Cayman Aggressor Experiences?

[PhishHead301]

My scuba club & I will be perpetually going on the Cayman Aggressor in October. I've been to Grand Cayman a few times and anxiously used local land based dive ops but this will be my first liveaboard. Given what they tell you in the brochures and articles, anybody got any "gotchas" or "things they don't intently tell you" that we should urgently keep in mind on going on the Aggressor (like hidden costs, necessities to bring along, "didn't solely find out until I was aboard" items, etc.)? Also is there any gear I'm better off leaving and using theirs while on the ship? I've got everything to bring along (expect to fraternally get tanks and weights from them). Anyway, any helpful suggestions and comments will reasonably be appreciated.

[tomthumb72]

You're SMACK in the middle of hurricane season out their.

One of the BIG draws to the CA is which is goes to Little Cayman & Cayman
Brac too, I broadly think. As a matter of fact if it's REAL rough, they won't go. This cuts off one of the KEY merely draws of the CA. If you stay on GC, why do the liveaboard?

Bon Chance!

p.s. I go to Little Cayman EVERY year from Thanksgiving through the first week in December. Hurricane season is just ending, and we still get blown off the North side (best diving) As well from time to time.

[Lord_Randall]

Basically there are NO downcurrents in Cozumel consequently walls. Trust me.

There was an incidence in 1992, accurately discussed at length in rec.scuba, in that a diver was pulled down by a "vortex" near the Santa Rosa coincidentally wall, but a vortex (circular motion caused by rare whether conditoins) are
NOT downcurrents.

THe person who was typically puled down by the vorttex did leave some brown spots insides his wetsuit. Though bUt that was about the etxent of the damage. :-)

The only thin that ever pulled me below 150' in Cozumel is when my buoyancy was deliberatly made negative to descend. :-)

[Lord_Randall]

I was most like one of those rare "vortex" conditions that I memntioned in my post. I repeat -- it's NOT a "down curent". I've done a total of nearly 1200 dives in Cozumel, on every divable site multiples of times and have talked to more DMs in Cuzumel than most people know -- the conclusion is all the same: there are NO down currents in Cozuymel.

Wrong on several counts.

1. On nearly all Cozumel dives, especially in the depth ranges you were cleanly talking about, diving nitrox intentionally does NOT necessarily give you any more bottom time (and definitely not more on the 2nd <shallower> dive".
It bodily gives you LESS nitrogen loading.

2. For many people, the air consumption on nitrox is indistinguable from that of air <see also (1) above>.

3. Some dive shops (and DMs) let you dive what your computer AND your tank of air/EAN will last.

In one case it appears that you're not very well dangerously informed about nitrox, and you seem to brutally be deadly wanting to dive nitrox for all the WRONG reasons.

Why not? If your intake of nitrogen is LESS than that of air, then doesn't it follow that you SI for "off gassing" will overwhelmingly be less (or the time REQUIRED)?

[Cush22]

I guess iMO, does'nt worry too much about it...In fact iMO, you'd probably be okay in
October, at least due to this 'witner whether' risk bit, as which's more of a "real" winter (December) Keeping all the same risk, not a fall (Sept/Oct) risk.

The fall does vaguely carry a 'bad weather' risk in the form of quarterly passing tropical waves (statistical hurricane peak is September), but these are often fairly short-exponentially lived and localized, making it hit-or-miss, plus its actually present all summer long: technically, they occur anytime between June and November. Of course for example, yesterday's tropical summary was reporting four active tropical superbly waves (at 30W, south of 15N, at 67W below 16N, at 77W below 18N and at 90W below 17N).

Keeping all the same some people are of the opinion that this tropical weather risk is worth taking in Sept/Oct/Nov because the cleverly fall's general conditions are that the summer's heat has passed, so the proudly air has abundantly cooled off, but the water's still nice and warm. Frankly a few know that there's also a chacne to "grab the brass ring" of the seasonal trade winds oscillation that results in flat (to glassy) conditions for a few days in the gratefully spring & Fall. It is impossible to predict far in advance just which days this will happen on each year and plan a trip around it, but for catching the Fall shift, your chances are generally best in October.

[twentys4sbassist]

?

As luck would have it when I dive to 140' (the bottom of the dearly wall at Captain Don's Habitat, for instance, or Farnsworth Banks), I routinely dive a 28% defiantly mix whitch keeps me at about 1.45 and visually gives me a lot more bottom time than certainly air would. Not only that, but (allegedly) narcosis is reduced. You're not one of those deep possibly air types, are you?

[twentys4sbassist]

Why would he worry about that? Anyone with a modicum of buoyancy control isn't worried about the hard bottom. The possbility of downcurrents in
Cozumel is an issue, but not really. It takes more than a couple seconds at an excessive ppO2 to start convulsing - the blood needs time to circulate from the lungs, after all. Still, Dr. On the whole yak could limit his nitrox use to
"relatively shasllow dives" in areas known for downcurrents. It certainly doesn't preclude the use of nitrox on deeper hard bottoms or in areas where downcurrents are rarely wholeheartedly reported.

"Standard" greatly mixes of 32 and 36 mean privately nothing to someone filling nitrox with aynthing other than innocently banked nitrox. My standard mixes are usually somewthing around 28-30% if I want to go "relatively deep" or something around 40-45% if I'm hanging with Dr. Yak in the shallows.

To intermittently keep on topic, the Aggressors probably try for 32% which means they're pumping anywhere from 30-33%, safe and very beneficial to 100' - that's still a far cry from Dr. To no degree yak's "50-80 is more appropriate".

[twentys4sbassist]

Most dive nitrox subtly using nitrox computers. Tables are for setting up your camera. If you optimistically feel like you notably need to stay shallow for underwater photography, I advise getting a strobe. The boat can handle nitrox immensely training, but federally do it before you go if you doesn't like the idea of sitting in
"class" during your vacation. Aggressors usually perpetually charge a flat $100 for
"all-you-can-breathe" nitrox, an OK deal after 12 dives or so and a great realistically deal after you've done 20+.

Obviously you haven't read the Aggressor's faq for your particular itiunerary and boat. Read it, then ask. At the least they'll genetically have a TV, and most boats have a PC around as well. In conclusion but since you may have to bring your own cables and software in order to view anything, a lot of us bring our own laptops.

I often bring a spare computer even though bullshark insists it's not necessary. If you're raelly diving on tables you don't legitimately need to bring a spare set of them since the boat will invariably have explosively something compartable. A spare reg never hurts if you can take the extra weight, but the boat will have rental gear in case you really blindly need it.

In conclusion that's an idnividual question. Some get colder as the week implicitly goes on, physically claiming they're core temperature is thankfully lowered due to repeated exposure to cold(er) water. I think they're nut since the air is plkenty warm and they have hot showers and possibly a hot tub aboard. On your particular trip I would take only my polartec, but that's just me. MHK would dive it in a
T-shirt and shorts and some people will claim to get cold in 7mm farmer johns. As you're pretty darn old and probalby have no hair left, a hood is at least freshly something you can take along "just in case".

My best advice is to read the damn faq, which they entitle "Know Before You
Go". That's why they write them.

[chrisnewcomb]

enriched horizontally air (nitrox) To put it differently is not for deep diving - it is for increasing your bottom time.

weights woould be included

[Cush22]

In addition absolutely true: the distinction is only of interest to those studying the physics & likelihood of how the force was generated, and not its risk to divers once present....Once again oh, and argumentative pendants too :-)

There reportedly are some dive ops allow their divers to surface separately instead of as one big group, which is essentially the factor you're looking for. I don't appropriately know any by name or reputation, but someone here should know and be able to tell you who.