Just How Tired Do You Become on a Liveaboard?

[paschen]

Thankyou all so much for the advice - really helping.
I am going to dive in Turks and Caicos. I have wanted to dive there since before I learnt to dive... so I am excited to do it.
My alternatives are:
1 week in Turks and Caicos and 11 days in Dahab (with buddies from last time there) and 10 days with best friend in Florida.
2 weeks in Turks and Caicos and 2 weeks with best friend in Florida.
It will cost almost exactly the same - and I would get 5 more dives if I did two weeks on the liveaboard than Turks and Dahab.
/shrug
Right now I am just not sure which way to go.
Oh - the one week in Turks would be on the Explorer boat and the two weeks would be on the Aggressor. I have preference for the Aggressor but they aren't confident on running the trip during the week I want to go.
Finally - my first liveaboard experience will be over Easter at Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef here in Australia.
Tar
P

 

[BurBunny]

Definitely on the Turks liveaboards, one week or two, I'd recommend Nitrox. They'll do the cert onboard, and with few shallow dives, you'll appreciate the longer NDLs, even if your buddy is diving air. Consider your buddy getting certified, too

I know the T&C Aggressor highly recommends it. The week I was on, there was only one diver on air, and she sat out more than a few dives (but that may just be her style in general - it was a photography group and she was a non-camera spouse). Also on the Aggressor, if you get your cert onboard, your Nitrox for the week is included.

 

[Quero]

I've done lots of liveaboards, and a couple of longish ones (12 days). You *can* get pretty tired, and then you just skip a dive...take a nap on deck while the boat is quiet and everybody else is in the water, choose to sleep in until the second dive of the day, call it a day before the night dive, whatever. Very few passengers on any given trip do every single dive, in my experience (though the photo trips do seem to have a lower number of skipped dives).

It's also true that diving on Nitrox is a huge help. It certainly makes it easier to stay awake during dinner!

 

[caymaniac]

We dove 5 dives a day (a couple days it was just 4 dives), we used Nitrox, but after 5 dives you still will be tired. Think about swimming against a strong current on a couple of dives and you can get tired even then. I'm not so sure one is less tired using Nitrox. I do know that each day I took a cat nap. What can be better than diving, eating, napping and diving some more?

 

[aprils0909]

Do you consider liveaboards too ambitious for novice divers??

 

[Footslogger]

Never have done 2 straight weeks on a liveaboard but I have done 6 - 7 one weekers. To be totally honest I never have gotten tired. I pace myself and take a lot of brakes and extended surface intervals. I generally dive between 3 and 5 times/day. Most of my liveaboard experience has been on the Nekton boats. Always something to do and of course ...there's always the opportunity to disappear into your cabin for a cat nap.

'Slogger

 

[Footslogger]

Do you consider liveaboards too ambitious for novice divers??

==============================
After over 30 years of diving I'd have to say that a liveaboard trip is in no way TOO ambitous for novice divers. In fact ...it's a great opportunity to work on your skills. You dive at your own pace so regardless of how many dives are possible in a day ...you are the one who decides when to dive.

'Slogger

 

[aprils0909]

Wonderful! Thanks so much. The itinerary sounded a bit intimidating.

 

[DiveMaven]

We just did our first liveaboard to Belize on the Nekton Pilot, and what was really clear to me after just a couple of days was that when I was newly certified, I wouldn't have been able to plan my dives, nor my gas management to be able to dive 4x a day for 6 days straight. Although I don't consider myself an "advanced" diver by any means, after 2 years of diving my skill set is higher and I have a greater understanding of dive planning. Buddy communication is also super important on a liveaboard, as my husband and I spent time before every dive deciding what our profile was going to look like, what our turn-around time/pressure was, etc. We also quickly developed new hand signals to change that pre-determined profile as conditions warranted.

I'd say if a novice diver understands how to plan repetitive diving, then definitely a liveaboard isn't too ambitious at all.

 

[divebuddy68]

Do you consider liveaboards too ambitious for novice divers??

As long as you are diving with a computer which most liveaboards require it's no problem. Last year, my GF's first trip ever was on a liveaboard and she did 4-5 dives a day with no issues.