divinglover
Registered
Hi Everyone
First of all - apologies for a very long post, hope it is the right forum. I need your advice on the Galapagos diving...I was planning to go on a liveaboard in Galapagos this coming Xmas/New year (always dreamt of Galapagos!)
However, once i started researching diving conditions, i came across this forum, and spent the last week reading hunderds of posts on both, galapagos and inexperineced divers.
i also realised that Galapagos requires far more advanced diving than i am currently capable of (THANK YOU to all the experienced posters here, helping me realise that in time!)
So - i have cancelled my original plans for Galapagos this Xmas, and am planning to delay it in order to improve my skills first. For various reasons, i can only delay the trip to next April/May, otherwise may end up not going at all for years.
I currently have PADI Advanced open water certification, 40 shore and boat dives, all warm water. I haven't really dived many challenging sites - so far i dived in Egypt (Ras Mohammed and others), Antigua, Kenya, Thailand (Similans/Koh bon liveaboard, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, Ko Tao, Phi Phi).
I have been in the currents few times, and handled them all by following DM instructions or copying exactly what the DM/other experienced divers were doing (ie body position etc), which always worked. My buoyancy is good (told by DM), my air consumption is good - always have more air left than most on surfacing (although i am also a female of slight built), in tropical waters i usually use about 3-3.5 kg of weight to dive for a 3mm full suit. I am also physically fit.
I understand i am not ready for galapagos now, so - in order to improve my skills i have just booked 2 diving holidays between now and next april/may.
During those I am planning to do the following 'training':
- complete rescue diver course
- complete nitrox course (never needed it so far)
- do as many dives as i can in currents (under supervision i.e. pay for private DM/instruction to rapidly and safely improve).
[ One of my holidays is in Philippines - Sogod bay, and then Apo island, the other fernando de noronha, brazil]
- do wall diving in Phils (under supervision)
- learn how to shoot SMB
- learn to perform negative descent (on a separate note - could someone tell me where i could read the theory of those pls??)
all in all i would probably do another 40-50 dives, focusing on those things between now and next april/may. But i am not planning (so far) to do cold water diving or anything else.
so, i now come to my questions:
1. I know you can't judge without having seen me in the water - but based on my description and my 'training plan' do you think i have a reasonable chance to improve my diving skills enough to dive at darwin/wolf next April / May? (considering it's also warm season there)
2. If i do go to Galapagos - do you think it is worth me paying for private DM to be my buddy? and how much approximately could it cost???? (i am already spending a small - totally unplanned! - fortune on all this 'training', so by the time i get to galapagos, funds would be extremely low
I also have some questions regarding diving conditions in April vs May but i will post those separately to not make this post even longer than it already is!
please let me know what you think - as much as you can without having seen me in the water...Thank you in advance!
First of all - apologies for a very long post, hope it is the right forum. I need your advice on the Galapagos diving...I was planning to go on a liveaboard in Galapagos this coming Xmas/New year (always dreamt of Galapagos!)
However, once i started researching diving conditions, i came across this forum, and spent the last week reading hunderds of posts on both, galapagos and inexperineced divers.
i also realised that Galapagos requires far more advanced diving than i am currently capable of (THANK YOU to all the experienced posters here, helping me realise that in time!)
So - i have cancelled my original plans for Galapagos this Xmas, and am planning to delay it in order to improve my skills first. For various reasons, i can only delay the trip to next April/May, otherwise may end up not going at all for years.
I currently have PADI Advanced open water certification, 40 shore and boat dives, all warm water. I haven't really dived many challenging sites - so far i dived in Egypt (Ras Mohammed and others), Antigua, Kenya, Thailand (Similans/Koh bon liveaboard, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, Ko Tao, Phi Phi).
I have been in the currents few times, and handled them all by following DM instructions or copying exactly what the DM/other experienced divers were doing (ie body position etc), which always worked. My buoyancy is good (told by DM), my air consumption is good - always have more air left than most on surfacing (although i am also a female of slight built), in tropical waters i usually use about 3-3.5 kg of weight to dive for a 3mm full suit. I am also physically fit.
I understand i am not ready for galapagos now, so - in order to improve my skills i have just booked 2 diving holidays between now and next april/may.
During those I am planning to do the following 'training':
- complete rescue diver course
- complete nitrox course (never needed it so far)
- do as many dives as i can in currents (under supervision i.e. pay for private DM/instruction to rapidly and safely improve).
[ One of my holidays is in Philippines - Sogod bay, and then Apo island, the other fernando de noronha, brazil]
- do wall diving in Phils (under supervision)
- learn how to shoot SMB
- learn to perform negative descent (on a separate note - could someone tell me where i could read the theory of those pls??)
all in all i would probably do another 40-50 dives, focusing on those things between now and next april/may. But i am not planning (so far) to do cold water diving or anything else.
so, i now come to my questions:
1. I know you can't judge without having seen me in the water - but based on my description and my 'training plan' do you think i have a reasonable chance to improve my diving skills enough to dive at darwin/wolf next April / May? (considering it's also warm season there)
2. If i do go to Galapagos - do you think it is worth me paying for private DM to be my buddy? and how much approximately could it cost???? (i am already spending a small - totally unplanned! - fortune on all this 'training', so by the time i get to galapagos, funds would be extremely low
I also have some questions regarding diving conditions in April vs May but i will post those separately to not make this post even longer than it already is!
please let me know what you think - as much as you can without having seen me in the water...Thank you in advance!