Morning vs afternoon diving

[cicopo]

I believe this trip includes doing your referral dives to get certified and then you want to do some additional open water diving. As a new diver you'll be hard on your air compared to 30 tanks from now AND shallow dives will give you more bottom time & there are lots of very interesting shallow sites. You may think you need to jam a lot into one trip but decide what interests you as far as what you hope to see. If it's fish, turtles crabs & lobster try to do the shallow sites but if it's swim throughs & tall coral formations you'll need a deep dive or 2.

 

[mobeachlovers]

Here is the bottom line: Diving will be less crowded in the afternoon. The diving quality, currents, visibility, etc.will generally be the same whether you dive morning or afternoon.

That's what I was asking in my original post, thanks, lol

 

[mobeachlovers]

I believe this trip includes doing your referral dives to get certified and then you want to do some additional open water diving. As a new diver you'll be hard on your air compared to 30 tanks from now AND shallow dives will give you more bottom time & there are lots of very interesting shallow sites. You may think you need to jam a lot into one trip but decide what interests you as far as what you hope to see. If it's fish, turtles crabs & lobster try to do the shallow sites but if it's swim throughs & tall coral formations you'll need a deep dive or 2.

Yes, certification and additional dives is correct. I am not interested in pushing my limits as a new diver lol..at this point i think i will be just fine with shallow dives. My original post was just asking about conditions as i stated we are new and would not be doing anything too difficult or deep. Having never been on a dive..other than the shore dives back in January when we did discover, I did not know if the conditions would be any different morning vs afternoon.

Great info from all who replied, thanks!

 

[shurite7]

After traveling with dive groups and living/working in the islands I find the diving culture (learned behavior) rather odd. Here is what I mean - people will wake up early in the morning to get on the boat to go diving, relax in the afternoon perhaps some shopping, then go out for dinner and party into the late hours of the night. Then they wake up early in the morning, tired from a lack of sleep and in many cases hung over from the night before, and go diving. The cycle is then repeated. This culture is prevalent within the diving community.

Why not sleep in during the morning, wake up and have a relaxing breakfast, go dive in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day, after returning take a nice shower and go do whatever (relax at the pool, shopping, etc.), go out to dinner and then party, if you are into it.

The recommendation isn't for everyone, however, I have noticed a tendency of people 'having' to dive in the morning, without out taking any consideration why, even if they are tired and/or hungover. When I ask people why they follow this learned behavior the most common answer is "I haven't really thought about it...it seems everyone else dives in the morning."

As mentioned above in a previous post, the afternoon dives are not any better or any worse than the morning dives. Pick a schedule that you would prefer rather than following the learned behavior without any thought. After all, you are on vacation. Enjoy and safe diving.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Conditions don't change from morning to afternoon in Cozumel as far as I know, but it's a fair question, as in some places in the world the seas might tend to get rougher in the afternoon or the currents stronger, for example.

Regardless of whether you end up diving morning or afternoon, if the dive op is aware you are new divers--and it sounds like you are doing your referral dives with them--then they will take you to sites that are appropriate for your experience level in terms of depth, current, and other measures of difficulty. No worries. That need not be a consideration in whether you choose morning or afternoon. But talk to the dive op to make sure you are on the same page.

 

[diver0008]

people will wake up early in the morning to get on the boat to go diving, relax in the afternoon perhaps some shopping, then go out for dinner and party into the late hours of the night. Then they wake up early in the morning, tired from a lack of sleep and in many cases hung over from the night before, and go diving. The cycle is then repeated. This culture is prevalent within the diving community.

Not my experience at all. I have generally found that resorts and hotels catering to divers are very quiet after dinner. Most people turn in early, and most are quite fresh in the mornings, eager, ready, and waiting for more diving.

Personally, I like a two tank dive on the deep side in the morning, and a nice bright shallower reef dive in the afternoon.

 

[mobeachlovers]

After traveling with dive groups and living/working in the islands I find the diving culture (learned behavior) rather odd. Here is what I mean - people will wake up early in the morning to get on the boat to go diving, relax in the afternoon perhaps some shopping, then go out for dinner and party into the late hours of the night. Then they wake up early in the morning, tired from a lack of sleep and in many cases hung over from the night before, and go diving. The cycle is then repeated. This culture is prevalent within the diving community.

Why not sleep in during the morning, wake up and have a relaxing breakfast, go dive in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day, after returning take a nice shower and go do whatever (relax at the pool, shopping, etc.), go out to dinner and then party, if you are into it.

The recommendation isn't for everyone, however, I have noticed a tendency of people 'having' to dive in the morning, without out taking any consideration why, even if they are tired and/or hungover. When I ask people why they follow this learned behavior the most common answer is "I haven't really thought about it...it seems everyone else dives in the morning."

As mentioned above in a previous post, the afternoon dives are not any better or any worse than the morning dives. Pick a schedule that you would prefer rather than following the learned behavior without any thought. After all, you are on vacation. Enjoy and safe diving.

Thanks! And the idea of diving during the hottest part of the day and relaxing in the morning sounds like like a good plan for us.

 

[diver0008]

Morning = deeper, afternoon = shallower

This, from my experience, is usually the case.

Many, if not most divers that I have encountered on dive trips do a two-tanker in the morning, and a single tank dive after lunch.

The op's generally respond to this with shallower afternoon dives.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
Why not sleep in during the morning, wake up and have a relaxing breakfast, go dive in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day, after returning take a nice shower and go do whatever (relax at the pool, shopping, etc.), go out to dinner and then party, if you are into it.
. . .

All other things being equal, I totally agree. In a previous post I mentioned that's just how we schedule ourselves on Bonaire. However, on Cozumel I believe timing considerations and available daylight play a role. The boat trip to and from dive sites in Cozumel can take longer than in some other popular destinations, and so you might be out for a total of five hours for a 2-tank dive. In the case of afternoon dives, that potentially puts you back at the dock at 7 pm. Last trip, the dive op we used didn't offer two afternoon dives but rather the option of one afternoon plus one twilight dive. On those 4-dive days, we got home late, and it was indeed exhausting. For our upcoming trip, we plan to do just two morning dives, eat lunch, siesta, swim or snorkel, dinner, and sleep.

 

[Lorenzoid]

This, from my experience, is usually the case.

Many, if not most divers that I have encountered on dive trips do a two-tanker in the morning, and a single tank dive after lunch.

The op's generally respond to this with shallower afternoon dives.

That makes sense.