Is this a Bad Dive Plan for Cozumel?

[DandyDon]

Well, I do agree with diving conservatively, so I guess that's what the salesperson picked up on and sold me Suunto. I didn't know enough at the time to understand the implications of being unneccesarily conservative and now I can't justify the expense of buying new computers when they work fine for us.

Certainly, when we do our own dive plans when shore diving, we do not push the limits. Of course, we have very little control of the SI when we sign up for a boat dive. Everyone on SB speaks highly of this dive op. We have never been diving in Cozumel and I am just trying to anticipate any challenges we may or may not encounter.

I will email the dive op to ask them about the duration of their surface intervals and see how they respond.

Yeah, "Safety First" always sounds good, but sometimes it's overdone. I won't say he took advantage of you. He just tried to answer your questions I suppose. So, live with the computer demands, or Ebay it and get an Oceanic you can adjust to your preferences.

You do not have to do the second dive with less than an hour. Just tell him you won't. I expect he will agree, but if he doesn't - there are many others. Even if you paid already, you used a credit card, right? I always pay after...

 

[RonFrank]

I have never heard of a dive op in Coz pushing a 30 minute SI. I would talk to your Dive OP, and confirm how they work. If in fact they do not allow a minimum 1 hour SI then find a new Dive OP.

Perhaps you could stop acting like your dive ops was a matter of international security and others will provide their experience. I have never dove with an op anywhere that skimped on the SI time. Min 1 hour is the norm everywhere, not just in Cozumel. The only exception is when the dives are sub 30' which can happen.

 

[ianr33]

You could decrease the conservatism of the computer. (It's easy. If diving air set computer to e.g. 24% O2. MOD will not be an issue at anything like recreational depths)

 

[gasgirl]

You can't really answer that question. The computer adjusts according to your current profile. So you can't predict when it will clear from a deco obligation. You need to either dive the computer or accept the deco obligation. If u go into it don't panic. It will tell you your ceiling and time but I would just dive the computer and enjoy your dive. Dive nitrox and use 28 if you think you will go over the 32 MOD.

bbarnett51 - Thanks for addressing my question. I completely agree. Unfortunately, the dive op only has EAN 32 and 36 available.

---------- Post Merged at 01:51 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:42 PM ----------

I have never heard of a dive op in Coz pushing a 30 minute SI. I would talk to your Dive OP, and confirm how they work. If in fact they do not allow a minimum 1 hour SI then find a new Dive OP.

Perhaps you could stop acting like your dive ops was a matter of international security and others will provide their experience. I have never dove with an op anywhere that skimped on the SI time. Min 1 hour is the norm everywhere, not just in Cozumel. The only exception is when the dives are sub 30' which can happen.

Not acting like that at all. In fact, you can find out if you just look at my other posts.

I have taken the very good advice given in this thread (by yourself, DandyDon, and Mike) and emailed the dive op to clarify their surface interval practices.

I just don't want to unfairly name a dive op based on a third party trip report without first verifying the information, that is all.

---------- Post Merged at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:42 PM ----------

I think you have two very big pieces of miss information which are these --



And then of course my suggestion is going to be to buy new dive computers. Suntos blow.

Email your dive op and ask them some questions in regard to the typical dive profiles and surface intervals you will be experiencing.

30 minute SI -- never experienced it, would't accept it even if they tried it.

Mike, I admire your style! Just wish you would tell me what you are really thinking!

I am betting we would love to go diving with you anytime!!!!

 

[LowVizWiz]

I dove Coz on air for a week during the SB invasion last year with my Suunto Vytec and never had issues doing at least 3 dives a day. But our SIs were generous specially after deep dives.

