When do YOU call a dive???

[freewillie]

I never let my desire and emotions to get in the water and dive over ride my rational logical side that starts to tell me conditions aren't reight to dive. That includes sitting out dives on a boat and not "getting my money's worth" after paying for gear and spot on the boat.

My first experience thumbing a dive was just after OW certification. I emailed a friend with more experience and thought we had a morning set up to meet and go diving. When I arrived, no friend. For a moment I thought about going solo, but logic told me I hadn't even been in the water without my instructor and went home disappointed. Sometimes discretion becomes the better part of valor.

Several times after that with my daughter as my dive buddy we thumbed a few dives not because the conditions were bad but because she simply didn't feel like getting in the water again. She is not a big fan of cold water diving and we are still working on getting her exposure suit properly outfitted. Twice we thumbed a dive because she was simply too cold after the first dive to get in the water. I didn't want to go solo and leave her on the boat by herself. The worst time was when we had very choppy seas getting out to the dive site. We both got sick and didn't feel better after getting in the water. She felt so queasy she sat out the second dive. We got back to port feeling green around the gills and stopped at a local Denny's to see if eating would make it feel better. I thought the whole day was going into the dumpster but driving home she said, "thank you Daddy for taking me diving. I had a really good time today." Go figure.

Sometimes it is the walk that is the experience, not necessarily the destination itself. Besides, there will always be another day to dive.

 

[redacted]

I don't like to miss a planned dive. The only one I recall passing on was my 1st spring trip to FGB. 5mm should be fine in 65 degrees - wrong. I spent the night dive in my bunk under two blankets after I made sure my buddy paired up with another diver. I didn't even come up for brownies and ice cream.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

How about just plain ol' grumpy???

These have all been great answers so far, but let's up the ante a bit. Have you ever felt coerced into making a dive that you feel you should have called? If so, did you feel bullied or just subject to a bit of peer pressure? What was your final decision? Were you right or wrong about the dive?

I have never been pressured. My problem is the opposite. I had to let my buddies / son's call a couple of dives even though I knew it was OK. It was hard, I really wanted to dive but if I did not respect their call and pressured them into the dive what kind of dad would I be?

I have done some dives that in retrospect were stupid, but they were my own ideas and most were as a teen.

 

[spectrum]

Like some have outlined there are a number of milestones between conception and bottom time and together they form a decision tree.

I try to keep an eye on forecasts and conditions and have called off or modified plans when decent conditions weren't in the cards. Over time my criteria has extended beyond safety to include personal time management. If fair seas are likely but visibility is bound to be nill I may very well scratch the dive before even loading gear to get other things done, so I can dive another time. tis is especially tru if the drive time is significant. As much as i love to dive and hang with the friends a day is a terrible thing to waste.

Sometimes all of the planning and monitoring still yields a surprise at the dive site and if it looks ugly or soon be bad I have scratched. Being with a novice diver my wife or solo will elevate my caution in making this decision. I have sat out a dive or 2 while others in the group made a dive. In one case a buddy went for a washing machine ride and that left me felling good about my decision.

I have called dives early on when visibility and diver skills resulted in repeated separation.

Another time a buddy had a gear issue and we needed to fight current to get back to the boat platform. Once we got back i was whopped and declined getting back in the water.

Thinking back (knock on wood) I can't remember a dive where I aborted a dive for a gear failure. I have had dives where we exited the water to get a buddy going on back-up equipment. In some cases whet they had might have been OK but we took the safe route.

In the end having a few instances where you were there with passion but chose not to dive is very empowering and adds some self confidence to your faith in your own ability to make a sound safety decision.

Pete

 

[flots am]

So, what keeps YOU out of the water?

I'll bite. Here's my list:

• Sky looked creepy. Nothing definite, but had the potential to turn nasty. It did. I was never happier to be sitting in a bar with a burger and a beer, staring out over the ocean.
• Woke up in the motel and felt like crap (probably snoring from mold allergies). Sky was gray and it was raining. Rolled over and went back to sleep. Had a nice breakfast around noon.
• Boat sank. They sent a replacement boat that already had other divers in the water. Dive op wanted to do the second dive. I called my "You only get one chance to kill me" rule and stayed out for the second dive. Not a bad call. The second boat driver wasn't very good at finding both his divers and our divers and spent a long time circling the dive site trying to find everybody. Nothing says "safe dive" like an overloaded boat with a running prop circling over a poorly defined group of divers.
• Buddy said he "didn't feel right". We stayed on the boat.

flots.

 

[harbordiver]

I remember, years back, while training with Tom Mount he mentioned that in almost all the serious incidents he knew about in the tech community, the divers involved had some bad feelings before the dive but ignored them. I had a bad feeling before launching through some tough skiing terrain last year but ignored it....broke my neck... recovered, but won't ignore such "feelings" again... ie. I'll call the dive if it doesn't "feel" right.
That said, I've never thumbed a dive under water.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

 

[TMHeimer]

I'd call a dive for all the logical reasons already mentioned. Sick (I get sick like once a year-really sick-into my sinuses-usually 3 weeks no diving. But that's not really "calling" a planned dive), equipment malfunction, the prospect or prediction of thunderstorms, unsafe water conditions of several kinds- current, zero viz or very low viz (like 1 foot) combined with nasty surge. To be honest, in over 300 dives I think the only times I actually called planned dives were situations that presented like-- max depth of 5', muddy/silty bottom, 1 foot viz, etc. --these would be times I just drove around seeking shore dives and they sucked. I don't recall ever calling a dive due to water/weather conditions. Perhaps being retired helps a lot--I tend to plan dives for good days--days when there is either little wind or offshore wind, a reasonable amount of sun to enhance viz, etc. If the weather looks bad for the day I planned I'll just go a day or two later.

 

[vladimir]

I have called very few dives, ever. A few because of challenging conditions and one for nausea. Those were called while still on the boat. I have called dives because I felt my previous dives were a little bit aggressive and I needed some extra off-gassing, but there's a very fine line on a liveaboard between "calling" a dive and just deciding to put your feet up after lunch. I have called a few dives in the water because I couldn't clear my ears.

While we're on it, is it ever permissible to apply peer pressure to a reluctant diver?

No. Who needs that responsibility? While a nauseous diver might feel better underwater, he might also function with diminished capacity.

 

[dmoore19]

I called a dive on Grand Cayman because I had problems with my ears the dive before. When I got home, I ended up going to the doctor to treat an ear infection. I have passed on a couple of 4th dive of the day because I was tired and just wanted a cold beer and to kick back and watch the sunset.

 

[phoenix31tt]

instructor/guide called a dive today because of a combination of two unfavorable factors... 1. Low vis (3-5ft) 2. Strong topside current one direction, strong bottom current in the opposite direction)..

now we've dove in both conditions when they existed alone (low vis OR strong currents)... but the combination caused him to thumb the dive...