Packing for 3 Weeks in Akumal

[ab8cd]

I just booked a condo at Villas De Rosa for 3 weeks in February for full cave training and guided dives. I am a Michigan cold-water, low vis diver who happily admits to enjoying warm clear ocean views. I've done the cavern tour with Tito on 2 separate occasions (did Barbie ever get away from the alligator?) and look forward to the leap in training. I dive wet when it's warm and dry when it's cold... I dive throughout the year. Questions: What would my esteemed SB friends suggest I pack? What have you forgotten in the past? What would you not bring, and why? I do not yet dive doubles and enjoy learning about strength and weaknesses of other equipment setups before I make large purchases. Any misc. advice?

 

[potablewater]

:reaper::reaper:

It's been too long since I've seen that sign.
I'm jealous.
Have a great time and dive safe!

Geoff

 

[TSandM]

Well, my first advice is to get into doubles and dive them at home as much as you can between now and then! See if you can hook up with somebody who tech dives at home, who can give you some feedback on your buoyancy and trim, and practice some emergency procedures with him. This will give you a huge leg up on your cave class. A good cave instructor won't rush you through the class -- They'll make you stay at one level until you're comfortable and competent, and having to stay in OW to get basic skills down would not make you happy during your three weeks, I don't think

It sounds as though you will be using your instructor's equipment -- regs, lights, reels, etc?

I WOULD bring an O2 analyzer. If you're going on to Full Cave, you should do some O2 deco, and the fill stations in MX do not have analyzers.

I did Intro in a 5 mil suit with a 2 mil hooded vest, and it was barely enough -- fine for the dives, but not enough for the debriefs in the water. I'm going dry for Cave 2. My husband did Full Cave in a wetsuit, but I don't know how he did it.

It's also not a bad idea to bring a bunch of Pepto Bismol tablets (or scrips for Cipro and Lomotil and Phenergan) as, each trip we've made, at least one person gets a bit of tummy trouble there.

As I'm writing this, I'm seeing the floor of our condo, strewn with regulators, backplates, lights, voltage meters, reels, spools and all the other bits and pieces of cave diving

Oh, and I'd DEFINITELY buy a thing of wetnotes, even if your instructor is going to want you to use a slate. Drawing maps of the dives you are going to do, and then annotating those maps on deco or after the dive, makes for a VERY nice reference for your next trip.

Oh, and put toilet paper in your bag when you leave each day. Many of the outhouses don't have any. (Some sites don't have outhouses )

Who's your instructor going to be?

 

[rjack321]

If you are diving dry you'll want a pee valve for sure. You need serious hydration down there. 200gm fleece undies are typical, a 3mm hood is good too. Allows for more temp control than wetsuit or totally hoodless drysuit choices.

Get a rental car for sure, town is a fair ways away from the DeRosa's and you'll want the options of additional groceries and restaurants. Small is ok, we've crammed an amazing amount of stuff into a Geo metro sized thing.

 

[ab8cd]

I don't know who they will team me up with as De Rosa' seem to use multiple staff. I have learned some time ago to adapt to most personalities and styles of teaching... If I'm learning and growing I'm having a good time! Thank you for the great comments.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I took full cave last spring and over packed kinda as my trip included a bunch of that single tank ocean diving stuff too.

if I was going to take the class again I would take these items:

-backgas regs for twin tanks which includes 2 first stages, 2 second stages, pressure gauge, bc inflator hose, suit inflator (optional). the second stages would be on a short hose and a 7' hose. 1 necklace also.

- 2 stage bottle reg setups with a first stage, second stage on 40" hose, and a pressure gauge

- 1 100% O2 reg setup thats basically the same as the stage bottles.

- applicable exposure protection. I used a wetsuit and would again even though I sold mine. a 7mm was perfect for long dives but something in the 5mm range would work. Now that I own a fusion I might do that but the possibility of drysuit leaks calling dives for me is not something I want to risk on an expensive trip unless its totally necessary. If you dive dry you better have a p-valve and pockets would be a nice addition

- Fins, mask, backup mask.

- primary reel in the 300-400' range (I got a salvo), smaller reel for doing jumps, safety spools (1 or 2 at 100' long minimum) or reels.

-2 backup lights and a primary if you have it. with any necessary chargers or adapters.

-O2 analyzer, slate/wetnotes, watch, bottom timers or computers, tables, cutting devices(s).

-wing, plate (if you can afford to fly with it)

-extra stuff you might need for field repairs. suggest some bungee, a few stainless clips, a llen keys, extra port plugs, drysuit patch supplies (if applicable), any anything special to your equipment needs like adapters or quick connects or computer battery, etc. Basically anything for a murphy's law kit but dont take anything that maybe easy to buy, certain batteries are impossible to find in MX like triple A's posed a challenge last time and know one seemed to have the right O-rings around. a bit of ducktape and a permanent marker can come in handy.

I also took along a couple regular bandages for blister treatment which other people seemed to need a couple times.

have fun.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, good advice on the duct tape and marker, NWD! Those are something I always forget. Duct tape is good for emergency repairs on stuff, too.

Any time I do dive travel, I take an o-ring pick, wrenches, appropriate o-rings, my DSS inflator tool, extra cave line and some spare bolt snaps and double-enders. I think I'll order and take a set of wrist seals with me, too, just in case. (That's the nice thing about diving wet, is not having to worry about a blown seal blowing your dive or trip.) Aquaseal and patching material aren't bad things to have around, either.

As NWD says, you can't count on being able to buy replacement parts or even supplies of anything beyond basic stuff in MX, although the ZG dive shop has a lot of the things you might need. If you are diving your instructor's gear, you won't have to worry about some of this, but if you bring your own, be aware that ZG has things like SPGs, spare hoses and the like.

 

[Peter Guy]

A few comments from one who did has Full Cave last May:

a. Not ALL Full Cave classes involve a second bottle so you may not be doing O2 deco -- BUT, you do should have an O2 analyzer.

b. IF you have not done an Into to Tech/DIR-F type class (and if you can afford it), do it before you go -- it will give you a big head start on Cavern (which is, I think, in many ways the hardest class of the three -- Cavern, Intro, Full).

c. Find out which Cave text(s) your instructor will be using and get it, read it, study it and THEN get the GUE Cave Manual and NAUI Cave Manual (if you can) and read them too.

d. I'm the husband who did Cave in a 5mm suit and made the mistake of NOT wearing my 2 mm vest on at least one of the days. We did a 90minute+ dive and then skills -- I finally called the skills session because I started shivering too much.

e. Go to Costco and get several boxes of their packaged nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts), trail mix and power bars -- they are great for "lunch" on the run.

f. Forget about a camera!

Have fun, be safe and enjoy.

 

[nadwidny]

I just booked a condo at Villas De Rosa for 3 weeks in February ... Questions: What would my esteemed SB friends suggest I pack?

Well going by my experiences at VDR, if you hang around the owner you won't need to pack an icepack to keep your drinks cold.

 

[Irene]

Bug spray!