First timer to Cozumel and First time Diver

[ThePetiteRunner]

If you live in California and plan to dive ever in California certify before the trip. California diving is quite different then warm water diving and you would do better learning in cold water going to warm then warm going to cold. California diving requires more weight and gear. My thoughts only.

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This is definitely one of the more compelling arguments to make, in my mind, about getting certified first. I just ran the numbers and getting certified at the local place here versus Cozumel would be about $300 more or so due to the location of the ocean dives and needing a hotel. I'm still weighing my options. I definitely see the more risk-adverse option of getting certified early as a benefit. Just can't make up my mind quite yet.

---------- Post added July 4th, 2014 at 09:26 PM ----------

You don't need a day each for those two, but you can if you want to. It'd be a shame to do Chichen Itza and not do Ek Balam just across the tollway. I try to minimize ferry crossings tho. If you can rent the house for a few days less, you can do one crossing, then maybe save money flying back from Cancun. And the whale sharks are a treat to consider.

I guess because we have three full weeks, I don't feel so worried about time constraints. Perhaps I should be? I'll definitely do some research on Ek Balam, thank you for the suggestion.

About the whale sharks... are these in Cancun? I haven't read much about it yet.

---------- Post added July 4th, 2014 at 09:28 PM ----------

I'm pretty good now, but I wouldn't say I will ever recover completely from the moped accident. When you break multiple ribs, and I broke 7, 4 of them in more than 1 place, they heal, but never in exactly the same way they were before. I'll have intermittent back pain for the rest of my life, I can't sit in one position for long periods (long drives are miserable), and I had to give up golf, which I loved - I can't make more than about half a backswing without pain, so I'm pretty much limited to pitch and putt courses. Luckily, it doesn't interfere at all with my diving.

Good gracious. I understand about the bone breakage though, I broke my ankle in the 7th grade (pulled a ligament and it took a sliver of bone with it - my Doc said it was quite an impressive way to break my ankle, small consolation though) and it still bothers me now, two decades later.

---------- Post added July 4th, 2014 at 09:34 PM ----------

1. Should we get our open water certification in Cozumel or before we leave the States?

Before. Don't waste brief vacation time in the lovely tropics clearing your mask & doing other scuba skills.

2. What pieces of equipment would you suggest we purchase and bring with us? Recommendations for brands/equipment?

Get an SMB (surface marker buoy). Hopefully you will never need it, but in the highly unlikely event you are separated from your group and surface elsewhere, it makes you much easier to spot. Your little head poking up in the distance on a wavy ocean can be very hard for boat crew to spot. This is a good thing to have on all ocean dives.

3. Any local dive shops/outfits you enjoyed using in Cozumel? Things we should look out for?

Living Underwater and Aldora are the 2 I know off-hand that offer steel 120 cf tanks, which are great news for 'air hogs' (folks with high gas consumption rates), and both are quite reputable. My 2 Cozumel dives were done with Living Underwater and I'd like to dive with Jeremy again; Aldora has such a strong reputation on the forum I wouldn't hesitate to use them, either. Many people, especially big guys, go through air fast in the early part of their diving, and since Cozumel dives are often deep, you could do a lot worse than to hit the water with 1/2 again the air the mainstream 80 cf aluminum tank people dive with.

4. What are some of your favorite dive spots in Cozumel?

I, too, liked Santa Rosa a lot. Right after jumping in large black grouper (doubtless somebodies been feeding it) swam up about arm's length from me and a big eagle ray swam right under us, very close, so I suppose I'm heavily biased about Santa Rosa.

5. Anything we should worry about going mid-June to early July?

When in the tropics, be disciplined in your use of sunscreen.

Stay well-hydrated. While the link between dehydration & decompression sickness isn't fully proven, conventional wisdom suggests you act as though it were.

6. Any other Cozumel secrets you'd like to share?

Temp. tolerance varies widely. I believe it was a January I was there, with 76 degree water. I'm big, beefy and pretty cold resistant, and that's a little chilly but okay for me with no wet suit. Over in July, I wouldn't bring a wet suit. Some people prefer to always wear at least a 'rash guard' (very thin wetsuit) on the off chance of jelly fish stings & the like.