We were generally doing ~100' dives on the first dive each day for an hour followed by 45-60 minutes SIs depending on the second dive which could be 60,70 or 80+ feet; then a long lunch break SI followed by another ~100' dive in the afternoon and sometimes followed by a boat night dive or a shallow stroll on the hotel's house reef

My advise to you is to seek training and by that I don't necessarily mean a class... What I mean is you need to be able to understand what your computer is telling you when it goes into deco and then use that knowledge to judge what your actions should be. Deco for Divers by Mark Powell

If you were diving a different brand of dive computer and doing the same profiles would you, all of the sudden; be safer because the computer tells you you are not in deco? In other words don't follow your dive computer just because it says you are ok or not ok.

I can't honestly tell you that it's okay for you to go into deco or not. I've never seen you dive, but I can tell you that it's not the taboo a lot of people make it out to be and having the info necessary to make the right decision should you incur an obligation would make you a much better diver.

 

[gasgirl]

... I can tell you that it's not the taboo a lot of people make it out to be and having the info necessary to make the right decision should you incur an obligation would make you a much better diver.

This is exactly what I am trying to do - by posting this thread, I am hoping to formulate my plan in case this scenario comes up when I am drift diving in Coumel in a couple of weeks.

ie. Is it better to continue the dive with the rest of the group and incur the ASC deco obligation or is it better to end the dive with my buddy and go to the surface knowing that I have now separated from the group and will risk drifting to Cuba??? (Since my DH is American, I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek )

Kilili was kind enough to provide this link if anyone is interested in reading about the Suunto RGBM:

http://ns.suunto.com/pdf/Suunto_RGBM.pdf

 

[LowVizWiz]

Your two threads should be merged...

No one in their right mind would:

1. Tell you it's ok to do what you're planing to do without knowing you and your dive skills
2. Formulate a dive plan solely based on advice found on the inter web

Am I calling you crazy? Maybe! J/K, but between the Suunto manual and the book link I posted you have enough solid information to formulate a plan based on knowledge you actually posses not something someone told you.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[robbcayman]

This is exactly what I am trying to do - by posting this thread, I am hoping to formulate my plan in case this scenario comes up when I am drift diving in Coumel in a couple of weeks.

ie. Is it better to continue the dive with the rest of the group and incur the ASC deco obligation or is it better to end the dive with my buddy and go to the surface knowing that I have now separated from the group and will risk drifting to Cuba??? (Since my DH is American, I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek )

Kilili was kind enough to provide this link if anyone is interested in reading about the Suunto RGBM:

http://ns.suunto.com/pdf/Suunto_RGBM.pdf

If I were you, I would just spend a little money and get a different computer. I remember reading a story not too long ago on the Cozumel thread about how the dm for blue angel told people to toss their suunto's in the trash because they were just too limiting.

Here.. for $200 you can get this aeris wrist computer that does nitrox, too.

Aeris XR1 NX Wrist Computer


Then throw in an spg for like $80 and you are good to go.

Cressi Mini SPG (Imperial)

I'd rather spend $280 for a better rig and not guess or worry about being in deco or not.

 

[Mike]

Now don't trash the Suntos, they will be very happy sitting back in your hotel room as back-ups.

I have no idea if Suntos are so bad they lack dive planning features on them? But obviously with a 'normal' dive computer gasgirl you can quickly pull up a simple dive plan on your computer with the pressing of a couple of buttons, that will tell you where you're at with your off gassing from the 1st dive and it's going to give you a projected bottom time of your next dive if you tell it the expected depth, your projected bottom time is of course based on your last dive and your surface interval elapsed time. It's pretty simple if push came to shove and the dive op was telling you to get ready for the 2nd dive, to shove that computer in the face of your dive op and say "uh... my computer is showing me a 20 minute bottom time based on this surface interval". But in reality -- a 30 minute surface interval after a Coz 1st morning dive, ain't gonna happen no way, no how. Start making plans eventually to get yourself a Geo, they are affordable and very simple to use.

 

[cbm32]

My Gekko has been no problem for me thus far. On my trip to Fiji one of the DM's and a female guest were locked out for 24 hours by their computers while my Gekko let me keep on keeping on. I sure didnt notice a whole lot of difference in our depths on those two dives either.