How Many NDL fun dives do you do per day?

[NudeDiver]

I was doing 5 dives a day on liveaboards in Australia. Could maybe have done some more if the dive deck were open for diving. Here in Alaska - cold water and a drysuit - 3 dives/day is plenty.

 

[spectrum]

Local shore diving usually tops out at 2 dives a day. With dives averaging over an hour each over the year 70+ minutes each is not uncommon. Once we do 2 of those, the surface interval and the requisite set-up and breakdown, eat and clean-up it makes for a good day. Also with local tides in the 8+ foot range some sites just aren't a lot of fun when you get too close to low tide anyway. In most cases we are less than an hour from home so we aren't driven to maximize the dives per outing like those that face long travels.

In Bonaire we did 4 a day very comfortably and I'd push to add a 5th at least part of the time next time, it was that easy.

The difference between diving the 2 climates is astounding. 10 dives a day sounds incomprehensible to me, but I'm not 20 anymore either. Even if the dives were relatively short and in warm water the routine of getting n and out that many times would be a workout.

Pete

 

[Sas]

Weeknights after work 1 dive.

Weekend days, 2-3 dives. Usually first one is a boat dive up to 45mins, then 1-2 60-70min shore dives. It has been about 10C over winter and I only just got a drysuit so was ending dives because of being REALLY cold. Now up to 13C and three dives is very comfortable in my drysuit, my buddy tires before I do generally but I don't mind really. We could probably fit more in but we do take very long lunch breaks in between dives, tend to stop for a while at the diving store, and spent time looking through our pics.

If it were warm and I didn't have to lug around so much neoprene and weight, I could easily see myself doing 5-6 dives a day.

 

[ClayJar]

If I'm shore diving, I can easily go five or six dives a day (usually starting with a night-to-day daybreak dive and ending with a night dive). On boat diving days, logistics usually limit me to four dives a day (if there are two trips available). At most commercial inland dive sites, it's the hours of operation that limit the number of dives I do.

On the other hand, if I don't feel like making a third or later dive, I have no qualms about wrapping up early.

I don't get very tired, although my dive buddy does and he tends to get cold fast after a dive or two.

I would posit that those two are linked, i.e. that getting cold fast and becoming very tired are directly linked. It would be interesting for your dive buddy to wear more thermal protection in order to see what effect that has on their tiredness. (From my experience, I would propose that with enough thermal protection that they do not feel cold, they should see a distinct reduction in tiredness.)

 

[Damselfish]

I like 4 on average when I'm doing warm easy tropical diving (which is all I do now.) I want to get in as much as I can, but I find if I do 5 it starts to be too much like work, not enough hammock time.

When I dove cold water at home, I usually did 2 and that was plenty. Ocean is 45-60 min drive for me.

 

[Glycereine]

I usually prefer to get the most out of each dive (60-90 minutes depending on depth and/or nitrox blend) than to get the most dives in a day.

The most I have done is 6 and I couldn't have even completed those 6 if I hadn't been on nitrox for 4 of them without passing NDLs.

If your dives are all shallow and/or short I could see doing more, but tend to agree that more than 4-6 seems too much like work and not having fun anymore.

 

[SparticleBrane]

How long are these dives, for those of you doing 8-10 dives in a day? :shocked2:

If the dive isn't at least an hour long, I get irked...

 

[almitywife]

How long are these dives, for those of you doing 8-10 dives in a day? :shocked2:...

exactly what i was just thinking.... my dives usually last 60 to 90mins so i cant imaging doing 3 or more dives per day

 

[vladimir]

I have often done 5 dives in a day on a liveaboard. The diving is usually excellent and the alternative to diving is usually a nap. If I am someplace like Bonaire--where the diving is less exciting and the alternatives more appealing--I am more apt to skip a dive in favor of spending time with my girlfriend, sailing, lingering over lunch, etc., and I am happy with 3 dives in a day.

 

[Geoff_H]

Tropical: 5 x 60 minute dives. Thats how I'll dive in PG or Palau if the conditions and good and I'm having fun. Can't imagine how to fit in 10 dives in a day, unless they are really short and very shallow.

Less tropical (i.e. Japan!) - 4 x 45 minute dives if they allow a night dive, 3 x 45 minutes if they don't.