When you dive, stay pretty close to the guide. If something interesting is fine, he's probably the one finding it and showing it. If you get in trouble, that's the guy you need to reach and let know you can't equalize, your air is low, etc... Don't be one of those timid people who wants to cruise way back behind the group.

Some op.s offer the option to high a private dive master/guide, so if you guys want your very own personal supervisor, you can have that. It's often recommended. I suspect you'd be okay without it, but whatever floats your boat.

The 3 minute 15 foot safety stop followed by a slow ascent is a very good habit to get into early, especially on deep dives.

If you're going to engage in dive travel, considering pursing your Advanced Open Water cert. soon, since some op.s in some places restrict your depth and sites until you get it.

Have fun.

Richard.

Richard! Thank you for the epic response. Good to know about the tanks. I'm tiny (5'0", a little over 100 lbs) so I'm not so worried about my own air consumption, but hubby-to-be is 6'0 and obviously bigger than me, so he might be sucking down the O2 a lot faster than I am.

I guess with my three weeks planned it seems like a ton of time, plenty of time for us to get diving and exploring the area. I'm a pretty busy, active vacationer. The type that gets up at 7 am, hits the museums/sights early and goes all day, high energy. I think that's why I'm not so disheartened about spending a few days getting certified there, but so many people have suggested it, it's difficult not to do it.

 

[driftwood]

Ek Balam literally rewrote the books on Mayan art. All the major Mayan building were literally slathered in plaster which was carved and painted. Naturally most of the plaster dissolved over time into the surrounding soil. Archeologists have recently developed a technique that allows them to locate Mayan buildings using satellite images sensitive high calcium concentrations in vegetation.

What makes Ek Balam unique is that a significant portion of the original plaster remained intact. The preservation was so good that you can see some of the original paint in areas. (very small fragments and you have to know exactly where to look and what to look for. Our guide was part of the original excavation team.)

I have been to all the major Mayan sites in the area and Ek Balam is the only one I would spend time to revisit.

 

[drrich2]

From TS&M's post:

In addition, you will get certified in whatever your local diving is . . . which means you'll be familiar with it, and able to go and practice there between diving trips. This is important!

It's a good idea to do some training, and get some experience, in less ideal conditions. Otherwise, you may find all you want to dive in is 80+ degree high viz. salt water with nice coral reefs, from a boat. Many of us love that kind of diving. But you can do that, and further enrich your life by diving harsher conditions when that's what's available.

I love Bonaire and Key Largo. I hope to go drift dive Jupiter, Florida, later this year. But today I drove in a cold flooded gravel quarry with limited viz. I didn't see a grouper, but I saw a big large mouth bass. See, I live in Kentucky. It took me about 10 minutes to drive to that quarry. And it helps me keep in practice and learn about diving. Today I learned it was cold under that 1st thermocline and I had to get out and go grab my hood and gloves; just a wet suit wasn't going to cut it. Felt like I stuck my head in ice water.

Richard.

 

[Mossman]

This is definitely one of the more compelling arguments to make, in my mind, about getting certified first. I just ran the numbers and getting certified at the local place here versus Cozumel would be about $300 more or so due to the location of the ocean dives and needing a hotel. I'm still weighing my options. I definitely see the more risk-adverse option of getting certified early as a benefit. Just can't make up my mind quite yet.

In your case, I wouldn't certify locally. Some people who live in cold water locales never dive locally. Others, like me, certify in cold water but eventually become "warm water wusses" and rarely get wet locally anymore. Still others are so turned off by diving in the cold that they never make it to the warm.

But there is a nice compromise available: Do the "schoolwork" locally and do the certification dives in Cozumel. Even if you have plenty of time, it's still a honeymoon and you should be able to think of better things to do than study dive physics and physiology. Your local shop can give you a referral to a Cozumel dive shop.

