feet of water off my boat. Beautiful day, calm, warm water, great visibility, equipment working great..... All of the sudden I started thinking about a legal issue involving one of my clients and I could not get it out of my head. I realized I wasn’t paying attention to depth, direction, air consumption, let alone where my buddy was ... I have zero problem separating work from play, or diving on my own for that matter, but that day was different. I just came up, opened a beer and stuck a fishing pole over the side.
The most extreme reason was during a cave dive maybe 19 years ago. To set the scene, there were five of us. We were maybe a 1/2 mile back laterally from the cave entrance under the floor of the Mexican jungle laying new line in a side passage. We had twin back-mounted 80s and two 80 cu ft stage bottles each (we had dropped the stages on our way in by that point). We were going through a long restriction single file (I recall we didn’t anticipate the restriction to go on for that length). I get claustrophobic in an OPEN MRI unit but never when cave diving; until this one point. All of the sudden I realized that if any of the three guys behind me had a problem and blocked the passage I was screwed. It was not possible to turn around at that point due to the size of the passage. I resisted a rising panic, and as soon as we all emerged into the next big chamber where we could turn around I called the dive. Just was not comfortable and I didn’t want to continue the dive knowing we had to ultimately traverse the same long restriction on the way back out. Just wanted to turn around then and there and get it over with. I took the lead and we spaced out so everyone went through not all bunched up. Of course I got teased, chided, cajoled, and made to buy drinks for everyone back at the hotel but I did what I had to do and everyone respected that.
Funny how memory is. All of that seems like yesterday. Mark
Cenote Esqueleto (Temple of Doom) - Bill & Mark
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