Waking up on vacation--how early is too early for a first dive?

[supergaijin]

We are currently re-arranging our diving schedules and I was wondering what time people feel comfortable getting up in the morning. Here in the Maldives the sun is up at around 6am, setting at 6pm- yep we're on the equator.

Personally I don't care about waking up at a certain time as it's just a 'number' but some people shudder at waking up at 6am whilst on vacation.

What thinks you?

ps. the best diving is first thing in the morning IMO.

 

[Searcaigh]

I like to wake up in the morning, then I know I am alive

Seriously though when I lived in Jeddah, 0700 dives were the norm when we camped at a beach, conditions were usually perfect on the Red Sea fringe reefs.

When I was in Vadoo back in 1998 I usually did a house reef dive before breakfast, generally out of the water by 0800, the Dhoni left at 0900 for the first boat dive of the day. Never had a problem getting up early for diving, work though, well that is something else.

 

[Agility]

I love early morning dives, most of my holiday-aquaintances prefer to stay up late and sleep long though

 

[DivemasterDennis]

We hate getting up, but love being up. The right time to get up on vacation is the time you need to get up to do what you want to do. We once did a dawn dive, where you can watch the reef wake up- like the mirror image of a dusk/night dive. It was a bit of a chore to get up ( a bit earlier than 6 a.m. and in the dark) but it was one of the wonderful dives of our dive life. Hawaii has a lot of 7:30 a.m. boats. We make them. No problem getting up to go diving. But if we have no early dive scheduled, I can sleep until 8:00 with no guilt at all. One thing I don't want to do when I am in a tropical location is to sleep my vacation away.
DivemasterDennis

 

[tracydr]

If you offer a very early dive, folks that don't want to go can just sleep in. I've found, when traveling, my clock gets so messed up that I end up waking much earlier than normal. I'm not usually an early morning person but if I change a bunch of time zones I may be waking up at 4-5 am.
If I'm able to have some coffee and a small snack, I'm good for an early dive.
I'd love the offer of a dawn dive. What fun! I've snorkeled in the pre-dawn hours in shallow water while on a conference in Hawaii and saw so many critters that weren't out during the day or even while night diving in the early night hours.

 

[TMHeimer]

Easy question. Been retired for years. Like late night TV and getting up between 10 & 11. Hate "meet at the shop 7 AM for a charter" dives. Early morning is worst time for dive trips. Early morning is the worst time for ANYTHING.

 

[mathauck0814]

I don't mind early morning dives so long as there's another option to accompany it. Some nights you feel like staying out just a little later than others.

 

[cbm32]

Hate getting up in the morning and just dont feel tip top too early.

8:30am or 9am would work for me. Any earlier sucks.....but I do it if I need to.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

I love getting in a dive before breakfast while on vacation.

My spouse on the other hand loves sleeping in before breakfast. As long as I sneak out quietly, no problem.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

When I'm on a dive trip, there really isn't a too early. I've comfortably woken up at 6:15am multiple times for dive days.

After a long dive day, I just want to crash, so I can easily sleep early. Thus, 6:00am or 6:15am is no trouble for me to start diving at 7:30am or 8am, as long as I get something to eat beforehand. Plus, there's usually a boat ride or some sort of ride where people can take a short nap.