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jerrycsr
Contributor
Thank you everybody for the recommendations, whether shore diving or Columbia Shallows. I think I'm going to opt for a boat dive and just do the second dive. Thanks again.
Good shallow dive on Cozumel?
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You may have not experienced a down draft current over a wall but Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel is known for this and it's taken the life of more than one diver and bent several others in recent times.
Here's one link to get you informed:
San Juan - Caught in a Downwell in Cozumel (+) [Archive] - Diver to Diver Forums
DjDiverDan
Contributor
Sometimes you can get the boat to agree to two shallow dives. On a group trip in December 2015, we had several people who hadn't been diving in a while, and wanted a couple of easy dives for the first day. We did Columbia Shallows first dive, max depth 45' (and you REALLY need to look for the low spots, or bring a shovel with you, to get that deep!), Palancar Gardens second dive, max depth a little over 30'. And in these locations, they are still great dives, and long dives since you aren't sucking air at 80' or 90'.
DjDiverDan
Contributor
BTW, while I agree that downcurrents are rare events, they DO happen, and I have seen them on Santa Rosa Wall. If you keep your eyes open and know what to look for they are easy to avoid. Keep a watch on the top of the wall - if you see a spot where there's a small notch or canyon in the top of the wall, when the current is flowing out from the shore over the top of the wall, you'll see sand washed up from the sandy bottom above the wall and flowing over the wall like a waterfall. If you stay deeper - 90'-100' - and very close to the wall, you won't even feel it. Higher up, closer to the top of the wall, or out away from the wall by 10'-15', and it can carry you 30'-40' deeper in a few heartbeats.
This is an excellent suggestion. Talk to the shops and they may be able to match you up with divers happy to go on two shallow dives.
deepsea21
Contributor
With so may great dive sites in Cozumel, I personally find Santa Rosa Wall and Paso De Cedral to be virtual wastes of dive time (aside from the #1 waste being Devil's Throat). I say seen one wall you've seen them all. If a high speed fly-over is your thing, by all means Paso De Cedral is for you. Want to be diver # 1,000,000 to swim down a barren scraped-up hole in the reef - help yourself to the throat. Obviously others will disagree. To each their own.
New diver who wants some great shallow dives loaded with color and things to see? They've been mentioned - Paradise Reef, Palancar Gardens and Columbia Shallows to start and then start taking your pick of other sites once comfortable. Just because the group may hang at 80' for a while no one says you can hang shallower than the group below, enjoy better light/color, see more critters and score more bottom time (That's what I generally do).
New diver who wants some great shallow dives loaded with color and things to see? They've been mentioned - Paradise Reef, Palancar Gardens and Columbia Shallows to start and then start taking your pick of other sites once comfortable. Just because the group may hang at 80' for a while no one says you can hang shallower than the group below, enjoy better light/color, see more critters and score more bottom time (That's what I generally do).
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Not all Cozumel dives are wall dives, and wall dive sites are the only places where a downwelling is even possible.
IMO Columbia Shallows is #1, but Palancar Gardens is not too far behind. But again IMO Paradise is usually covered by bargain basement dive ops…no gas burn, little payroll.
Dave
Dave
+1 on Colombia Shallows. Once on a 13 day Coz trip we dove there 5 times. I never get tired of it.
deepsea21
Contributor
There are those who may poo-poo Columbia Shallows but in 35' of water the bottom time is almost endless and depending on where one drops there are some fantastic areas that may be shallow but don't seem like the shallows... Nurse sharks hanging out, eagle rays cruising the sands to the west, turtles sleeping/napping or whatever they do, and I vividly remember stalking and tracking a massive green moray for 10-15 minutes I found and stirred up that went on the move swimming through the shallow coral caverns popping up here and disappearing underneath there - over and over again. Way cool! Never underestimate the shallows. Deeper doesn't necessarily mean better - just darker and shorter.
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