Steel 120's

[ChuckP]

Thanks Chuck,
I carry 4lbs with a single al80 so maybe a little too negative to swim up with 120's?
Al80's would be preferred, I'd pop for a forth 80 for unlimited gas if there is room on the boat.
I get being limited by others, I'm only interested if everyone is using 120's and expecting 90min dives. I certainly wouldn't mind finishing shallow...
Edit...
I guess I'd have to do a checkout dive with a new dive op?

I wouldn't even mess with the side mount - if you want long dives, dive with Aldora, that's what they do and are known for - they do a really good job of it. Get nitrox certified here or there number one. Request the 120's, they are standard for all men. Make sure you're on a nitrox boat and go enjoy - the DM's all have great dive plans that make full use of a long time underwater - 70-90 is probably typical dive time, there's special times that you get with special people and two hour first and second dives happen all week but that's not normal. There's often a boat that I call critter crawls - they just go look for macro stuff, those dives seem to never end.

Me personally - I can dive with any tank here - buoyancy weighting whatever, makes no difference. Me personally - I'll take a big tank any day over the aluminum 80, you just have way more options in your dive. I don't work for them, I should, right Dave? , but I did my DM and Instructor class with them, I've dove maybe 200 times with them with maybe 80% of those dives on what would be called the advanced boat - it's a blast but it's not for everyone.

There's nothing bad about Al80 diving here, they can be great dives too - everyone is different and there's something for everyone here.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Nothing against Sloeber but I have yet to meet a DM who doesn’t easily outdo anyone on the boat re:air consumption.

bigger tanks mean more time underwater. What I have not seen mentioned is the air hogs don’t impinge on everyone else *as much* as they would with al80’s. We had an experienced diver for a few days this trip who had in his words had “big lungs”. Given he dives half the year one would think he’d work on breathing but to each his own.

Myself I blame a few regulars here who we dove with years ago, I didn’t want to be the guy who ends up on the DM’s octo so I spent a few dives practicing breathing. Think one dive ended up pushing 120 minutes

with my new 5mm I ended the trip with no weight at all.

 

[stuartv]

Nothing against Sloeber but I have yet to meet a DM who doesn’t easily outdo anyone on the boat re:air consumption.

bigger tanks mean more time underwater. What I have not seen mentioned is the air hogs don’t impinge on everyone else *as much* as they would with al80’s. We had an experienced diver for a few days this trip who had in his words had “big lungs”. Given he dives half the year one would think he’d work on breathing but to each his own.

Me, perhaps?

I do work on my breathing, but I still ended up being the first one low on air on every dive I did last week. And I was always diving with a 120. And a Freedom Contour steel back plate, 3mm wetsuit, and no (other) weight.

After reviewing my consumption data (thank you, AI!) I see that my RMV ranged from 0.55 cu-ft/min to as high as 0.69. The lower numbers were when I dived with no camera. With my camera, I was fairly consistent at 0.1 higher. Generally around 0.65.

My dives still averaged 65 minutes (over 15 dives). But, it would have really sucked (for me), if I only had a 100 or smaller.

Thankfully, our Aldora guides had no problem with shooting a bag when I got low and letting me go up their line while everyone else stayed down for another 5 - 15 minutes.

I do think I have 3 factors contributing to my high consumption. One, my level of COVID-fitness. I have not exercised this year like I should have. Two, carrying a full-frame camera rig with strobes had 2 effects. One, just the extra mass and drag to swim with. And, two, I definitely did more finning - getting to photo subjects and working to hold a position in a current while shooting. And my third factor I'll blame is that I dive my CCR as much of the time as I can and I think that has definitely changed my breathing in a way that is worse for diving OC. On CCR, I don't worry about my breathing rate at all. Instead, I try to take deeper, fuller breaths, to maximize the amount of CO2 I get out of my lungs.

People can say what they want about how long they can make a smaller tank last. None of my dives were limited by NDL, so bigger tanks means longer dives (assuming you're diving with an operation that permits it - thank you, Aldora!). Period.

 

[Streydog]

Most of my dives in Cozumel have been with Aldora using 120's. I am just curious what the typical dive times are using 80's at the deeper sites. Looking back through my logs dives at Maricabo, Punta Sur / Devils throat and Barricuda were in the 55-70 minute range. These dive are often limited to NDL but I am just curious as to how long type the average dives are here.

 

[ChuckP]

Most of my dives in Cozumel have been with Aldora using 120's. I am just curious what the typical dive times are using 80's at the deeper sites. Looking back through my logs dives at Maricabo, Punta Sur / Devils throat and Barricuda were in the 55-70 minute range. These dive are often limited to NDL but I am just curious as to how long type the average dives are here.

