Steel tank ops - a comparison between Living Underwater and Aldora

[Skittl1321]

Thank you for the very detailed reviews!

Can you tell me how your bottom times actually compared? I know you were coming up with a lot of air with Aldora, but were the dives substantially shorter?

Does LU have a time limit at any point? I'm trying to picture Susanita, for instance, with extra air- and on a dive like Columbia Shallows I think she'd be underwater for like 4 hours (or come up because she was cold). Since you are also a small woman- it seems like an unlimited dive your tank could make for some very very long SIs for the rest of the boat. (I prefer to think of my short dives as "extended SI for safety" and not "embarrassingly bad air consumption for a 5'0" tall woman")


Also color me very surprised that Aldora only does water. I had always thought they were a "luxury" op. I know I really appreciated water, soda, fruit, and pound cake after my dives.

 

[Zman96]

---------- Post added July 10th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ----------



Oh, I missed that. How much, which filler and when?

I had a tank from Meridano that was labled 32 and register just under 34. Also had a 36 register 35. At home on a boat I have had one off 3 percent. All enough to make me check every nitrox tank.

 

[kwinter]

Since when does SAC rate correspond to advanced level? I know plenty of novice divers (women) who hardly use gas at all, but are clearly not advanced divers. And plenty of advanced divers with perfect buoyancy and trim who suck air like a hoover. My own RMV has gone up considerably over the years. Part of it is age, part fitness, and part related to rebreather diving.

Judge skills, not gas consumption. If someone is truly an advanced diver, he will know his SAC rate and get tanks accordingly, including slinging a second tank to avoid the shame of being the first one out.

 

[MMM]

My dive times were probably pretty good, comparatively speaking, since we were diving nitrox on both tanks. Here are my times and depths:

Time (min)/Max Depth (ft)/Average Depth (ft)
93/90/50
102/56/44
56/103/66
86/45/34
61/91/62
72/74/54
65/90/58
79/60/46
65/81/59
83/72/44
52/111/70
73/83/53
62/79/53 Average

For comparison (although it is impossible to do a direct comparison since sites were different and I was breathing air on my first tank instead of nitrox), here are my times for my last 12 dives with Living Underwater:
78/74/47
72/67/47
61/108/55
89/65/46
104/33/25
80/71/47
50/114/63
73/72/46
64/81/49
69/70/47
73/108/50
79/76/48
74/78/48 Average

The only time limit I have ever seen LU impose has been at Colombia Shallows. As you can see, one of the dives I recorded was done there and my computer shows me as still having one third of my tank left when we came up after 104 minutes. So Jeremy must have ended the dive; I most certainly wouldn't have been cold with all the neoprene I wear!

Can you tell me how your bottom times actually compared? I know you were coming up with a lot of air with Aldora, but were the dives substantially shorter?

Does LU have a time limit at any point?

 

[cvchief]

I had a tank from Meridano that was labled 32 and register just under 34. Also had a 36 register 35. At home on a boat I have had one off 3 percent. All enough to make me check every nitrox tank.

Ok.... That would be like 6 ft of max depth at the most? Heck is the analyzer even that accurate on the boat? My labels have always been like the exact blend, like 35.8 or whatever. When I check them every time (as far as you know) they have been right on the hand written sticker.

 

[Zman96]

When I am messing with breathing gas I will take my precautions. If they can be off 2% points what is to say that cant be off 10? It goes to show just because it is written, it doesn't mean it is correct.

 

[cvchief]

When I am messing with breathing gas I will take my precautions. If they can be off 2% points what is to say that cant be off 10? It goes to show just because it is written, it doesn't mean it is correct.

But are you actually saying the little hand written sticker was wrong? The one that floats off as soon as you hit the water? They are NEVER 32 or 36 it seems, but they are usually right on with the sticker.

And I certainly would never say don't test....

 

[Zman96]

But are you actually saying the little hand written sticker was wrong? The one that floats off as soon as you hit the water? They are NEVER 32 or 36 it seems, but they are usually right on with the sticker.

And I certainly would never say don't test....

Yes on the one that was a 32 on the sticker actually read 33.9 on the analyzer. Usually they are right on but there is always a chance.
I know you aren't saying not to test, you are a pretty safety conscious guy, except maybe after a few Wet Wendys margs.

 

[cvchief]

Yes on the one that was a 32 on the sticker actually read 33.9 on the analyzer. Usually they are right on but there is always a chance.
I know you aren't saying not to test, you are a pretty safety conscious guy, except maybe after a few Wet Wendys margs.

Well, I always get a cigar at WW to slow the drinking. Safety first!!

 

[boulderjohn]

To me, separating divers by ability is very valuable, especially if you want to do some of the more challenging sites. That makes me leery of using an operator who only has one boat.

I dived with LU for two days. The first day, there were only two of us on the boat, and the experience was excellent. My insta-buddy was a fine diver, and we enjoyed two very nice dives. I was pleased as punch.

The second day a husband and wife joined us, and we could see from the start of the descent that there was going to be trouble. I could not see exactly what was happening, but Jeremy did the whole descent holding onto her, and it took a while. He paused in a sandy area to give her a buoyancy lesson--including fin pivots. We then descended to the reef--Columbia Deep, one of my favorite sites. We did no swim throughs--those are not going to be done with your DM quite literally holding the hand of one of the divers. It was a very, very different trip on that reef than I had ever experienced. The second dive was to the upper part of Santa Rosa Wall, and it was more of the same, with him holding her hand most of the time. My buddy and I ducked into some swim throughs on our own--finding a huge grouper in one was a bonus--but those were unauthorized excursions. My buddy and I later talked about how frustrated we felt during the dives.

I think the first day of diving with LU was an excellent experience, and I think everything was extremely well done. The second day was not so good, and I have no idea what I would have done if I had been in his fins for that dive. I don't know when or even if I will return to Cozumel (my last three trips to the area were on the mainland), but when I choose an operator, I will keep that second day experience in mind.