Richard! Thank you for the epic response.

I only have 75 dives in Cozumel with 7 different dive shops so I just give advice in limited areas and general topics. You might note that the epic response included the phrase "My 2 Cozumel dives", which kind of makes its value dubious. YMMV of course, but there are plenty of people on this newsgroup who have homes on the island or have spent weeks a year there for many years who advice I'd personally value a bit higher.

 

[drrich2]

You might note that the epic response included the phrase "My 2 Cozumel dives", which kind of makes its value dubious.

Thankfully my info. has also been derived from the shared experiences of others on the forum, and I quantified my experience and stuck to useful info. I could share. And posted it publicly, where any errors can be challenged, rather than in a personal message. In the context of an active thread where many people can share, though they vary in experience. So, out of the info. I shared in my post, what do you think was wrong, or that the more seasoned Cozumel patrons would disagree with?

Richard.

 

[dmoore19]

Hmm, I don't remember that one, I did mention 2 different dive ops on 4 different trips, around 40 dives there.

 

[ThePetiteRunner]

I only have 75 dives in Cozumel with 7 different dive shops so I just give advice in limited areas and general topics. You might note that the epic response included the phrase "My 2 Cozumel dives", which kind of makes its value dubious. YMMV of course, but there are plenty of people on this newsgroup who have homes on the island or have spent weeks a year there for many years who advice I'd personally value a bit higher.

My mistake, I should have clarified. What I meant by "epic" was the sheer volume of information he provided. I appreciate it when people are willing to put out thoughtful responses, whether they be based on 2 or 400 experiences. Obviously you have more data to gather information in the latter, but I still think you can get something out of each experience I'm so delighted that so many people feel they can share their experiences with me, even if it's just to recommend a local eatery or rental. I appreciate them all.

 

[ggunn]

My mistake, I should have clarified. What I meant by "epic" was the sheer volume of information he provided. I appreciate it when people are willing to put out thoughtful responses, whether they be based on 2 or 400 experiences.

FWIW, I have been to Cozumel ~40 times (I have lost count) and I have something in excess of 400 dives (ditto) there. Math whizzes will note that that would mean few dives per trip, but I started going there in 1978 for the fishing. Anyway, I don't see anything in his post with which I would disagree. I reiterate my opinion (free advice and worth every penny) that you should get completely certified before your trip. The skill set you will build in doing so will be more portable, and diving Cozumel will be well within your comfort zone. Diving Monterey is a completely different experience (I have dove? diven? there as well); it's definitely more challenging (and far less supervised) but you can see some fascinating things there.

 

[Keith.M]

I only have 75 dives in Cozumel with 7 different dive shops so I just give advice in limited areas and general topics. You might note that the epic response included the phrase "My 2 Cozumel dives", which kind of makes its value dubious. YMMV of course, but there are plenty of people on this newsgroup who have homes on the island or have spent weeks a year there for many years who advice I'd personally value a bit higher.

What value were you trying to provide here? Why bother to post at all?

For the OP, I am surprised you calculated the costs at 300 more locally. I guess that must be because of hotels. As myself and others have said before though, you will have much more appreciation and be more comfortable on vacation if you learn and dive here first.

The hotels in Monterey get cheaper in fall and winter while the diving gets better.

Diving in Cozumel after learning and diving in Monterey, was a dream. I wore a 2mil shorty, but the water was 84 at 90'! There is no question that diving in warm water is much easier and having learned in cold with more weight and much more exposure protection made the experience even better.

 

[TheRealScubaSteve]

I'm quite sure a lot of your responses will disagree with me, but here's my take:

Get certified before you go. The reason for this is that you will not be under pressure at home, if you should develop a cold or anything else that interferes with the schedule of your dive class.

This is good advice. My dad and I got certified last year (though he had dived for at least a decade in the military) in Grand Cayman. I got extremely sunburned on the first day, which added to my anxiety because we had booked a solid week of diving. I ended up needing an extra day of instruction than was planned.