The Rule of Fun: what do you do when you aren't having any?

[drrich2]

I very rarely call a vacation dive; too much time, money & more invested in a trip whose value is largely determined by what happens in the time spent underwater on scuba. I recall doing so once, when I felt non-specifically awful for a variety of reasons, particularly travel complications with other factors superimposed. I had a private guide for that dive; no buddy was affected.

Otherwise, I figure plan to dive 'group style' following a 'tour leader,' or be ready to solo dive, and either way, someone else calling a dive doesn't matter. What's it to me (aside from general sympathy to a fellow human being disappointed by the loss of an opportunity he paid for) if someone else calls a dive if it does not affect me?

Depending on the type of dive you're doing, and the dive op. (if boat diving), you may have options so that it doesn't affect you. And hopefully your calling a dive won't take away anyone else's fun.

Anybody can get an acute onset middle ear infection, be unable to equalize and have to call a dive. If one specific buddy's participation is 'make or break' for you, you've got one more potential thing to go wrong on your dive trip. And maybe, so does he.

Richard.

 

[PfcAJ]

Fun to me is variable. Most of the time I'm having fun, but on other parts of the dive it isn't fun, but will become or was fun so I deal with the not fun parts.

Like an extended deco. Not really fun, but unavoidable for some dives. Lots of gear is also not fun, but I might have to put up with a bunch of gear to have a safe and fun dive. Some dives are work with a bigger purpose involved. Absolutely not fun, and sometimes a real kick in the ass, but the bigger picture is fun and worth the work put in to get the job done. Loading and unloading gear isn't really fun, but a required step if I wanna have fun since I don't have a dive concierge

The worst feeling is doing a dive and feeling like it wasn't worth the effort. That's tough. Few and far between though.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Not having fun???? No such animal. Every dive brings some form of enjoyment. It may be marine life. It may be testing new gear. It may be just blowing bubbles. In over 30 years I haven't had a dive when I wanted to call it.

 

[David Wilson]

The topic of this thread reminded me of one of my favourite diving books, Your Guide to Underwater Adventure by Peter Small, first published in 1957:

Peter Small was one of the founder members of the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC). It is especially poignant that five years after the publication of his book, this British journalist and diving pioneer died while helping Swiss scientist Hannes Keller establish a world diving depth record in 1962. The book is a real gem, full of wise advice, references to contemporary equipment by brand and model, simple line drawings of gear and snorkelling techniques. One photograph, which I have scanned and reproduced below, sums up his vision of diving:

It's a picture of a mid-1950s British family snorkelling at the seaside somewhere in the UK, hardly the standard picture found in most modern diving books, where the reader is more likely to be regaled with images of well-toned beauties, draped in the most elaborate, expensive and colourful equipment on sale, scuba-diving in some tropical paradise. Just in case the picture's caption isn't clear, it reads "If underwater swimming is not fun, it's not anything". A simple message for a modern age when diving sometimes strikes me as an over-priced, over-engineered and over-specialised pursuit. When I purchased it in my early teens, Peter Small's 119-page tome helped me fall in love with snorkelling, which has become a lifelong passion for me. I owe the author a big debt of gratitude.

 

[Neilwood]

Only called a dive once - was actually one of my AOW dives. Went off the back of the boat, signalled down to my instructor & buddy, they signalled back so I descended. Absolute pea soup (green with vis about 2-3ft). Couldn't see my buddy or instructor so came back to surface. Turns out buddy was having issues with his new drysuit so couldn't get down. Instructor says "What's the vis like?" which was met by "2-3ft" so he says "what do you think?". "Call it" was the response and he agreed (he still hadn't made it off the surface so no clue as to what was below).

Discussed it back on the boat and we all agreed it wouldn't have been any fun, we wouldn't have learned anything and we would all have been stressed. Instructor patted me on the back and said "right call m8".

Went back the following week to vis of 60-100ft - result!

 

[The Chairman]

Interesting replies...I make a point of letting my students know that this rule applies to training. Training should be fun, fun, fun. If it's not, there's usually something stealing the fun. After all, we're playing like we're "Jackie Coo-stow" as my mom would call him, and that's fun right there.

Sure, there are times with long decos and I often ask myself is the dive worth that? How can I make it fun? In Ginnie, I love to find and chase the tiny flounder. In the Bahamas, I once played with a Golden Chain eel. I was lucky that I had a wall where I could stay at my depth and still play.

