Reef difficulty

[crispos]

Hudson,

Did you go to Cozumel already?

I wondered how it went.

 

[crispos]

I am also a new diver....just certified and we are going to Cancun to do some 35 foot diving and have one day at Coz so I am trying to figure out where to go.

I know what the 3 minute saftey stop is, but I don't remember learning anything about the Deco stop. What is that?

You must read your books again particularly about deco sickness and why one has to ascend slowly from every dive and why you cannot exceed table limits. You must understand the word Decompression. If you skipped that you don't understand what the safety stop is for (to off gas the nitrogen that accumulates in your tissues before ascending, to avoid decompression sickness).

Although you learned what some people call "no-decompression stop" (recreational) diving, many divers believe every dive is a deco dive.

 

[scubawife]

I am also a new diver....just certified and we are going to Cancun to do some 35 foot diving and have one day at Coz so I am trying to figure out where to go.

I'm sure some people here will disagree, but, if you're staying in Cancun and only plan a day trip to Cozumel with 3 new divers, one being a junior diver with a very shallow depth limit, you might want to reconsider. You can find plenty of easy, shallow diving that will be perfect for new divers and junior divers off of Isla Mujeres or south of Cancun in the Aventuras and Akumal area. (I don't know what the diving is like right out of Cancun since I haven't dived there.) Isla or the Playa del Carmen - Akumal areas are going to be easier and more affordable to get to, and since there are more shallow sites there, less current, etc. it won't be an issue finding several sites that match what you're looking for. Dive shops there go out for three, single tank dives a day. The first one is the deepest (usually only 70-80 feet) and the 2nd and 3rd are often 50 ft or less. You won't need to worry about a private DM or finding someone who can put together a boat of new divers.

Save Cozumel diving for a time that you can spend a few days or a week on the island. Then you can dive with one shop for several days, adjust to drift diving (which is very easy), and progress with your comfort and skills and enjoy some of the sites that Cozumel is best known for.

 

[DiverBeth]

I have to strongly agree with TSandM. I've dived all those reefs and when you come out of the Devil's Throat at 130' it's time to start back up but not shoot up! The DM leading the dive took us back up very slowly and before we went in told us we had to do at least a 5 minute safety stop.

One of the less experienced divers in our group, who had buoyancy issues, got into an OOA situation because he was constantly trying to get his buoyancy right and ran out of air on the way up when we were still at 40'. The DM gave him his octo and they completed the dive with a 5 minute + safety stop. The diver was so shaken by the experience he didn't dive again for the rest of the trip.

Hudson I'm glad you researched these reefs and there is a lot of good advice here. If you don't feel ready to do a particular dive wait until you are. I was in Coz with my LDS a couple of months ago and most of the group were new divers. We stayed to the shallower (less than 80') reefs. I still had great dives.

 

[bgsnmky]

crispos - I think you guys are just saying that a "deco" dive is a dive in which you require a decompression stop. I just figured it is best to always stop for 3 minutes at 15 feet. I thought you were talking about something different.

Scubawife - we are already headed to Cozumel for the day anyway. 3 of the 6 of us are doing a cooking class there, that is why we thought we would try to do a dive there.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[bgsnmky]

Bethjd - why would someone run out of air due to bouyancy problems - because they are adding air to the BC? Just trying to learn.

 

[scubawife]

Bethjd - why would someone run out of air due to bouyancy problems - because they are adding air to the BC? Just trying to learn.

Probably because they had too much air in their BC, and/or not enough weight and were exerting too much energy just trying to stay at the proper depth.

 

[Tigerman]

If you are worried about doing drifting deco stops get a sausage with a 15 foot string on it and hang a weight on the string so that it stays upright. Do your stop there. I've been to Coz twice this year and did 16 dives on various reefs. Most of these dives did not require a deco stop as per my computer. I did the stops anyway just for practice. I checked with other divers and they said their computers said the same thing at the same times just in case mine was not working correctly.

I would strongly advice you not to dive blindly after the computer as they are not neccesarilly accurate, even if all the computers say the same..

 

[kneptoon]

You might consider skipping Devil's Throat or leaving it 'til the end of the week. All of the sights you mentioned have some spectacular coral formations. Having just returned form Coz last week, the proliferation of fish varieties were in 60' of water or less. There's plenty to see. So you might consider some shallower warm up dives before some of the deeper dives on your list. I dove Devil's Throat with a newbie buddy last year, I waved her off and we met the group on the other side. Surprisingly there are a lot of divers doing these same dives with less than your experience. Most of them don't have the good sense to question their experience/ability. Good for you.

 

[Madrone]

I see your post is old but I am going back to Cozumel in Dec. Its true only you can decide. I dove most of those sites with less than 30 dive 8 years ago. We did get caught in a whirl pool washing machine at Punta Sur and had to abort the dive. We went back to Punta sur its outrageous. I had a great time. Im a renegade and a fish, only you know what you are. Santa Rosa wall is fabulous. In good weather I think most are cool. I know I wanna go for the devils throat this december.