Underwater Map for Shore Dive?

[Kicker1866]

Ok....this may sound dumb, but I have never done a shore dive in Cozumel. I am curious about it. I hear about people going in north of the port and drifting back to their hotel in the shallows close to shore. Seems to me you would need to be very familiar of underwater topography or markers or have a map to know where to get out.

Seems to me something like this would be a good first day splash. Especially since I usually get in between noon and 2.

I usually stay at the Del Mar. If we went at the Del Mar, how can we pull this off? Any place we could get a map? I know there is a lot of boat traffic in this area....any shops rent a float?

 

[bamafan]

Your first issue will be tanks and weights. Solve that iss6and the rest is eaay.

 

[cicopo]

The usual idea is to get in & verify which way the current is running & then work your way against it until you use a pre determined amount of your air, say 1700-1800 pounds of a 3000 PSI fill staying relatively close to shore. At your decided tank pressure reverse & let the current carry you back to your starting point which you should recognize after exploring it a bit before starting. HOWEVER in this case the International pier & any cruise ships parked there can make it seem like there is no current in the area you will enter most of the time. IF I were to start there I'd work my way north (towards town) & burn off about 1000 pounds of air & then turn around & work my way back. (This is based on the many times I walked back after snorkeling from that area to the area that now has the Truck Ferry Pier in it, but not from diving that zone).

 

[nodakdive]

You can rent tanks at Casa del Mar, Scuba Shack (just to the south) or Tikila, (on the south side of the Casa del Mar dive shop and lockers). I think Tikila has some kind of dive concession there now, but I could be wrong. We usually get tanks from Scuba Shack, get in there, go out to the "ridge" (straight west will get you there), which drops to about 25 or 30 feet, follow that north (with the current which usually goes south to north), and somewhere around the catamaran moorings, (you've see the cats out there) we head toward shore to about 12-15 feet and head north, into the current, and get out wherever we'd like, usually back at Scuba Shack. If you get in at Casa del Mar, you can giant stride off the pier, or wade in from shore just to the south of the start of the pier. Near the south end of the cats, but closer to shore, there were some concrete domes for artificial reef, I think. They were there 4 years ago anyhow. If you get in at Tikila, you wade in. At Scuba Shack, they have a little cove that they'll put a ladder in for you. If I get in at Casa del Mar, I usually head south west to start and pick up the ridge more in front of Scuba Shack, and then do the same route.

 

[T.C.]

Work your way up in the shallows, then pop up every now and then to see where you are. Easy Level: High.

 

[Trailboss123]

If you want to do a first shore dive in Cozumel, I would suggest going to the Tikila Bar/Restaurant/dive shop. You can get tank and weights there. Grab a taxi and have them drop you off there and get a taxi back to your hotel. If you dive there, currents are not an issue. Easy navigation. They have lockers to store any valuables in and you can grab some food and drink after your dive. Just get a bit of an orientation from the folks at the dive shop. Scuba Shack is another good option.

 

[Trailboss123]

Here is a map of the dive site that I did as part of a mapping project some years ago:

 

[halocline]

Ok....this may sound dumb, but I have never done a shore dive in Cozumel. I am curious about it. I hear about people going in north of the port and drifting back to their hotel in the shallows close to shore. Seems to me you would need to be very familiar of underwater topography or markers or have a map to know where to get out.

Seems to me something like this would be a good first day splash. Especially since I usually get in between noon and 2.

I usually stay at the Del Mar. If we went at the Del Mar, how can we pull this off? Any place we could get a map? I know there is a lot of boat traffic in this area....any shops rent a float?

If you're staying at Casa Del Mar, there's decent shore diving right there. I frequently stay right next door in a small B&B and dive with scuba shack. If you head straight west from their shop, past a few moorings for the cats, you'll find a bit of what used to be the tip of paradise reef, before they dug the channel for the cruise ships. It's about a 10 minute swim.

I don't know who you dive with when you're staying at Casa Del Mar, but I think they have a in-house shop, so you should be able to get tanks there. You might be able to rent them from scuba shack as well.

It's not a bad dive, I've done it dozens of times. It's kind of interesting as a night dive, but there is one caveat. You probably don't want to be out there when the cruise ships depart. I've done that, and ended hunkering down against the rocks while the boat roared past, stirring up the sand.

Edit: I see nodakdive beat me to it!!

 

[ggunn]

Location aside, there are two pieces of kit you should always have with you when you go on unescorted shore dives at Cozumel: an SMB and a compass.

SMB: There is a lot of boat traffic close to shore, and you do not want to just pop up without marking your location first.

Compass: With the eddy currents that swirl aound the shoreline you cannot rely on the direction of the flow to show you which way the shore is. Get a cheap fluid filled hiker's compass (they work fine under water) and orient the plastic frame so that it points southeast under the compass so that you'll always know which way is out.

Be careful out there.

 

[ReefHound]

Trailboss' map is about as good as you'll likely find, and if only we had something like that for every site. You will mainly navigate by depth and compass heading. Don't try to be more precise than ordinal headings (SW, W, NW, etc). Use the depths and distance from shore in that map to know how far out you are. Those ranges are similar for any other shore dive you might do except the 10' is closer to shore and you hit 15-20' a bit sooner.

The shore dives you see some discuss where they enter at one location, swim to reef, drift a half hour, then exit at another distant location are for the more experienced Coz shore divers. For now, enter and exit at the same point. In fact, using the map above I'd recommend you stay within 40 yds and check out the patch reefs your first several dives. When you are really comfortable and familiar with it then maybe push out a bit further.