[R-sig-ME] Large data set and mixed models

[Michael Beaulieu]

I would like two compare the diving behaviour of two groups of penguins 
(7 penguin in each group). Each penguin performed several dives within 
several foraging trips. As a result, I got a huge data set of dives 
(nearly 100000).
To compare the diving behaviour of the two groups, I used a mixed model 
with:
-the penguin as a random factor,
-the number of dives nested in the foraging trip as a repeated factor,
-the group, the foraging trip and maximal depth as fixed factors.
Covariance structure was auto-regressive.
I tried this model on SPSS, SAS and R but all failed.

Has anybody been faced with such a huge dataset analysed with mixed models?

Thank you

MiKL