When to Abort or "Call" a Dive
My recent experience over the Christmas period in Pulau Sibu where we tried to go scuba diving but due to conditions we had to call it off got me thinking about what are the right reasons to call off a dive, or even let others go but not go yourself. For example, my partner took one look at the waves crashing in onto the beach when we were in Sibu and decided that trying to clamber through those in full scuba gear wasn’t for her and went back to bed. I decided to carry on and try to get out through them and despite getting knocked over once or twice I staggered on through and got to the boat, however, when we got to the dive site we had originally planned to dive the waves were huge, around 4m of surge. We carried on looking for a more sheltered area which we found but when we checked the visibility it was practically zero and we didn’t have a buddy line so we reluctantly called off the dive as it was almost certain we would have lost each other.
So, with this in mind we run through a few examples and scenarios of when we here at southeast Asia diving think it’s right to call off a dive.
Can’t Clear Your Ears
Most diving related injuries are in some way related to ears, and we’re taught on our open water courses that if you can't equalise then you shouldn’t be diving. Unfortunately, most of us will push our bodies too far and take a risk. It can happen all of a sudden, one day you feel fine and the next your ears a re blocked and you can’t equalise. It’s never worth taking the risk and risking a serious injury that could stop you diving for weeks, months or even permanently. Listen to your body and make the right call.
Visibility
There have been a couple of occasions during my scuba diving experience that I have had to call off a dive due to poor visibility, the first was in Bintan, Indonesia whilst I was on a short holiday break. It was out of season and I had arranged with a local dive shop at another hotel to do a couple of dives in the morning. The weather was looking fine and I was hopeful of a good mornings diving however as we descended the visibility was so bad that I lost the guide almost immediately. I remember feel a surge of panic and turning on my light hoping that might help. Realising I was starting to panic I took a few deep breaths and managed to calm myself down before my training kicked in and looked around for a minute before ascending to the surface. Luckily the divemaster had done the same and surfaced at almost the same time as myself - we looked at each other and agreed that this wasn't a good morning to dive and called it off and headed back to the dive centre. The second example was the one described above in Pulau Sibu where we didn’t even attempt to dive. Poor visibility can cause buddies to get separated and things can get worse from there. I’m considering doing the limited visibility PADI speciality at some point in the near future, but even this doesn’t mean you can dive in any conditions.
Current
Current is something that when on the surface most of us will underestimate and even get a little macho about, but it has the ability to cause serious accidents or even fatalities if not given the right respect. When talking about current most people will think about horizontal current sweeping us from one direction to another, drift diving effectively. While this type of current can be fun to dive in, I have had some great experiences in places such as Komodo experiencing “The Shotgun”, it needs to be taken seriously as it can lead to groups and buddies getting separated. Just recently in Pulau Sembilan this happened, luckily one of the dive guides saw what was happening and went off with the group that got swept away. If not drifting with the current it can lead to divers getting exhausted which can in turn lead to accidents as well when attempting to swim into a very strong current. While these current are dangerous, the most dangerous of are up and down current where divers can been plummeted 10m, 20m down or more in a split second leading to equalisation issues, get the same sort of thing happening in reverse, an up current, and over expanded lung injuries can occur as well as decompression sickness. Its always worth making sure you research the local conditions before you dive and ensure you have an experienced guide or divemaster with you to help guide you through. If you’re not comfortable with currents, then there is no shame in calling off the dive.
Waves & Surface Conditions
It might seem a little odd to say that surface conditions could be a good reason to call off a dive, especially as you are below the surface for a dive, but they play a big part. If the waves are too big it can be difficult to get the boat out, or even get back on the boat after a dive. In Timor Leste a couple of years ago the waves were pretty big and getting back on the small outrigger after a dive was physically demanding! Luckily we were all fit and experienced divers, but not everyone would have been able to cope with it. Other considerations may be the weather, a storm could be approaching which may make the journey back to land perilous. Always listen to the local guides who know the area best.
Illness & Fitness
Similar to not being able to clear your ears, if you don’t feel well it isn’t worth risking a dive. Illness can cause fatigue which is a huge influence on judgement and may lead to you making poor decisions. Diving is fun and relaxing but trying to dive when not feeling great can be stressful and not worth it. Likewise, you need to have a relative degree of physical fitness to dive properly and if your not in the right shape then again, probably not worth risking it.
Heavy Night Out
Diving and drinking alcohol don’t really go hand on hand but a lot of us do enjoy a cold beer or three after a days diving. However, if those cold beers turn into something a bit more serious and involves a heavy session then if by some miracle you do manage to wake up in time to scuba dive you may want to consider calling the dive off for you. Alcohol impairs judgement and causes dehydration which increases the risk of decompression sickness. You may want to consider skipping the first dive of the day to give yourself time to recover, or even have a day off and start again after a good nights sleep.
Animal Life
Most aquatic life, even if it has the potential to harm humans, is safe to be around if you follow the right steps and take the advice of someone who knows what they are doing. However there are instances when you may need to call off a dive to stay safe, for example there may be triggerfish protecting a nest being particularly aggressive which could lead to the decision to abort the dive to keep everyone safe. A triggerfish bite can be incredibly painful, especially from a titan! I’ve heard stories about them smashing the tempered glass on masks! Other considerations can be highly dangerous animals such as saltwater crocs - when we were in Raja Ampat we were told that we wouldn’t be able to dive the famous “passage” dive site due to a saltwater croc having taken up residence recently. A shame, but not a creature I would want to take a risk with.
Flying
As travel in and around southeast Asia and many other regions for diving often involves flying it does mean that quite often you’ll need to sit out the final dive of the day to ensure you have enough of a surface interval for your nitrogen levels to drop sufficiently. It can be confusing as there is a lot of different information out there but i generally try to leave an 18 hour gap if I have been doing a single days diving, or 24 hours at least if I have been doing multiple days of diving. I’ve had to miss out on the final dive a few times now and although frustrating and having that FOMO feeling it is often a great time to pack away kit and get things ready for packing later on.
Faulty Equipment
We’ve all been there, you’re on the boat and go to turn on your air and there you hear a hissing sound coming from your first stage, You alert the divemaster and normally they’ll come along and change the o-ring on your tank or tell you its nothing to worry about and that underwater it will seal itself. This is often true but you should never let yourself be talked into diving with faulty or leaking equipment - its your life support system and you have to feel comfortable. I can recall one dive where the exact situation happened to me, there was a hissing sound coming from the first stage when i turned the air on, I had checked on land and couldn’t hear anything but the sound was quite loud. Feeling to embarrassed to say anything I kept quiet and thought it would seal itself underwater. It didn’t and every time i checked my air i could see that it was dropping quicker than normal. This made me feel very uneasy and less and less comfortable as the dive went on, I got to 70bar and let the guide know, thankfully he was alert and saw the slightly worried look in my eyes and got me to the surface. I remembering kicking myself for not having said anything before the dive and feel slightly stupid. The same goes for any other piece of equipment, whether its a dive computer, torch for a night dive or even a broken strap on some fins - if it isn’t working correctly don’t dive.
Gut Feeling
Sometimes there won’t be a specific reason and you just don’t feel right, whether it’s feeling tired as you didn’t sleep well the night before, or you just don’t feel comfortable there is never any shame in just staying on the boat and sitting out a dive. It can often be a great time to catch up on a few chapters of the book you were reading or topping up your tan whilst the others descend below the surface.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the reasons to call of a dive, and hopefully you won’t have to call off due to many of them but always worth being brave enough to make that tough call and live to dive another day!