No diving in several years - Aldora a poor choice?

[ggunn]

In the OPs defense he has a computer that doesn't give average depth. Thus he has over 200 dives and can't tell us what his gas consumption rate is.

For the divers with 200 dives that have a computer that tells average depth and don't know their RMV they are not paying attention to their diving.

For their own safety and everyone they dive with they should pay more attention.

I have been diving for 30 years and I have no idea what my 'gas consumption rate' is, although I know that on a 60 or 70 fsw dive I can usually get about an hour from an AL80.

 

[scubadada]

I would hazard a guess that the majority of divers, including those visiting Cozumel, do not know what their gas consumption is.

There are only 864 votes in the gas consumption poll I started 8 1/2 years ago, but nearly 72,000 views

Thread 'Average Gas Consumption'

Jul 3, 2016

There has been extensive discussion lately regarding average gas consumption. A poll may help give us a better idea of what the normal distribution of RMVs is.

1 cu ft = 28.32 liters
1 liter = 0.035 cu ft

<0.3 cu ft/min = <8.5 l/min
0.3-0.39 cu ft/min = 8.5-11.0 l/min
0.4-0.49 cu ft/min = 11.3-13.9 l/min
0.5-0.59 cu ft/min = 14.2-16.7 l/min
0.6-0.69 cu ft/min = 17.0-19.5 l/min
0.7-0.79 cu ft/min = 19.8-22.4 l/min
0.8-0.89 cu ft/min = 22.6-25.2 l/min
0.9-0.99 cu ft/min = 25.5-28.0 l/min
>1.0 cu ft/min = >28.3 l/min

• scubadada
• Replies: 558
• Forum: Basic Scuba

• 

 

[FishWatcher747]

I have been diving for 30 years and I have no idea what my 'gas consumption rate' is, although I know that on a 60 or 70 fsw dive I can usually get about an hour from an AL80.

Do you have a computer that computes average depth?

 

[FishWatcher747]

I would hazard a guess that the majority of divers, including those visiting Cozumel, do not know what their gas consumption is.

The majority of recreational divers are leg heavy because their weights are not distributed correctly.

There are probably lurkers on this thread who may be inspired to calculate their RMV based on this discussion and participate in the poll.

 

[Julerb1]

Dive palancar is on their way out and I wouldn’t waste my time with them

 

[divingjd]

The other thing to remember is that Aldora guides have long hoses and will share air with a diver who’s low on air before the others. It’s possible that you could be grouped with less experienced divers the first day or two. If you get back up to speed fairly quickly, you could be with a more advanced group later in the week. Aldora is very professional and having seven boats enables them to be more flexible than other operators. It should be a good choice for you.

 

[ggunn]

Do you have a computer that computes average depth?

No, and it isn't a number that I would find useful. Neither is average gas consumption per minute or however "average gas consumption" is expressed. Every dive is different; my gas consumption rate will be very different for a dive to 100 fsw in heavy current than one to 20 fsw in calm conditions; heck, how I am feeling that day makes a difference. My average gas consumption rate over all my dives isn't an important number for me. YMMV, of course.

 

[MntryDvr]

I'm going to a refresher course this week, but don't think a pool will give me a feeling of consumption on an actual drift dive. Didn't think of doing private DM, that's a good idea.

I'll also check into Dive Palancar

For some reason the private DM suggestion made me think of a conversation I overhead some years ago at a resort restaurant in Costa Rica. We were scheduled to go out diving the next day, and at the next table our DM was conversing with a woman also scheduled to dive the next day. Part of the conversation went like this: Woman: "I have to tell you, I'm really nervous about diving tomorrow. I haven't been out in a really, really long time. Dive Master, shrugging: "That's okay. Neither have I." He managed to keep a straight face for about 2 seconds before breaking up, as did everybody within earshot. The self-described nervous diver stuck with him the next day and was just fine.

 

[ggunn]

For some reason the private DM suggestion made me think of a conversation I overhead some years ago at a resort restaurant in Costa Rica. We were scheduled to go out diving the next day, and at the next table our DM was conversing with a woman also scheduled to dive the next day. Part of the conversation went like this: Woman: "I have to tell you, I'm really nervous about diving tomorrow. I haven't been out in a really, really long time. Dive Master, shrugging: "That's okay. Neither have I." He managed to keep a straight face for about 2 seconds before breaking up, as did everybody within earshot. The self-described nervous diver stuck with him the next day and was just fine.

Did she slap him off his chair?

 

[dberry]

The other thing to remember is that Aldora guides have long hoses and will share air with a diver who’s low on air before the others. It’s possible that you could be grouped with less experienced divers the first day or two. If you get back up to speed fairly quickly, you could be with a more advanced group later in the week. Aldora is very professional and having seven boats enables them to be more flexible than other operators. It should be a good choice for you.

True, I dove with Aldora a few years ago and the DM used a long hose to extend the bottom times of one particularly heavy breather. Everyone got >70min dives.

Has anyone has mentioned nitrox yet? One diver in my group was the only person without nitrox, and we were cruising for a lot of the long dive at 65-75 ft. I'm suspect the non-nitrox diver was very close to if not over their NDL, and I don't think the DM was paying close attention to that individual's NDL (and apparently neither was the diver.)

If the OP doesn't use nitrox they should make a point of reminding the DM and keeping an especially close eye on their own NDL.