How Many Days of Straight Diving?

[irishgreen416]

Hello!
I am getting my Advanced Open Water certification in Semporna, Malaysia which will consist of five dives over two days in early June. I would then like to do a three dives in one day package in Sipadan. I've only logged one dive (a wreck dive off Aramoana in New Zealand in Feb 2017) outside of my Open Water cert (Oct 2016) but I am a fit 30 year old. Will I most likely be fine (tired wise) if I do the 5 dives to get my Advanced over two days and then the 3 dives in Sipadan on the third day or should I rest a day in between? I'd like to just do them all over 3 days since there isn't a ton to do in the area outside of diving and that would mean cheaper accommodation but I don't want to be exhausted! Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[joe10540]

If you don't know your body well enough to know if you can handle doing three dives in a day safely, don't do it. If you can't handle planning repetitive dives then you need to go back through your dive planing materials from open water. I have done as many as five dives in a day, using nitrox and appropriate surface intervals. It was a long day and I was totally drained at the end of the day but I knew the conditions going into it and knew what I was capable of doing physically.

Doing your AOW course should help you to see shortcomings in yourself as a diver and find areas you need/want to improve. Do you know enough about yourself as a diver to take an introspective look at yourself? Personally I am not a fan of being ADVANCED with only 8 dives under your weight belt. I feel that taking time to just practice what you learned in OW and enjoy your new freedom makes a better diver than more classes.

Do you NEED your AOW for this vacation? Try to just concentrate on your OW skills instead of overloading yourself trying to learn new material on top of already new skills. Just my 2€, don't take anything I said as a personal attack. I've been told my sarcasm and tone don't translate well over text

 

[irishgreen416]

Thanks for your thoughts but you are not very nice and that was not the right way to encourage a new diver. You do not know what my level of knowledge is and I do remember everything on how to plan repetitive dives, I was JUST asking if 8 dives over 3 days is reasonable since I have only gone diving one day at a time (3 dives in one day) and though I was capable and not tired afterwards, 3 days of diving may be different.

 

[Prtfoliomgr]

Joe is right, There is definitely no substitute for bottom time and getting some experience under your belt. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking an AOW course directly after OW if your intention is to learn and practice your diving skills. In the AOW course you focus on some more advanced buoyancy skills practice and techniques and do a deep dive for the first time. I have seen that AOW is always helpful to a diver looking to improve their skills.

 

[joe10540]

Are the 8 dives similar to the conditions you have been in for your prior dives? Will there be a current? Will they be colder than you are used to? There are many variables that go into how taxing a dive will be. 4 dives a day for a week can still be relaxing if you have the ability to hover without expending energy and you can move efficiently but if you are finning and kicking to stay in place you can be worn out after a two tank dive. Only you can answer if that is too much diving for you. By the numbers that is not an overly aggressive amount of diving as long as depth and nitrogen loading over time are considered. I am all for new divers getting out and diving and take new divers out for local trips regularly helping them learn how to relax and enjoy their dives more. Like I said my typing comes out wrong and sounds far more preachy/condescending than if we were sitting at a counter having a chat about diving.

If you are going to sign up for 8 dives in three days just remember anyone can call any dive for any reason even if you are just too tired/cold/whatever from previous days diving. Make memories take notes and have fun!

 

[KenGordon]

It depends...

The tiring bit of diving is not so much the diving but the faff of getting gear together, getting to the site and so forth. Thus four dives a day on a livaboard is one thing, but the same when shore based with lots of boat trips would be much less fun..

If your package is - turn up at the dock, get on the boat, go out, do a dive, chant for an hour, do a dive, have some lunch, do a dive, come back in, get off the boat, go to the bar - then you will be fine. If however you have to return after every dive, lug gear, and so forth then it will not be so relaxing.

If I do trips longer than a week they are usually to several destinations for variety. This means there will be travel days. Hopefully they allow for some offgassing and some down time - clearly that isn't always the case. I am happy to do six days of diving without a day off.

As well as the nitrogen loading you need to consider that tired people make more stupid mistakes than fresh, rested people.

A risk with serious diving trips is that you get home needing a holiday

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

, I was JUST asking if 8 dives over 3 days is reasonable

Yes, if they are all within recreational limits.

 

[rongoodman]

Divers on liveaboard trips routinely do four or five dives daily for multiple days in a row, often 26-27 dives in 5 1/2 days. Since I've been diving with Shearwater computers, I keep on eye on the tissue loading graph to make sure the slower compartments aren't loading up too much. One thing you might notice after a few days is getting colder than you anticipated. Even warm water can leach a lot of heat out of your body over time. (FWIW, I'm 70.)

 

[Hou s4m]

for my AOW, i did it LOB at Tioman, West Malaysia. really good vizi and all dives were beautiful. they market the LOB with "unlimited dives", but you can really do so much, right?. Spent 3N3D, one nite from the jetty with 4hrs to reach the island. we jump in at for our check dive at 6.45AM and to see the gorgeous morning sunrise under water. it was just splendid. the first day was a little tired from the coming trip. after lunch i was knocked out until about 6PM - so its nice to have a long rest before diving day. but the second day i was fresher and was able to do more dives. for the 2 days, i did a total of 10 dives altogether with night dives. Food was good and fresh, most divers preferred to stay on board and chillax. If u got buddy, you can go down to capitalise that unlimited dive portion of the trip.

Sipadan requires AOW license or some minimum dives. i've not been there but friends told me its quite challenging and dangerous if untrained. you'll really be depending on your experienced buddy, DM or instructor. But for AOW, you'll get to do your deep dive and currents there. Like the LOB, I was also told that in Sipadan the crew would help you with your equipments and help you set up for the next dive. So no heavy lifting. less fatigue.

Be safe. All the best and enjoy your trip!

 

[Colliam7]

I've been told my sarcasm and tone don't translate well over text.

You are right, they don't, and this (New divers . . .) is intended to be a 'friendly' and 'flame-free' forum. So, since you acknowledge that you have been told that, why not work on fixing it? You can post useful information and thoughts, without sarcasm. Sometimes, the best approach is to draft your post off-line, let it sit for a few hours, then re-read and edit.