Operator offering 3 daily dives? And lodging with meal plan?

[elora_c]

AMEN! I understand having the nervous jitters about your first night dive - I was exactly the same way, and I damn near backed out of my first night dive.

Thanks for that. Both this summer and last year, someone on the trip had a story about getting lost from the group or getting disoriented in the dark and ending up with a different dive boat. That's why I'd want to stick with a DM for my first night dive.

I did email both Blue Angel and 3P this morning, and did ask both about night dive options.

 

[MMM]

My problem was actually that as the last diver up, my surface interval was shorter than everyone else's. At the time of purchase, I didn't realize that my Cressi Leonardo is ultra-conservative, and I had to be careful of no-deco. I got Nitrox certified to offset that. Earlier this summer in the Turks & Caicos, I ran into the same problem (stayed down longest, had short no-deco on the second dive when using air) and the DM said the computer was being ultra-conservative. She gave me a backup to wear, and i tried the nitrox. The backup gave me tons more time, as did the nitrox. So now I'm in the market for a new computer, as well.

Probably one reason that the back-up gave you more time was if it hadn't been worn for a few days, it wouldn't be calculating your earlier dive into the equation. What you did wasn't the safest thing in the world...but then, I am old and cautious about these things (hence diving with 2 computers!). My second dive is always on nitrox, even if it is a very shallow dive.

I like many things about my Galileo Sol (easy to read, easy to use) but not its cost. You can also download the dive onto your computer to see your entire dive profile. It is not the most liberal but it is less conservative than my old Suunto.

 

[elora_c]

What you did wasn't the safest thing in the world...but then, I am old and cautious about these things (hence diving with 2 computers!). My second dive is always on nitrox, even if it is a very shallow dive.

It was a backup, simply to compare with the Leonardo to see if the Cressi was indeed being conservative. I followed the Cressi's times, not the backup.

 

[gopbroek]

My problem was actually that as the last diver up, my surface interval was shorter than everyone else's. At the time of purchase, I didn't realize that my Cressi Leonardo is ultra-conservative, and I had to be careful of no-deco. I got Nitrox certified to offset that. Earlier this summer in the Turks & Caicos, I ran into the same problem (stayed down longest, had short no-deco on the second dive when using air) and the DM said the computer was being ultra-conservative. She gave me a backup to wear, and i tried the nitrox. The backup gave me tons more time, as did the nitrox. So now I'm in the market for a new computer, as well.

I picked up a new Aeris A300 for a DM at Tres Pelicanos (Edgar) last fall; he uses it day in and day out including during the very busy high season. At $199 new and still warrantied by Oceanic, with Duel Algorithm (DSAT & Pz+) and multi gas mode, if selected, it gives the most bang for the buck that I have been able to find. It was the Aeris equivalent to the $450 Oceanic VEO 3.0.

Amazon.com: Aeris A300 Wrist Computer ~Includes now FREE the Digital online class to get the most out of your dive computer.: Sports & Outdoors

 

[krbailey]

Elora_c - I will be staying at Blue Angel in 2 weeks. This will be my 4th year there.
This will be my girlfriend's first trip after certification so I have opted to use AL100 tanks for $5 per tank.
We will be doing 2-tank trips in the morning and/or afternoon.
Melissa / Alejandro in reservations usually respond to emails within a few hours.

 

[mmmbelows]

One of my concerns with that was timing issues. If the boat has to come all the way back up to town, I am worried there wouldn't be enough time to eat lunch before heading back out for the afternoon dives. Another reason why I want the restaurant on site, so I can just dump my stuff off in the locker, stop by my room for a minute, eat lunch, and then get ready to go out again.

Usually enough time between morning dives and afternoon dives to eat a leisurely lunch, review your pictures, hang out and relax a little while. I guess this could change depending on some factors, who and where you are staying and diving with, but it shouldn't be bang, bang, bang...

As for the twilight/night dives - 2 concerns about that. One, I've never done a night dive, and was kind of hoping to have a private/guided trip my first time. Not sure I'd be comfortable just jumping into it with a group of strangers.

Never a bad thing to be cautious. Think about doing your night dive later in your stay to get yourself a lot more comfortable with your diving and divers.

Second, it seems like a more exhausting schedule. The afternoon would be free for relaxing, but then it would be a busy evening. Seems like the schedule would be: wake up early, eat a big breakfast, do 2 dives getting back early afternoon, eat a big lunch, rest, go out for twilight/night dive (with a snack in between), get back to the hotel, shower, sleep. Might be a bit much.

Yes, that's a 'dive vacation' not a vacation with some diving. The two are completely different. Being so new you'll probably love it, many of us older divers don't prefer that much diving a day anymore.

Oh, and concern 3 - I get cold really easily and need the sun to warm me up between dives. Not as easy to warm up at night.

Simple to correct with the right wetsuit thickness, or adding a vest or adding a hood, bringing an additional swim suit so you aren't putting on a wet swim suit again...

