4 dives in 1 afternoon Ok?

[BHB ScubaTroll]

A question that keeps getting placed just to the side

cl1115:
Are you logging your dives and calculating your rnt for each additional dive using dive tables, or are you using a dive computer?

 

[diver 85]

Hey guys,
I have my open water cert and has done about 10 dives total. For all my logged dives, i would go on 2 tank trips which doesn't need planning, so I never got to apply my PADI dive planner/chart reading skills.

For this weekend, I plan on doing:
-Two tank dive at 1:30pm, followed by
-Two tank dive at 6:00pm

Is that too much diving for 1 day? The second dive is a night dive which is why I'm trying to squeeze it in. Also, are night dives beyond my skill level?

Thanks!

honestly-----if you have to ask those questions(to get serious answers), I think it is too much, for YOU....Get some help from someone you can personally trust----not the internet...

 

[boulderjohn]

Hey guys,
I have my open water cert and has done about 10 dives total. For all my logged dives, i would go on 2 tank trips which doesn't need planning, so I never got to apply my PADI dive planner/chart reading skills.

Thanks for the quick reply,
I'm more of a vacation/recreational diver, so i just go with a divemaster. Jump in, get out, go back to the gf whom i left at the hotel .

... i do hear seasoned divers complaining about beginner going beyond their skill level. Just wanna make sure I'm not one of those over confident dummies

All the dives you are planning to do right now are beyond your skill level since you have no way of determining on your own whether they are safe. You should either brush up on your PADI dive planner skills or use a computer. Probably both.

Lots of people are vacation dive people who just jump in and follow the DM. I did a lot of that in my earliest days myself. Let me describe two incidents.

I did the first of a 2 tank dive and then, during the surface interval, the DM announced hat the person who was skippering the boat would DM the second dive. He immediately took us too deep considering the length of our surface interval, and my computer soon told me I was on the edge of no decompression limits. The new DM was just going along blissfully. I showed him the computer and indicated we had to get shallower, but he was puzzled. I later learned he had no idea how to read that computer. I went up. He ended up following, ending the dive.

On another occasion a few years later we did a deep first dive, switched DMs, and then did a deep second dive. Once again, I was at my limits only half way through the dive.

Don't trust the DM! Make sure you can plan and execute your own dive!

 

[knowone]

I admire your stamina. Try to stay awake during your night dive. Does she cook as well.

 

[aquaregia]

I'd be terrified of doing repetitive dives without consulting the tables. Can you post the depths and expected bottom times of the four dives so we can run them through the tables? I know the tables are often overly conservative for highly profiled dives, but as a result an okay from the tables is fairly convincing.

 

[yosemite_sam]

Stick to your tables

 

[F106A]

Hey guys,
For this weekend, I plan on doing:
-Two tank dive at 1:30pm, followed by
-Two tank dive at 6:00pm
Also, are night dives beyond my skill level?

I've done MANY 7-in-1-day dives in Grand Cayman. Two in the AM and five between 1:30 and 9PM. Never a problem. BUT, most dives in Grand Cayman are easy. Even the deeper (100'+) ones (one or two). But doing the math is always a good idea.
"...i would go on 2 tank trips which doesn't need planning..." - interesting concept.
Are night dives beyond your skill level? I have no idea; why don't you? (If you don't feel two-tank trips require planning, why would you think four would? And vice versa.)

 

[orm]

Go buy a computer.

Seriously, if you're not planning your dives, you can't rely on a divemaster to determine your NDL. What if the DM changes from one dive to the next, different profiles... no, no, no, no.

Go buy a 'puter. Then you won't have to ask an internet forum.

I've done four in one afternoon, the last one I had no bottom time had to stick at a silly depth not to go into deco. You can do without all that and be in the dark.

Don't do it buddy! Not without a computer anyway..

Tip: if you want to do a lot of dives and not be whacked out at the end of the day... look at a Nitrox course.

 

[scubadada]

I've spent many trips doing 4-5 dives per day. Get a computer and use it. Get nitrox certified and use it. I've occasionaly had my dives limited by O2 tox, pay attention to your computer.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Damselfish]

For all my logged dives, i would go on 2 tank trips which doesn't need planning, so I never got to apply my PADI dive planner/chart reading skills.

Actually they do need planning at some level, and I doubt anyone was stopping you from doing so. "Vacation" diving doesn't mean you can or should check your brain at the dock. Following the DM for their knowledge of the site or critter spotting skills is one thing, but you should always keep track of your own decompression status, whether you use tables or get a computer.

Granted, for 2 dives per day, even if they are led by different DMs, you'll generally get away with it for most diving of this sort - especially if they're short and shallow like you're talking about. If they're not short and shallow, or you're not really sticking with the DM, or the DM isn't diving such a conservative profile after all, or the DM is using Nitrox, or the 2nd DM is not accounting for the 1st dive, or the DM is an idiot (occasionally happens) - maybe not. If you do 4 dives possibly led by 4 different DMs you really have no idea where you stand.

So while lots of people do 4 or more dives in a day, if you don't keep track of your own NDLs, and can't figure out on your own if the dives you're asking about are safe, it's too many for you.

As far as night diving, it's really hard for anyone to guess from the information you give but carlcz listed some good things to think about. A 6pm 2-tank sounds like it may be a dusk and a night dive. Not a bad way to start night diving, especially if both dives are on the same site and you get a chance to get familiar with the area while there's still some light. But as a new diver, I'll bet you're pretty wiped out by the time you get to that last night dive.