Those are minimal attacks on my fun. What about real annoyances? A leaky mask, ill fitting fins, a BC that allows your tank to wobble or even a buddy who has no issues with kneeling on the reef? I had an SBer want to show me all about spear fishing. We were off Tampa in 60ish feet of water as he lined up and shot a rather large black grouper. Mr. Bull Sharky took the opportunity and swam right over us, brushing me with his tail, and grabbed the flailing grouper. My buddy pulled the shark to us with the spear leash and proceeded to club the feeding shark with his spear gun. He went freakazoid as far as I was concerned. Again, I was hit by the Mr. Sharky's tail! Soon enough, Mr. Sharky tore the body away and left us with a head. We were low on pressure and ended the dive. As he was switching tanks, and cussing at Mr. Sharky, he encouraged me to do the same. "That's OK, I have to sit this next one out: I've got a bone in my leg!" He thought I was freaked by seeing Mr. Sharky when I was more freaked by how he reacted to Mr. Sharky. I have no desire to dive with him again. Ever.

 

[The Chairman]

Quit.

This happens all too often and is a constant topic among industry professionals. It's my opinion that one of the greatest problems among current divers is a lack of buoyancy control. They can't maintain their depth and look like yo-yos in the water. They sink precipitously, fill their BC with air, only to dump it as they start to race to the surface and the scene repeats itself over and over during the dive. There's no need for this, it can't be much fun and I encourage instructors to learn how to impart satisfactory buoyancy control within the confines of your OW class. The control of your depth directly affects your ability to have fun during a dive. White knuckles are fine on a roller coaster, but not during a dive. White knuckle divers do just what Marie suggests: they quit.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not only do my buddy and I abide by the common rule of "anyone can call any dive at any time for any reason without it being questioned" but we often make a point--not even necessarily during the dive trip but just as part of conversation about diving--that NOT HAVING FUN is a very good reason for calling a dive.

I think I picked up the idea of the importance of "having fun" from Lynne's (TSandM) many posts in which she mentioned "fun."

My buddy and I have occasionally called a dive for running out of fun. It's kind of hard to do on a charter boat, but we have certainly called shore dives, even in Bonaire, where it's hard to imagine running out of fun before running out of gas or no-deco time, but we have at least once. Maybe we're fighting an unexpected current. Maybe we got chilly--that can happen even in the tropics on the last of several dives in a day, when it's cloudy/drizzly, and you seemingly never get to really warm up. Maybe the goal of the dive was "to see X," and we accomplished it and, messed around a while longer, and got bored. We have called plenty of training dives, when we simply got tired of doing drills. Lots of reasons we might run out of fun.

Fortunately, my wife is my buddy, and we tend to think alike (at least in this regard), so I know that when I feel like I'm running out of fun and am considering calling the dive, she probably is, too.

 

[The Chairman]

Not having fun can turn interesting. Up to you...

I hurt my Achilles tendon while we were in the Philippines last year. You can even see the bump where it's tearing. It has affected my diving dramatically, and during our trip to Cayman Brac, the weather was just too harsh for me to dive. I went exploring the island instead. No, I couldn't go on long hikes, but I made it to most of the dry caves on the island, saw some awesome vistas and learned a great bit about their history. I had as much fun doing that as the people who got to splash. So yes, if you can't dive for whatever reason, don't let it spoil your fun. Find something else to do and make your fun.

 

[Hoag]

My Rule of Fun states that you can call a dive at any time, for any reason with no questions asked and no repercussions. It's all about knowing your limits and then honoring them before you exceed them. You should always be in control because being out of control is just no fun. Since we dive for fun, there's no need for us to simply grit it and continue on. We need to stop and figure out why we're not having fun and call the dive(s) until we can figure it out.

So what does it mean? What does it mean to you? How should it affect your diving?

First of all, IMHO, if you aren't having fun when (recreational) diving, then why bother? Life is too short to spend that much time, money and effort doing something you don't think is fun! If you don't find diving fun, then find something that you do love and pursue it.

Having said that, I absolutely agree in general, but if my buddy or even someone in our group aborts a dive, then as far as I am concerned, there are always questions asked. Nobody aborts a dive for no reason", so the first thing I will ask is "Are you OK?". Then, I will ask "What happened and is there any thing I can do?". Never any judgement (except for a few really good friends who if I didn't give them a hard time, they would think I actually was angry).

I also agree that in most circumstances, being out of control is no fun. There are a few dives, however, where being out of control is the whole allure of the dive. The "Washing Machine" in the Bahamas comes to mind.

As I have expressed on other posts, I strongly agree to knowing and staying within one's limits.

Roughly 2/3 of the planet is water. Scuba divers are so incredibly fortunate that we are part of a very small part of the global population that gets a glimpse into that other whole other aspect of our world.