Background: I'm going to Roatan in December
and the first dive each day is to 90-110ft. My dive buddy is a 5'3" 120lbs female AOW (15 dives), I am 6'7" 230 lbs male AOW (25 dives up to 75ft). Her SAC rate is about half of mine (.45 vs .9) and the dive operator does not have any tanks bigger than Al80s. I dive a Deep Sea Supply SS BP/W and have a 19cf bailout slung for the deeper stuff.
My Question: Is this smart for me to go past 100 (probably on EA32) on a single Al80 + 19cf bailout (not part of my gas plan) at my size and experience level, it just doesn't seem like enough gas to me? I have considered getting training on independent twins for safety and to even up dive times, but this seems like a huge hassle and too much to worry about for my first major dive trip...Yet I don't want to skip the morning dives.
Thank you everyone, just trying to dive smart...
My advice is to get a heart rate monitor, and find a place in freshwater, even a pool, to practice getting in to the water and then "forcing" yourself to relax. A large percentage of new divers, even experienced divers, hit the water excited, and suck up a large chunk of thier air supply in the first 5 minutes of the dive. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to ELIMINATE this gas waste the moment you reach the bottom...On your dives, you just need to stop for a moment and concentrate on the relaxation techniques you will have practiced in a pool or freshwater location with your HR monitor( they dont work well in salt water, usually). You should be able to drop from 110 beats ber minute heart rate, to 75 bpm or so, within a minute of trying this....it is mostly concentration and focus--clearing your mind of all other thoughts and ignoring the present experience of diving, for the minute it will take you to relax your heart rate down to the lowest resting HR that you are capable of...when you reach this low HR, your breatig rate will be much lower, so your bottom time potential can become much longer....throughout the dive, you need to pay attention to your excitement level, and make sure you don't let your HR go up.
After doing this HR drill for several dives, it should be very easy to do with no interuption to anybody elses dive experiences.
The other thing you MUST do is to make certain that you have perfect weighting and perfect trim. Your swimming has to be flat horizontal, not head up and feet down from an instructor with his head up his *&^.....I don't know how you were taught, but the flat trim is critical....with it, you should be able to kick, and get a glide or coast--and a rest. Without it, with a head up feet down trim & bouyancy mistake, you will kick furiously and never get a coast or rest, never get much speed, and pretty much move like an inflated pufferfish. Again, if this is you, I blame this on your instructor.
Streamlining your body will help with the glide and rest potential to keep HR low....that means no dangling consoles, no clipped net bags, etc.
REGards,
DanV