...but I had no idea it would be
that bad!
I stayed in Cancun for a fortnight earlier this month. It was a silver wedding anniversary trip with my non-diving wife so I knew I wouldn't get too many dives in, but I wanted to do a few local sites, a cenote, and get over to Cozumel at least once. I tried contacting a few dive ops in advance but got precisely zero replies. In the end I gave up and decided to go with the in-resort option. I knew it wouldn't be the best, and it would cost a bit more, but I told myself it was only a few dives.
Oh dear. If the boat I ended up on in Cozumel was even remotely typical then I'm surprised there isn't an accident or worse every week. There was so much wrong with it that I hardly know where to start, but I'll try to list the main points:
- No dive briefing worth the name,
- Virtually no protocols or signals discussed
- No buddies assigned
- No weight check. I tried to do one since I was diving in a new sea, with a rental BCD and a lighter tank, and in pounds rather than kilos, and the DM actually shouted at me to stop! (I guess he thought I was trying to descend early?)
- No surprise - I was 2 or 3 pounds under weighted. Did the DM notice? No, he went haring off with his group of 7 other divers and no idea that he was missing one. I was still by the boat, so got a few extra pounds from one of the crew in a hurry and caught up with the group.
- After a series of pointless swim throughs where the only thing to see was the silt kicked up by the guy in front I swam above rather than through - much prettier - following the bubbles easily visible through the porous rock. Once again, the DM had no idea he was "missing" a diver.
- After less than 30 minutes someone ran out of air and was told to ascend, which they duly did - solo, too fast, and without a safety stop.
- When the next diver ran low 10 minutes later the whole dive was called. No safety stop allowed for, although a few of us hung back at 5m for as long as we could.
- Back on the boat, and a roll call was conspicuous by its absence.
- Surface interval? Less than 20 minutes! But at least it gave me a chance to buddy up with a Canadian woman who looked like she knew what she was doing. I'd have been sorely tempted to sit out the next dive otherwise, although after the 7 hour bus, ferry, and boat trip to get there I'd probably still have done the second, shallower dive anyway. (At least I knew I was correctly weighted for that one!)
- There was then a real rush to kit up and get back in the water with virtually no warning, the DM shouting at people who had had the temerity to go upstairs and all but pushing them into the water while they were still buckling up. If someone's air had been off they'd have found out the hard way.
- After all that the second dive was actually a bit better. But add in some diabolically bad yo-yo divers with gauges trailing, no computers, and a propensity to grab onto coral and turn over rocks so they could stick their GoPro under them, and the horror was complete.
- The best bit, though, was the long and heartfelt speech at the end about how hard they'd worked for us, and how much they deserved a generous tip. Frankly, I'd rather have just thrown my money overboard.
On a positive note let me close by saying that, despite the experience of the cattle boat, the actual dive sites were totally awesome and I enjoyed my all too brief time on the Island itself. I can't wait to get back at some point with my daughter and actually stay on the Island and do it all properly.
