Can still remember my first dive in Cozumel, how about you?

[Mike]

Get'n kind of slow here lately...

So - I can still remember my first dive in Cozumel. It was my first open water dive as a certified diver. Beside the trepedations of boat diving for the first time, worrying about if all the gear was on correct, worrying about my wife and how she was doing/going to do... I can still remember the beauty, peace and enjoyment of a beautiful blue sky day with the sun warming us on the boat... getting ready to do my first giant stride, splashing in, briefly bobbing to the surface surprised everything was still intact, mask on...check... still breathing thru reg...check... look over to wife/dive buddy... she looks okay... waiting for the DM to jump in and then him asking for the okay sign and him then giving the sign that would start my first real scuba dive ever... he gives the descent signal, we dump air out of our BCs and start to go down....

... for the first time I put my head under those wonderful Cozumel waters and look down to see that awesome white sand bottom. I'm looking down and can see fish swimming around and something just isn't right. How can I see the bottom so clearly? We must be in 20 ft of water here.. hmm... keep descending... check guage, 50ft... 60ft, holy cow, we are in 60 feet of water! I can't believe how clear the water is and how we could see the bottom so clearly 60 feet below!

That's what I remember, it was the amazing sensation of the visibility which of course still amazes me every time we dive there.

From my log book - Palancar Horseshoe 35min, 75ft
Amazing Coral, lots of fish, grouper, turtle.
Blew saftey stop, came up too fast, need to add weight, mask fogged, choked on some water.

That was 11 years ago, do you remember your first dive in Cozumel?

 

[drrich2]

Yes, but it wasn't that long ago. 2 Dives in January 2011; the first at Palancar Garden, the second at Santa Rosa.

At Santa Rosa, after we hit the water & descended to gather to help out (diving with Living Underwater; very happy with them & the 120 cf steel tanks!), a large eagle ray swam under & really close to us. Very cool. Then a large black grouper swam up to about arm's length from me & hung out with us awhile (probably used to being fed, which we weren't doing, but still very cool).

Between those 2 dives, I got to see a yellow stingray, a southern stingray, a sea turtle (seen those before elsewhere), a channel cling crab (thank you Jeremy Anschel, our guide, as I never would've found it on my own!), and more besides. A couple in the back of the group got to see a huge green moral eel, but I didn't see that.

This was also the time I learned that I'm fine with no wet suit in 76 degree water; didn't get cold (got a little bioprene on board). And that first dive for me was just over an hour & 15 minutes; 120 cf tanks, I love you!

Good times.

Richard.

 

[Mossman]

Mine was 10.5 years ago, plus a couple of days. March 21, 2001. Port had been closed the past two days, diving canceled. We had already dropped off our gear with Aldora when we arrived on the island. Since we couldn't get out, I at least wanted to do a shore dive at Chankanaab. So I called Aldora and made sure someone was going to be there so we could get our stuff. Went to Aldora and no one was there, just a note saying they'd be back in 2 hours. Nice. So I banged on the door, really hard, and for a really long time. And shouted. Eventually the door opened, by a nice girl who unfortunately didn't speak a word of English. She led me to the "secure" gear room and left me alone in there to get my stuff. Luckily I'm a honest sort, for the most part.

Got to Chankanaab, J didn't feel like diving, so I soloed a bit. Saw the statue, scoped out bikini-clad snorkelers from below, that sort of thing. Dive #94, 3/21/01, 30 feet for 35 minutes.

Did two dives with Scuba Du the next day (Aldora still wasn't going out). Two cenote dives with Hidden Worlds the next. Finally went out with Aldora on the 24th (2-tank + night) and 25th (2-tank) finishing the trip with a lousy second dive on Tormentos, 51 feet for 29 min(!), after a much better but still short first dive at Columbia Deep, 87 feet for 45 min.

This was probably the least favorite of my Cozumel trips, but I at least got to experience the old Carlos & Charlies, pre-Punta Langosta.

