Waisai - Raja Ampat - Waisai for an air hog?

[swmm129]

Hello! Combining holidays and PTO, I will manage to take off almost 4 weeks in December this year and want to use this time for a long dive trip. My bf and I initially chose Indonesia for the chance to dive the coral triangle and see manta rays. We are both PADI AOW with about 50 dives.

Unfortunately, I am an air hog, and it's not for lack of fitness; I regularly hike the high peaks, cycle, climb, etc. and have a resting heart rate of about 45 beats per minute (and I am small, around 120lb) but I am almost always the first diver who has to ascend out of any group. (I will continue to work on this in preparation for this trip, considering going out 1:1 with a DM to see if there's anything I can change.) I am worried that current situation could potentially make my air consumption even worse (though I have been OK with current so far when I've encountered it in the Cook Islands and Thailand) - then again the down-currents and extreme nature of the currents are in Indo could remove some of my compensatory behaviors (i.e. swimming shallower than the group may not be an option).

We are looking at a Waisai to Raja Ampat to Waisai liveaboard with a 4:1 diver to guide ratio. The dive sites are:

• Frewin
• Mioskon
• Blue Majic
• Chicken Reef
• Yanbuba
• Arborek Jetty
• Lalosi
• East Misool: No Contest, Love Potion, Three Rocks
• Southeast Misool
• Wayilbatan: Barracuda Rock, Wedding Cake, Neptune's Sean Fan
• Four Kings
• Pele
• Melissa's Garden
• Yanggefo: West Waigeo, Citrus Ridge, Mayhem, Way Pretty Shallow
• Blue Magic
• Cape Kri

I'd love to hear any other air hogs' or partners'/buddies' of air hogs experiences in Indo. Should we be looking somewhere else -- Maldives, Red Sea? We have dived in the Caribbean (Bocas del Toro and Aruba), Thailand (Similans), Cambodia, Cook Islands, and done a bit of cold water diving here in the US. (Will do more of this in advance of this trip.)

 

[justinthedeeps]

Possibly swimming too much?

I've seen junior PADI guides run people around at clearly excessive speeds and then chastise customers for "breathing too much air." The very same divers last 60+ minutes on a single tank with experienced guides who move slowly.

What happens while diving if you hold your legs/fins with your hands, so that you cannot move your arms or legs at all. Do you float or sink?

 

[stepfen]

Welcome to scubaboard @swmm129 .

About your gas consumption, the topic has been discussed here 100s if not 1000s of times.

In short, experience (i.e. keep diving) ideally under supervision (i.e. good quality training) will help you decrease it to your "normal" rate - whatever that is. Keep in mind that it might take time (maybe 100s of dives) to see results. And generally thinking about it, increases gas consumption.

Now about your trip, your gas consumption is what it is and it should not affect your decision to make or not to make this or any other trip. Worst case you cut some of your dives short. LoBs and dive operators have ways to accommodate this (it is far more common than what you might think). Also most LoBs offer larger tanks than the usual 80cuft (usually at a small cost) which can help.

Finally about the LoB you mention. The dive site list you provide is your bucket list or what? LoBs have set itineraries (unless chartered by a group) and usually avoid mentioning specific sites as their choice is very dynamic (weather, time, currents, divers' experience etc).

If you know specific dates, search online for availalbe options matching your budget and book. The list you provide contains sites in a very large area (central and Misool), so you might need to do 2 Lobs to cover all of these.

Since you have a long time available (4 weeks), Indonesia is the ideal destination to enjoy top quality diving and numerous other top side activities. I wouldn't spend this unique chance elsewhere.

 

[cozcharlie]

A few thoughts . Other people may have different opinions , but this is what came to mind.

1). As @stepfen indicated, the dive site list you gave is not really an itinerary but a list of possible sites . Basically all diving in Indonesia is weather and especially tide dependent. Most liveaboards will send out a small boat to check the current before sending the divers from the main boat —not unusual to wind up going to a Plan B site or even a Plan C site. Bottom line is there are rarely hard and fast itineraries because currents are constantly changing with tide and other factors (as well as other boats that may crowd a dive site and force you to go elsewhere—there is some coordination between boats but not perfect coordination )

2). As someone else indicated, tell the liveaboard in advance of the trip to reserve you a large (100cf/15 liter tank ). The extra cost is usually like $10-15/ day —a trivial percentage of your trip cost. As @stepfen also indicated, the more you worry about your air consumption the faster you burn air . A large tank gives you more air and most likely you will also burn less air while using it since aren’t as worried about running out .

3) Kind of tangental to your question, but Since you are a small person in pretty good shape, my guess is that difference between your air consumption and the other divers will probably narrow if currents are blowing and going . You will got worse , but relatively they will probably suffer a little more (experienced divers are very efficient a relaxed in low current situations, but if you are having to kick hard fighting a current that burns a lot of air regardless of who you are ). My air consumption tends to a lot better than the average diver in relaxed conditions but narrows closer to average in tougher conditions (doesn’t help I am pushing a big camera through the water )

4) You are burning a whole lot of air for someone your size and health . Below I mention a few Issues that sometimes that drive high air consumption that might (or might not) apply to you . Given that I don’t even know you and you may have tried all of these things My first guess is you are treating this is as exercise and not as a relaxing activity—possibly with negative buoyancy . Make certain your weights are correct for a saltwater environment (do a shore dive somewhere and hang out just off the bottom for a few minutes ). You should be able to mostly hover without using your legs much (not sure if they still teach the fin pivots or not—my OW certification was a few decades ago ). Holding your fins (as one poster suggested) could also be useful if you can get a comfortable position. One thing along these lines to make sure your weights have you trimmed relatively horizontal. If you are vertical in the water it is more likely you may be negatively weighted and bicycle kick to keep from sinking . A lot of people who are vertically oriented are gently kicking upward at the surface and think they need more weight than is actually necessary to sink . One other thing that helped me years ago was before the dive to close my eyes and do deep breaths for 2-3 minutes. You want to be taking deep breaths using your diaphragm (not shallow ones ). That is true before and during the dive.

Enjoy your trip

 

[Cali_diver]

You might want to consider hiring a private guide if they have that option. That way you aren't running into the scenario where you are forcing your dive group to go up early. You can also check with the LOB to see if they let you come up on your own with a SMB vs the whole group having to end their dive at the same time. Different boats have different policies. Someone recently said they were on the Velocean and the whole group had to go up when they ran out and it sounded like they had a hard time with it. A private guide would solve this. As for your consumption I highly recommend a peak buoyancy course with a good instructor. This can be life changing if you get a good instructor. You will love Raja Ampat!!