When have you called a dive and why?

[mdb]

. I would like to hear some imput as to what has led divers to call a dive, besides from bad weather conditions. Is it hunches? Gear problems? Buddie problems, ect.. .

RJTY: I've called a number of dives for various reasons: standing on the shore watching the surf and deciding, not today, Jumping in and finding a ripping current and low vis and coming back aboard with almost full tanks, driving up the Northern California coast, gearing up, ready to go, and having a park ranger point out that a GW shark had been patrolling the coast line next to some frolicking seal pups within the last 15 minutes, sometimes it just makes sense to have a nice lunch by the water and try another day.

 

[Gary D.]

I will guarantee that I have called more dives than anyone else has on this board. I have most likely called more that the bulk of this boarded all added together.

The bottom line is, IF IT DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT IT MOST LIKELY ISN’T”.

There should be no reason for calling a dive. If something inside say don’t, then don’t, call it. There is always another day unless you don’t call one you should have.

No excuses, No explanations, No reasons, No embarrassment.

Doing something because your afraid of what others will think, commonly known as Peer Pressure kills more people than anything else does.

Even the Navy divers can call one with no explanation.

I have called dives where I could see the bottom in dead clam conditions on a low-key operation. There is no criteria that one has to go by, period.

Gary D.

 

[justleesa]

Like the others I've called a dive because of sea conditions - too choppy, too much current, surge or very bad vis.

Then I've called dives when I have gotten too sea sick to get back in my gear, I just don't do good on a bouncing boat....yeah I know "get in the water and you'll be fine"....but there are times when you are just too weak from chumming and you just can't.

 

[Kwbyron]

During my AO/W class, we were going deep but the instructor wanted to do a skills review before descinding.... didn't go well, and I actually ran low on air by the time everyone was done, so we re-scheduled to deep dive.
First night dive after the class, primary light flooded, we ended up thumbing the dive...I never thought about making a night dive with my backup, I was under the impression that was a light to get you back to the surface with, nothing more...
Thumbed a second dive a while back after I had issues venting a drysuite... mine was at the LDS waiting to get a leaf fixed.... had to use a line to ascend and get nearly on my back to get the valve to vent, was also demoing a transpac...learned the homage of change one piece of gear at a time. I was going to make a second dive after that one, but rescheduled it for later on in the day so I could go pickup my dry suit

 

[limeyx]

The last couple of days, there has been much discussion involving accidents, comfort, and safety. I would like to hear some imput as to what has led divers to call a dive, besides from bad weather conditions. Is it hunches? Gear problems? Buddie problems, ect.. Personally, I have not been in a position where I felt as I needed to call a dive. This could be a great learning thread for me as my diving experience increases. Maybe I will find myself in the same situation and decide to call a dive also.

called one because i didn't have a P-valve and needed to go.

 

[Walter]

i'm trying to think really hard ... i ususally don't get in the water if things are iffy, so calling dives for me is pretty rare

That is calling a dive.

 

[TSandM]

I have to sometimes tell them that the only way to ruin my dive is to force me to rescue them.

That's a great line, Bob!

 

[michaelp68]

I don't have many dives yet. But one sticks out in my memory.

It was a boat dive to a planned max depth of about 60 feet.

I was descending the anchor line with my buddy. When I hit about 20 feet, my mask completely flooded. No big deal. Stopped and cleared it. It instantly reflooded. Still no big deal. Cleared it and made sure skirt not overlapping hood. Went throught the process 5 more times. Finally started to lose my marbles and freaked out a bit. Calmed myself down. Did a slow ascent (still on the line) with the flooded mask after trying and failing to fix the problem at least half a dozen times. Upon surfacing, I realized my "buddy" was long gone and the reason for my mask problem was something I'd inadvertantly (and stupidly) done with the strap which was pulling the mask funny on my face.

Floating on the surface, I fixed the problem and then decided that instead of descending and resuming the dive, since I'd had a time of panic, I'd abort the dive. I thought I'd already panicked unnecessarily on this dive. Time to end it.

 

[H2Andy]

That is calling a dive.

i see...

i was defining calling a dive as actually being in the water and calling it

hmmm... well, i've called quite a few dives on sinus problems. i've called
several dives on seasickness (usually don't make the second of a two-tank
dive).

i've called a couple of dives on tiredness from previous dives.

i've called one dive after talking to my prospective buddy (first time
we met was at dive site)

but i call these "cancelling" the dive. i don't think you can "call" the dive
until after it starts.

 

[wstein]

I have called 3 dives, one do to not being able to equalize, another due to being to dang cold, and the third the current was way to rough for me or my buddy.