considering Aggressor II trip - minimum dives

[hmoffatt]

My partner and I are considering booking a week on a Maldives liveaboard and the current favourite is the Aggressor II because there's a nice discounted fare on the date we want to go (December). We're experienced divers with 120+ dives each and good air consumption.

On drive trips I'm always a bit concerned about dive times being limited by the less experienced and/or those who drink through their air. divebooker.com says the Aggressor II has an AOW + 30 dive experience requirement, but liveaboard.com says the requirement is OW + 4 dives, which is really nothing at all.

On top of that we the date we are looking at is exclusive to PADI Travel and I wonder if that attracts newbies who know the PADI name through their training and might be tempted to book with them rather than other boats.

Can anyone offer me any comments either for or against?

 

[Aviyes]

I've been on the Belize aggressor and diving as a group or with DM was voluntary. Buddy pairs were welcome to do their own thing. So, no limitations on dive time due to inexperienced divers.

 

[Dogbowl]

I would contact the captain of the particular boat or Aggressor head office and ask them directly.They are good with email correspondence. I had a ton of questions and they answered all of them before my trip.

I have only gone on the Belize Aggressor IV and the way that boat worked, no one’s dives were limited by anyone else’s. You could follow the DM or you did your own thing. Most dives, most people did their own thing by choice.

 

[Schwob]

I only was on the Red Sea Agressor and there too no one including my son had to short cut their dives due to the air hogs (about 2 to 3, one of them, including me). When it was time to ascend for me I found the DM - even when we were just diving as a buddy pair, handed my son off, and did my ascend, safety stop dsmb thing (unless it was one of the very few dives ending at the Agressor itself). Only drawback that way was that on drift dives we did need to stay somewhat around the DM group so the handover had a chance of happening. The way they did it, I honestly don't think my air consumption affected anyone else. .. thankfully... Even if it just makes a 5 minute difference, that's cutting someone else's dive short noticeably.

That said, even with some more experience, I am still an air hog... actually, the more experience, the less I understand how experience is going to change that. I do see things improving a bit during a rare many dive week. Other than that, I just breath a lot... (I guess in or out of the water... some of those low breath rates I read about seem still quite unfathomable to me - even just sitting on a chair doing nothing else). So it is what it is. I stopped worrying about it except for trying not to affect others... so I guess I still worry about it... Anyway if I am ever on "your boat" try not to hate me...

 

[KathyV]

My partner and I are considering booking a week on a Maldives liveaboard and the current favourite is the Aggressor II because there's a nice discounted fare on the date we want to go (December). We're experienced divers with 120+ dives each and good air consumption.

On drive trips I'm always a bit concerned about dive times being limited by the less experienced and/or those who drink through their air. divebooker.com says the Aggressor II has an AOW + 30 dive experience requirement, but liveaboard.com says the requirement is OW + 4 dives, which is really nothing at all.

On top of that we the date we are looking at is exclusive to PADI Travel and I wonder if that attracts newbies who know the PADI name through their training and might be tempted to book with them rather than other boats.

Can anyone offer me any comments either for or against?

I've been on a few Aggressor LOBs, not the Maldives but the Kona, Red Sea, and T&C Aggressors - and as others have said, there is no requirement that you follow the DM and dives were not cut short by the individual with the shortest air consumption - but you can still check with Aggressor directly for confirmation.

 

[KathyV]

...that said, even with some more experience, I am still an air hog... actually, the more experience, the less I understand how experience is going to change that. I do see things improving a bit during a rare many dive week. Other than that, I just breath a lot... (I guess in or out of the water... some of those low breath rates I read about seem still quite unfathomable to me - even just sitting on a chair doing nothing else). So it is what it is. I stopped worrying about it except for trying not to affect others... so I guess I still worry about it... Anyway if I am ever on "your boat" try not to hate me...

You can arrange to use larger tanks that should help you to have longer dives.

 

[Schwob]

You can arrange to use larger tanks that should help you to have longer dives.

Thanks. I did, and it helps of course. I think they gave me an HP100, but filled to 3000PSI, so I got about 10% or so extra over the AL80s (twas I think a 12l tank tated to 236 or so bar, but filled to 200ish bar)

 

[KathyV]

Thanks. I did, and it helps of course. I think they gave me an HP100, but filled to 3000PSI, so I got about 10% or so extra over the AL80s (twas I think a 12l tank tated to 236 or so bar, but filled to 200ish bar)

This may be a fluke, but I used to be an air hog but my air consumption improved significantly when I got a new regulator. We have our gear serviced annually, but a new regulator made a big difference for me.

 

[Schwob]

This may be a fluke, but I used to be an air hog but my air consumption improved significantly when I got a new regulator. We have our gear serviced annually, but a new regulator made a big difference for me.

I will tell my financial "minister", aka wife immediately!
... Nah, in my case, it's 100% me. I can tell from my dive profiles (air integrated). If and when I manage to have the air consumption (normalized to surface) for the entire dive as I have it during the last 10 or 15 or 20 minutes, my air condumption will improve very notably....
I am well aware about calming dow, taking a break before decending, zen, oooohm and .... but apparently I just still need to breath like a steam engine early in the dive... and then "it" slowly calms down....
Some day I figure it out ... or it will come to me w/o being figured out ... or not and I still enjoy diving...

 

[Damselfish]

All the Aggressors I've been on were divers choice - do your own thing or follow the DM, except maybe a few special dives. But I wouldn't assume all Aggressors are the same, there is a large regional component here - verify with the specific boat what procedures will be like if it's something that matters to you. Maldives in particular, the diving can be somewhat advanced with strong and changing currents. Unless they make a point of diving protected current free sites (which might result in missing a lot of the stuff one would go there to see), it might be a trip where you do need to follow a DM. And not really appropriate for OW+4 dives. Perhaps that is a typo, or perhaps they are doing something special that week.