Cozumel trip report Aug/Sept

[Divegoose]

Betty - our last trip the DM suggested Devil's Throat. Several of us weren't interested, so he suggested we do the Punta Sur Cathedral and outside over top of throat. MUCH more interesting dive. We were at 100-105' at deepest part, most of dive in 80-90' range. The DMs at SCC will know if you ask them.

I have dove Devil's Throat 3 times now. I think the novelty has worn off. Would love to dive Cathedral as I have heard that it is a beautiful dive with lots to see.

Next trip to SCC I will be asking the DM to dive Cathedral. Our course the experience level on the boat will dictate whether we :goingdown: dive it or not.

Divegoose

 

[azscubadude]

Also interested in seeing the sharks but not interested in doing Devil's Throat (again). Didn't know you can dive on top of it. How deep is that? 80-90ft?

Betty

Hi Betty,

I've done DT enough times that I don't do it anymore either. I hover on top at about 75-90 feet (just above the depth where you enter) but you have to be very vigilant because the bubbles don't come through the coral like they do in other swim throughs because of the thickness of the coral and total overgrowth. There aren't many places for the bubbles to escape, plus there are usually other groups waiting to enter or coming out on the other side. It is very easy to get mixed up and separated from your group if you don't pay very close attention to what color wet suits and fins your group is wearing, especially the DM (since you are looking down about 50 feet or more) and all of a sudden they are out and then gone when the turn back in since they only have a few minutes of bottom time at that depth.

The other thing you have to watch is.. if your group goes through and then returns in the other swim through you will miss them if you are watching on the deep blue side and aren't paying complete attention. If they do double back they come out further down the wall than where they entered so they will be gone before you see them especially if there is even a slight current.

It can be very confusing if there are other groups around the area so you really have to pay attention and watch for them to come out on the deep side and then watch to see if they re-enter the other tunnel and head back over to the shallow side. It is nothing like hovering over top of the smaller and shallower swim throughs where you can just follow the bubbles, and it is to deep to get separated and then try and go looking for them.

It might be easier for the those that aren't familiar with Devil's Throat to just sit out the dive if they don't want to go deep and/or are skittish being on their own at 90 feet.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Chris I totally agree with what you said. I think everyone does above DT or not at all. If they wanted to split then we would pay the extra to have Tony (our favourite DM) to ourselves.

When is your next trip planned to SCC? Did you go in August?

Betty

 

[robint]

Chris, that is why I like the whole group to do Punta Sur Cathedrals instead. It is a very nice dive, deep, but some amazing swimthroughs that are like a church, hence the name. One in particular has a high ceiling and windows all around. That is the "Cathedral". Very, very impressive but around 95' depth as I recall so you can't stay long. It is just south of DT, once you exit it you swim across a cluster of coralheads, one of which is DT. When we did it you could see the bubbles of divers inside. We kept going north, following the current, and went in and out around the outer coral, found several turtles there. The fishlife isn't as abundant down there, but it is a nice change-of-pace dive once a trip.

 

[azscubadude]

Chris I totally agree with what you said. I think everyone does above DT or not at all. If they wanted to split then we would pay the extra to have Tony (our favourite DM) to ourselves.

Betty

Betty,

I agree, but there have been days when on the way south to the dive sites the DM had asked or taken a vote on where everyone wants to dive. If the vote is DT I would not complain or protest against the rest of the boat just because I don't want to go deep so I hover or would just sit out the dive on the boat. To be honest I think DT is a total waste of a dive (my opinion only) and I would much rather do the reefs. But loosing one dive for others that have never done the dive or to protest against the rest of the boat just because I don't want to do it isn't really fair. To be honest I have never lost a dive as I just hover on top and remain a happy diver but that call is totally up to the DM..

Chris, that is why I like the whole group to do Punta Sur Cathedrals instead. It is a very nice dive, deep, but some amazing swimthroughs that are like a church, hence the name. One in particular has a high ceiling and windows all around. That is the "Cathedral". Very, very impressive but around 95' depth as I recall so you can't stay long. It is just south of DT, once you exit it you swim across a cluster of coralheads, one of which is DT. When we did it you could see the bubbles of divers inside. We kept going north, following the current, and went in and out around the outer coral, found several turtles there. The fishlife isn't as abundant down there, but it is a nice change-of-pace dive once a trip.

Robin,

If the vote is for DT and I'm the only one that doesn't want to do it I just go along to get along. Yes I take the chance of loosing a dive but I also think that the other divers might really want to do DT or have it on their Bucket List (like I did many dives ago) so I don't protest and ruin the day. One thing about not protesting is that you will probably get to pick the second dive site..

 

[robint]

oh I totally agree, I like being able to vote. When we did it the boat was split, some wanted DT and some didn't. The people who wanted DT gave in as they had done it already on previous trips. Worked out well as I was one who had zero interest in doing it. I have done much cooler dives with deep swim-throughs elsewhere (Palau, for one) and no reason to do this one as there is no life to see, just a long tunnel. I find that boring.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

If I am going to go that deep I need to know ahead of time so we have air not NITROX. Not sure if we will use NITROX in November as we will only be doing the morning dives. Too much to do in the afternoons in preparation for our move there in January.

 

[ggunn]

I have dove Devil's Throat 3 times now. I think the novelty has worn off. Would love to dive Cathedral as I have heard that it is a beautiful dive with lots to see.

Next trip to SCC I will be asking the DM to dive Cathedral. Our course the experience level on the boat will dictate whether we :goingdown: dive it or not.

Divegoose

I've done the Throat two or three times - been there, done that. The Cathedral is a must-do for me on every Coz trip. Last time there I saw 8-10 non-nurse sharks swooping around 60' or so away from us near the start of the dive. Pretty cool.

 

[fishi]

When I shot this video we got to the first exit (110') in a little over one minute. I don't swim very fast if the DM was leading he would of had us through it in about 45 seconds. If you're already in the neighborhood and it only takes 45 seconds to swim through it why not just swim through the thing? Our dive that day was over a hour long. The throat was only 2 minutes of it. The throat was the last hole we went through. We had already been through Cathedral and a whole bunch of others.

[video=vimeo;56259469]http://vimeo.com/56259469[/video]