Dive Another Day

It was a beautiful summer day in the Puget Sound and I was working toward my divemaster certification by helping an instructor teach an Advanced Open Water (AOW) class. We had an enthusiastic group of students and they had done a great job with their navigation exercises earlier in the day at Edmonds Underwater Park. 

We all took a break for a few hours to go home, get warm and rest up, looking forward to regrouping for an exciting night dive later that night. When we arrived at the site the sun was setting over the water and you could see ferries coming and going across the sound. The calm day had gotten a little more interesting with some wind kicking up some surface chop. Nonetheless we were all eager to get in the water and go for another dive. For some of the divers this was the first night dive of their career. After a pre-dive briefing and buddy safety checks at the surface we got in the water and started to swim to the descent point. 

Before we could even start our descent, our group started to get spread out. A fairly strong current was passing through the site parallel to shore carrying a few of the students several yards downshore almost as soon as we stepped in the water.  Moreover, when we checked the visibility by dipping our masks in the water we could see nothing the visibility was maybe 1-2 feet. Even in water shallow enough to stand in we couldn't see the bottom. To make matters worse the chop had picked up and we were all bobbing around like corks, and it was  bit hard to see and hear each other over the noise and the waves. 

I was relieved when the instructor, realizing the conditions were not good, told us it was time to cancel the dive and try again another night. We were disappointed not to dive - but he made the right call to prioritize our safety and make sure we'd all have the opportunity to return home safely so we could dive another day. 

Become A Better Diver By

• Making a realistic assessment of whether the conditions are good for diving - within your training and experience level. 

• Knowing when it is better to dive another day. 

• Remembering that any diver can call (cancel) a dive, at any time for any reason- no questions asked. If you feel like continuing a dive would be unsafe don't make the dive. This can be a hard judgment to make (when you feel like you might dissapoint your buddy, your instructor, or you just plonked down a lot of money for a dive of a lifetime) - but it is important you develop this habit. Risking your safety to dive when it doesn't feel right is never worth it.  

• Don't dive with buddies, guides, or instructors who pressure you into dives that you aren't confident you can complete safely.