 

[mstevens]

With respect to average depth, there may be dive computers that show it, but I haven't seen that. Computers that can transfer data to a PC, though, allow for viewing all sorts of useful information in the PC software. As long as the dive computer can transfer data, it doesn't even have to be the "official" software for that computer. For example, Oceanic/Aeris's software is fairly awful. MacDive, though, is great with the same data from the same computers.

Average depth allows you to compute surface air consumption (SAC) rates, which in turn are helpful in planning other dives and in monitoring when something seems "off". Being able to monitor data over time sort of makes your dive computer a "Fitbit of the sea" in terms of giving a wealth of data over time about parameters that can be meaningful.

With respect to air consumption, mine was much better in 1980 when I was a rank beginner but in great shape than it is now, several dives later. My wife's was worse than mine then but is better than my current rate, most likely because she's a petite female in good shape and I'm... um... not someone who matches that description. Consumption depends on many variables and everyone is different, so it's not always true that less-experienced divers use more gas than more-experienced ones. However, I think it's really unlikely that an experienced Cozumel DM is going to end a dive based on remaining gas before any of her divers do. We can do hour-long dives at Maracaibo or Punta Sur sites such as Devil's Throat or Cathedral, but our DM will always still have plenty of gas left when we're running low.

 

[nodakdive]

One of my concerns with that was timing issues. If the boat has to come all the way back up to town, I am worried there wouldn't be enough time to eat lunch before heading back out for the afternoon dives. Another reason why I want the restaurant on site, so I can just dump my stuff off in the locker, stop by my room for a minute, eat lunch, and then get ready to go out again.

As for the twilight/night dives - 2 concerns about that. One, I've never done a night dive, and was kind of hoping to have a private/guided trip my first time. Not sure I'd be comfortable just jumping into it with a group of strangers. Second, it seems like a more exhausting schedule. The afternoon would be free for relaxing, but then it would be a busy evening. Seems like the schedule would be: wake up early, eat a big breakfast, do 2 dives getting back early afternoon, eat a big lunch, rest, go out for twilight/night dive (with a snack in between), get back to the hotel, shower, sleep. Might be a bit much. Oh, and concern 3 - I get cold really easily and need the sun to warm me up between dives. Not as easy to warm up at night.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll check out/contact Blue Angel and 3P today.

The turn around on a 4 tank day can be an issue if you go all the way back to town. After dive 2, we get dropped off at a beach club for lunch and the boat picks us up from there for the afternoon dives. Very relaxing. We get home from the dives at about sunset, take a shower and catch a cab to town for supper. If you stay near the square (town to most of us that vacation there, it's a piece of cake. No cab required.

Do what you'd like, but you might not really need to buy a new computer. In my case, my main computer is a Suunto Mosquito. Quite conservative. I like it, and will anthropomorphize a little. The computer says, "Dude, if you wanna dive 4 tanks a day, fine, but you're going to being diving some nitrox. Do that and I'll be happy and you'll load less nitrogen. Oh, and hey, I'm going to go into deco before less conservative computers. Don't freak. Once you learn how to use me, you'll find out that I treat longer deep dives as though they are deco dives and I'm going to give you a ceiling and ask you to spend some time below that ceiling. On the other hand, if you spend a little time at shallower depths, I'm going to give you credit, and clear that deco requirement. In short, I want you to have fun, but I don't want you to push it." I've seen 14 minutes of obligation at a 10 foot ceiling. By the time I get to the safety stop, the only obligation I have is the 3 minutes at 15 feet. Buying a conservative computer is not a purchasing error. It's a little padding, like diving with a pony, or testing tanks for CO, or owning a Nautilus.

Your situation sounds like one where a southern AI might fit the bill. It would never work for me as I prefer freshly prepared foods over buffet food and love many of the restaurants in town. If AI isn't a problem for you, being south puts you close to the reefs, and at some, maybe all, the dives are treated as "a dive", and then you go back to the resort for the SI. If you want to do 3 tanks, no problem. 4 tanks, no problem. You could do 2 in the morning and one before sunset if you wanted. The only drawback is that some of those southern resorts, with their inhouse dive ops, keep the dives short, like 45 minutes, though I've read that some don't limit the dive times.

Have fun!!

 

[redacted]

Blue Angle and SCC are both excellent places to get your "feet wet" with a very easy and interesting night dive in their back yards. No problem current, no getting lost, 20 FSW.

 

[ggunn]

Blue Angle and SCC are both excellent places to get your "feet wet" with a very easy and interesting night dive in their back yards. No problem current, no getting lost, 20 FSW.

If you go on a night dive from shore without a DM, be sure to take a compass and know how to use it. You might be surprised at how easy it is to get "lost" and have to come up and look around to find your way back. Been there, done that, now I take a compass. The cheap plastic fluid filled compasses in the camping department at Academy Sports work just fine.