Deefstes
Contributor
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I think it was Walter who once made a comment along the lines of "Anyone can abort any dive at any time for any reason." I like it and I think it's a mantra all divers should dive by.
That said, I'd be lying if I said that I've never pushed through with a dive that I should probably have aborted because I didn't want to lose money. The fact remains, we travel far and spend large amounts of money to be able to dive so when the conditions are less than ideal we are quite reluctant to accept that we should probably not do the dive or halfway through the dive accept that we should probably abort the dive.
So I'm inviting you to give me some examples where you chose safety over diving and incurred losses as a result. That way, the next time I'm weighing up doing a dive under less than ideal circumstances against the costs of not doing said dive, I will always be able to tell myself "This is nothing, OldDiverAnimal137 back on ScubaBoard has lost out on the cost of a chartered flight to that obscure island in the middle of the Pacific because he decided not to dive with that stuttering regulator."
I suppose the converse of this question is just as poignant; "what is the cost of not choosing safety?" I can relate at least one case where we drove to southern Mozambique (and took a few days' leave). On arrival it turned out that the seas were far too rough for launching a dive boat (we do surf launches remember) and all diving was on hold. We had planned on doing 3 dives a day so when this situation persisted for three days (out of the five that we were booked and paid for) our frustrationwith not being able to dive was really mounting. By day 4 the conditions improved somewhat and the operator relented and agreed to launch.
Apart from the launch being harrowing the dive was unpleasant with large swells on the surface, very low viz, heavy surge and strong current. On returning to shore though things turned ugly and with the violent beaching my wife broke her nose and her foot. Needless to say, that was the end of our stay. We promptly got back in the car and drove her to a hospital in Johannesburg.
Had we decided not to do that dive we might still have been able to dive on the 5th day, we wouldn't have lost out on another night's accommodation that was already paid for and, of course, we would have incurred none of those medical expenses and permanent scars to an otherwise beautiful foot and nose.
Long story short;
1. Tell me about your experiences of choosing safety over diving and how much you lost as a result.
and / or
2. Tell me about your experiences of not choosing safety over diving and the price you paid as a result.
That said, I'd be lying if I said that I've never pushed through with a dive that I should probably have aborted because I didn't want to lose money. The fact remains, we travel far and spend large amounts of money to be able to dive so when the conditions are less than ideal we are quite reluctant to accept that we should probably not do the dive or halfway through the dive accept that we should probably abort the dive.
So I'm inviting you to give me some examples where you chose safety over diving and incurred losses as a result. That way, the next time I'm weighing up doing a dive under less than ideal circumstances against the costs of not doing said dive, I will always be able to tell myself "This is nothing, OldDiverAnimal137 back on ScubaBoard has lost out on the cost of a chartered flight to that obscure island in the middle of the Pacific because he decided not to dive with that stuttering regulator."
I suppose the converse of this question is just as poignant; "what is the cost of not choosing safety?" I can relate at least one case where we drove to southern Mozambique (and took a few days' leave). On arrival it turned out that the seas were far too rough for launching a dive boat (we do surf launches remember) and all diving was on hold. We had planned on doing 3 dives a day so when this situation persisted for three days (out of the five that we were booked and paid for) our frustrationwith not being able to dive was really mounting. By day 4 the conditions improved somewhat and the operator relented and agreed to launch.
Apart from the launch being harrowing the dive was unpleasant with large swells on the surface, very low viz, heavy surge and strong current. On returning to shore though things turned ugly and with the violent beaching my wife broke her nose and her foot. Needless to say, that was the end of our stay. We promptly got back in the car and drove her to a hospital in Johannesburg.
Had we decided not to do that dive we might still have been able to dive on the 5th day, we wouldn't have lost out on another night's accommodation that was already paid for and, of course, we would have incurred none of those medical expenses and permanent scars to an otherwise beautiful foot and nose.
Long story short;
1. Tell me about your experiences of choosing safety over diving and how much you lost as a result.
and / or
2. Tell me about your experiences of not choosing safety over diving and the price you paid as a result.