 

[Mossman]

Between those 2 dives, I got to see a yellow stingray, a southern stingray, a sea turtle (seen those before elsewhere), a channel cling crab (thank you Jeremy Anschel, our guide, as I never would've found it on my own!), and more besides. A couple in the back of the group got to see a huge green moral eel,

This last trip I asked Jeremy about frogfish. The next dive, he showed us two, along with some amazing pipefish that exactly resembled (and were hidden among) little blades of seagrass. I had left my camera at home since photography is usually a pain in Coz with the currents, but he sure made me regret it. I can't wait until the next time.

 

[darook]

My first Cozumel dive was Paso El Cedral and was really nice. Remember viz that I had not seen previously in the Caribbean. Now when I did Columbia Deep the first time that is when I became a Cozumel devotee. I could dive Columbia and Palancar sites forever and not get bored.

 

[kixy1]

In 1986 my boyfriend (who later became my husband) and I left the somewhat sleepy, up and coming resort town of Cancun and headed over to Cozumel so I could check out the diving. This was long before the cruise ships, hurricanes or freeways. I wish I had kept better record of who I dove with and I can’t for the life of me decipher the signature in my log book, but oh well, onto the diving. My husband doesn’t dive, but he was a trooper and headed out on the boat with me. As far as exactly where we went, for the first dive all I wrote is Palancar Reef LOL, but now I know it was Horseshoe.
My memories and my notes are of the AMAZING, colorful coral, the swim-throughs (I’d never experienced them before), the abundant fish and the way the sun lit up the coral heads while the turtles fed. It really did look like the postcards you can still find in the gift shops. I swear there was not a grain of sand on those reefs. At one point my husband got in the water to snorkel (I have no idea what the he%! that was about) and we were waving at each other. From 80’! He still remembers it, says he could see the colorful reef and even some fish. Can’t wait until I pack my bags for the last time and get to STAY home!

 

[jjach]

We were newly certified, less than 10 dives in a cold quarry outside of Chicago. Then off to Cozumel for a week of diving. Our first dive was Maracaibo. I think it was 80 or 90 ft.
The warm waters of Coz made the diving so easy compared to diving in 50 degree water. The dive was beautiful, but then when my wife and I got back on the boat, we were both leaning over the side getting sick. We did 10 dives that week. We did go back for a second dive vacation the following spring to enjoy the beautiful reefs of Coz. We have since been to several other countries around the Caribbean to dive. But we are going back in Oct. for our fall vacation. I can't wait.

 

[crgravitt]

Hasn't been that long ago - April 3, 2011 on Chankanaab Bolones. We had snorkeled Cozumel on several trips before but once getting certified, that was our first adventure with drift diving. I didn't know what to expect and was used to diving in the Keys and being able to hover for as long as I wanted, observe, photograph, then move on. My first drift dive felt like I was standing up on a set of hand trucks and hurtling through space! :shocked2: I wasn't happy at all because I spent most of that dive trying to figure out how to stop. By the next day I learned to relax and ride WITH the current, not fight it, and drift diving is now my absolute favorite type of dive!

 

[Dive Choice Mexico]

It was in 1996 and I (a Dutchie) was doing my internship Hotel Management here on the island in Allegro Diamond. I was working in the guest service area from that hotel and actually got a lot of complaints from guests about the in house dive operator.
I did not know if those complaints were ok or not so I asked the dive operator to let me dive with them to see how their service was................I was hooked.
Now more than 14 years later I am in this beautiful waters almost every day and love what I do!

 

[jbjclj]

It was 1979 and we stayed at Cabanas del Caribe and dove with Martin before there was a Dive with Martin. I think we drove to the pier and took one of those boats that took all day. Our first dive was Santa Rosa and it was incredible. There was a GIGANTIC grouper that followed us around. Surface interval was at a beach, maybe San francisco, where they cooked lunch for us. Those were the days....no cruise ships