Hello!
I am getting my Advanced Open Water certification in Semporna, Malaysia which will consist of five dives over two days in early June. I would then like to do a three dives in one day package in Sipadan. I've only logged one dive (a wreck dive off Aramoana in New Zealand in Feb 2017) outside of my Open Water cert (Oct 2016) but I am a fit 30 year old. Will I most likely be fine (tired wise) if I do the 5 dives to get my Advanced over two days and then the 3 dives in Sipadan on the third day or should I rest a day in between? I'd like to just do them all over 3 days since there isn't a ton to do in the area outside of diving and that would mean cheaper accommodation but I don't want to be exhausted! Any advice would be appreciated!
As you can see here, everyone on SB is super fit and a diving god...
But seriously... Any time in life one starts a new type of physical activity, it is normal that that activity will be more physically and mentally taxing. Later, as you've developed experience and skill, the same activity becomes less taxing in every way. Also, taking classes will often be more taxing than when you are engaged in the same activity just for fun.
You are young and fit. But, given your amount of experience with diving, my personal opinion is that you will probably enjoy it more and be less likely to have adrenaline masking an underlying fatigue if you plan for a rest day between your AOW class and your 3-dive day.
2 full days of class that CAN be taxing both mentally and physically, depending on the instructor, is likely to leave its mark. You are gung-ho and confident in yourself. You would probably be perfectly fine for the 3rd day of fun diving. The issue (in my mind) is the likelihood that you will be a bit mentally fatigued and not even realize it. If everything goes your way that day, you'd never know it. But, if something unexpected happens, that mental fatigue could be the difference between reacting like you should and reacting in a poorly-chosen way.
It doesn't sound like you even have enough dives to really form a good self-judgment about what shape you will be in physically and mentally after your AOW. When you have 20 or 30 dives under your belt, you'll have a much better ability to self-assess that kind of thing. Right now, since you came here and asked for our thoughts, my thought is that you would be doing yourself a favor to plan for a rest day. You may even find that you're glad you have it just so that you can spend some time shopping for bits you want to take on your dives or making changes to gear you're using. And I definitely think the rest day will have you even more ready and excited for the day of fun diving - and get even more enjoyment out of it.
Just my $0.02.
Have fun!!
