My advice IMHO - You should dive as often as:
1. You feel up to it. Are you rested? Hydrated?
2. Time permits after allowing for sufficient surface interval between dives. Don't forget to plan the dives using your tables and dive your plan. See below for more on this.
3. After 3 or 4 days of 3-4 dives a day, you might consider skipping a day to off gas.
4. Watch the partying and staying out late if you are diving tomorrow. Recommend you avoid alcohol the day before a dive and drink lots of water, not sodas and coffee, just plain water. (One coffee in the morning to open the eyes wont hurt but follow it with plenty of water). divers should be well rested, and hydrated.
5. Remember even after you leave the water, you are still diving for several hours by that I mean you are still off gassing and you need to remain hydrated and avoid strenuous exercise. This includes hiking in the mountains etc. After diving, drink lots of water and skip the alcohol after the dive (dehydrates you). You are still off gassing and need to keep the hydration up to facilitate that.
6. Suggest you do not dive the day you arrive or 24 hours before you leave (or maybe longer). You are in an exotic location, so you should take full advantage of it and dive and see the sights too, in a safe manner. Remember diving and mountains do not make a good mix.
7. Have dive insurance, and dive travel insurance too (DAN or some other agency of your choice).
8. Do NOT do any "TRUST ME" dives. I have read many dive reports of resort dives where the dive master/guide was a total idiot and the "trust me" divers nearly got killed because they relied upon the guide/divemaster to monitor air, depth, time and navigation or the divemaster ignored the divers warnings that they were running low on air. Do not go on any dive that exceeds your training and comfort zone. Don't forget your training.
9. Remember it is a honeymoon, attention needs to be paid to your significant other, outside of diving. Plan for dinner in a romatic setting, walks on the beach in the moonlight etc and time to get well rested before tomorrows diving.
Keep in mind, the standard recreational dive tables do not do a good job of planning multiple day diving. Most dive tables appear to assume a zero nitrogen load after 12 hours. Lets think about this, if all nitrogen is out of your body in say 12 hours, why do they recommend a 24 hour (or 18 hour) wait after diving before flying? Many dive computers on the other hand will take into account any dives in the past 72 hours (SUUNTO for example does this) But each dive computer is different. So check your dive tables and observe your surface intervals and NDL times on every dive. Some nitrogen may still be in the body 24 hours or more after you leave the water. (Been there, went to the mountains 1,400 feet 48 hours after the dive, took the chamber ride, long story).
Your nitrogen loading is a function of depth, length of dive and the number of dives in a given period and other factors (health, hydration, lung efficiency etc). After several days of diving with multiple dives, particularly deeper dives, you will bujild up a certain amount of nitrogen in your tissues, particularly the "deep" tissues. These do not necessarily off gas in just a few hours. So if you do say 4 dives on day one to 100, 80, 60 and 40 feet, you will have loaded up your tissues with some nitrogen. The following day, you will add to the residual nitrogen already in your body when you go diving. Repeat this cycle for several days and you may have more nitrogen in your system than you would like. Hence the advice to take day 4 off and to see the sights, then go at it again. Deep dives load more nitrogen than the same number of shallow 33 foot dives do.
DAN has some information on multiday diving trips and the DCS incidence but the study group is too small to make any reliable conclusions from. There is some noted increase in DCS incidences on day one (Of the 88 cases reviewed from the Caribbean for 1994, 33 -- or 37.5 percent -- occurred on the first day.) thought to be due to dehydration and fatigue from the long flight and perhaps alcohol consumption. Other studies have indicated a bump again around day 5-7 (many dives every day, fatigue, dehydration [alcohol and partying], it all adds up on 7 day long live aboard trips. But the numbers are too small in general to draw any real conclusions from, but still something to take note of. Liveaboards tend to be diving intensive with 4-6 dives a day (I am told, so far a live aboard trip is just a dream for me). So there has been some suggestion from DAN to skip day 4 and just read and relax on the boat.
Have fun. Be safe. Come home with an empty wallet and a heart and head full of priceless memories.