They are just different dives - with a 120 at Maricaibo you can drop 100-300m south of the arch, stay on the wall for 25 minutes then move to the inner reef that's at 60' and spend another 30 minutes or more, all my dives there are 65-70 minutes finishing with 1200-1450 with average depth of 65-70'. With an 80, I just don't know that you have the ten minutes needed to go from the outer wall to inner formations, I think most do the arch and come up the crack, maybe 45 minutes.

Punta Sur is a totally different deal. With a 120, there's a few start points and some will do the Cathedral, some will do Devils Throat. If they do the Cathedral, you can drop on the small formation and swim/drift over to the first big one stay down in the formation, do the cathedral, another swim thru then stay on top of the Devils throat formation swim across the sand and do Columbia Deep - 90 minute dive. To do Devils Throat, it's near impossible to start at the small formation - divers just won't stay high enough to conserve NDL in order to do the cave - we'll drop in the middle/end of the first big formation, do the swim thru, over to the throat, if divers are good, do the rest of the cave then across the sand to Columbia Deep - 90 minute dive. With an Aluminum 80, you either get Cathedral or Devils Throat - you can get 55 minutes but you don't get Columbia Deep.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Me, perhaps?

Naw it’s wasn’t you. How were the cenotes? It was brave to take the ferry IMO!

I’ve learned to go deeper and hunt lions a bit more actively when I’m with a less experienced group. And conversely be more conservative when with a good group of divers. Our last day was an awesome group with awesome dives. Like Punta Sur Sur which we’ve never done- like really. 3 minutes in - 2 huge eagle rays in about 90’ who just kept circling for 5 minutes, then at the end 2 reef sharks who while not as close as the rays stuck around for a minute. First non-nurse sharks we’ve ever seen in coz.

Used up a lot of air on that one.

 

[stuartv]

Naw it’s wasn’t you. How were the cenotes? It was brave to take the ferry IMO!

I’ve learned to go deeper and hunt lions a bit more actively when I’m with a less experienced group. And conversely be more conservative when with a good group of divers. Our last day was an awesome group with awesome dives. Like Punta Sur Sur which we’ve never done- like really. 3 minutes in - 2 huge eagle rays in about 90’ who just kept circling for 5 minutes, then at the end 2 reef sharks who while not as close as the rays stuck around for a minute. First non-nurse sharks we’ve ever seen in coz.

Used up a lot of air on that one.

Nice that you got to Punta Sur Sur. We never were able to get that far south all week. We could never get north for the Adventure Dives, either. It was still a great week, though!

The cenotes were great. We dived Casa Cenote, The Pit, and Tajma Ha.

Mike took a picture of me in Casa Cenote when we came to the surface for a few minutes during the dive.

 

[ChuckP]

Nice that you got to Punta Sur Sur. We never were able to get that far south all week. We could never get north for the Adventure Dives, either. It was still a great week, though!

The cenotes were great. We dived Casa Cenote, The Pit, and Tajma Ha.

Mike took a picture of me in Casa Cenote when we came to the surface for a few minutes during the dive.

View attachment 634357

OMG - they are over there too??? NO freakin way, nada, nope not ever

 

[scorpiofish]

I didn't see it mentioned, so I'll chime in late. There are 3 operators with steel tanks, Aldora, Living Underwater, and Liquid Blue, all excellent. I dive with Liquid Blue. I prefer to take as much air as I can carry in one tank, just in case I need it. Kind of like video/photo lighting, "take as much as you can carry". I prefer two long dives over 3-tanker any day. I move at a very, very slow pace. I don't really need the 120, so I usually just dive the 100 as it is shorter and doesn't go up my butt crack (I'm not that tall). As mentioned, it is great because even the newbies get excellent dive times and the gap from first one low to "times up" is shorter. Even if it's shallow and sandy, I don't mind as I like to search for certain critters. Our dive times are usually 80-90 minutes.

The rules of photography still apply. You find the best stuff with 500 psi left regardless of tank size.

 

[Coztick]

I didn't see it mentioned, so I'll chime in late. There are 3 operators with steel tanks, Aldora, Living Underwater, and Liquid Blue, all excellent. I dive with Liquid Blue. I prefer to take as much air as I can carry in one tank, just in case I need it. Kind of like video/photo lighting, "take as much as you can carry". I prefer two long dives over 3-tanker any day. I move at a very, very slow pace. I don't really need the 120, so I usually just dive the 100 as it is shorter and doesn't go up my butt crack (I'm not that tall). As mentioned, it is great because even the newbies get excellent dive times and the gap from first one low to "times up" is shorter. Even if it's shallow and sandy, I don't mind as I like to search for certain critters. Our dive times are usually 80-90 minutes.

The rules of photography still apply. You find the best stuff with 500 psi left regardless of tank size.

Thanks, I was going to ask...
I'm pretty sure Aldora won't pick up at the Iberostar. Something about dock fees.
Do you know if Liquid Blue does? I've seen others wade out just north of the resort. That would be fine with me...

Cheers!