Drift Diving 101

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RedFishBlueFish

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Hello all! I am planning a trip to Cozumel in early November and am a newbie (this will be my third dive trip since being certified in March of this year). Having never been drift diving before, I am a little concerned about the current being too strong and me not being able to keep up with the other divers or me being pushed away. Are there certain dive sites that are best for newbies (ie not too deep and not a strong current) and ones to definitely avoid unless you are an experienced diver? We are thinking about using Dive with Martin while down there. Does anyone know if they put guides in the water with you for free? When we dove in the Keys we had to pay extra for a guide and the day we didn't have a guide we ended up drifting VERY far from the boat that the divemaster on board had to swim a line out to us.....but that's another story :) Oh, & another question - has anyone flown into Cancun and taken the bus down to Playa del Carmen followed by the ferry to get into Cozumel? Is it too much of a hassle or is it better to pay more$$ and get a flight into Cozumel? I will be lugging diving gear along and not renting a car. Oh does anyone have recommendations on a dive op to use to do a day of diving the cenotes? My friend recommended Mayan Aqua Dive to dive the cenotes. They only take 4 divers per guide which I like. Anyone use them before? Any info would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
Don't worry about drift diving, it is the easiest diving you'll ever do.
You enter the water, descend, float along with the current, and when the dive is over you ascend and the boat is there waiting for you. The boat drifts along with you so you don't have to worry about getting back to the boat.
As far as keeping up with other divers, there getting pushed along by the same current that you are...
Cozumel diving is done within the marine park, a local divemaster MUST be in the water with you.

Do a search on drift diving within the Coz forum and you'll get a lot of great info.
 
The guys at Dive with Martin will take very good care of you, let then know of any conserns you may have and they will ease you into it so smoothly that by the end of the trip you'll wonder why you had any conserns at all.

Drift diving is no big deal, you drop down and float along with the current.

People hear the words "drift diving" and think they are being swept through the ocean like they were in a mountain stream at snow melt time. Sure there are those moments, but for 90% of your dives, the currents will be very light and the force is just enough so you don't have to use your fins for swimming as much as you do for manuverability, pitch and yaw if you will. Bouyancy is the key to good drift diving.

Remember everyone is in the same current, going the same speed in the same direction, so not getting seperated is more of your responsibility. Stick close to the DM, he'll be the one finding the cool stuff anyway, and enjoy the ride.

Have a great trip.

p.s. getting ready to do the "bag drag" from Cancun to Coz Labor Day weekend, from all reports it's not as bad as you may fear...stay tuned, trip report coming in Sept. :D
 
I've done the Cancun airport-bus-ferry trip many many times. It's very easy. Just be aware that the buses from the airport don't start running until 6 a.m. and check ferry times on your return to make sure you allow enough time. If you're lucky, someone will be selling beer and you can enjoy a cervasa on the bus and another one on the ferry. And arrive nice and mellow ;^)

There are bazillions of taxis in front of the Coz ferry terminal to take you where you are staying. They will try and over-charge you if you haven't figured out what the correct fare should be.

There are lots of threads on this board about how to catch the bus from the airport etc.

Would I rather fly directly into Coz? Of course. But if I can save several hundred dollars by going into Cancun - well I'll probably do that.
 
I have to disagree that it's always easy to stay with the group, especially for newbies. Yes, everyone is in the same current, but the DM usually goes slow and I've seen divers get swept way ahead of the group -- so much so that they had to be delivered back to our boat by another dive operator downstream. I think the key is watching the DM, trying to stay behind him/her. If you find yourself way ahead of the group, get as low as possible to the bottom, streamline yourself and if necessary get over sand and steady yourself there. I'm not saying that there's any reason to freak out about this, but you should be aware of where everyone else is, and use some finning and body positioning to stay with the group.
 
The good news is with the awesome viz in Coz, you can still see the group quite a distance away and with a little finning effort return to the group pretty quickly, in any direction. I would like to add, though, that if you need to fin against the current, do so as little as possible. I was an air hog my first trip until I learned to absolutely minimize that. Don't be afraid to get on the lee side of a coral head to slow yourself down, since the current is minimized there.

Mostly, though, you will find you will be able to relax and enjoy the ride. It's quite easy, even effortless most of the time. Have fun!
 
In Coz it is more about the ability to slow down than keep up. When I first went to Coz I felt I needed to stay with the group, the problem was they were all really good and I was new and they were all carrying cameras so they stopped all the time. At the time I did not know the trick to this and finned like an idiot trying to fight the current as to not lose them. After a few dives I realised this is an effort in futility. First, do not let it bother you if you get ahead of or behind the group, you have your buddy and just stick with them. Second a good trick to stopping if you feel the need to let everyone catch up is to duck between the coral. Coz is all about coral groups with nice breaks between them, the current stops there plus there is a lot of nice stuff to see in there.

Relax and enjoy it.
 
Scott is dead on when it comes to drift diving. The other factor is how close to the bottom you can stay. The lower you can get, the less the current pulls you along.

As far as the Cancun vs Cozumel goes, whether its worth the hassle depends on many factors. How much are you saving going to Cancun? Do you save a stop in transit (ie a direct flight vs having to connect somewhere?).

My line is $100. If I can't save at least $100 pp flying into Cancun, I fly into Cozumel. The bus/ferry/taxi combo just isn't worth it. Many times I can find cheaper flights, to Cancun, but it ends up with a stop in Juarez or Mexico City.
 
If you fly via Cancun, try to take a 3pm flight home vs. a 12pm. Since you have to arrive at the airport 2-3 hours before departure, the 12pm flight means you have to leave Coz painfully early. The 3pm departure works easily via the 10am ferry & 11:10 bus, leaving you time for a nice breakfast in Coz. Warning, food prices at CUN are very high. You might want to pick up a picnic lunch before you leave Coz or a torta (sandwich) at the cart outside the Playa bus terminal. You'll have plenty of time to eat lunch before you board your flight.

The bus and ferry are pleasant and easy to use. The bus is 80 pesos (about $8) and the ferry is 120 pesos ($12) per person each way.

From Coz, you can arrange a cenote trip either directly with your Coz operator (or another Coz op) or with an op in Playa. Mayan Aqua is in the wrong direction unless you're spending a night in Cancun. Most of the cenotes are south of Playa del Carmen so I personally don't see a reason to backtrack that far north.

By association rules, all resort cenote dives are max. 4 divers to a guide.
 
I am doing the Cancun bus ferry thing Nov 7-12. I have a direct flight to Cancun from Chicago so the bus/ferry is better than not making a flight connection in Dallas, Miami, or Houston, the flights out of Chicago are always late and loss connections are the norm. If you have heavy large bags there are porters at the airport and bus terminal for a couple bucks they hand cart your bags to bus/ferry.

I use www.bottomtimedivers.net because I like the way Raul does the dives, nice and slow so you can see things. Come on these dates and Raul and I will teach you how to do it right.

DWM is a good outfit also make sure you tell the divemaster your concerns.

As for Cenotes: You just don't go jumping in!!!! You better have good buoyancy control know how to use your fins and be a relaxed diver. Any good operator will also requirer you to attend a class on diving the cenotes.
You will be diving in the dark so maybe a night dive before a cenote dive would be better. You may have to go through some tight spaces or hug the bottom and raising silt is a possibility. You can't just surface if you get apprehensive since you are in a cave. If you do go make sure the dive shop takes you to a cenote that is an easy one.

BTW My wife and I always go stay in Playa the night before a Cancun departure, there are plenty of reasonably priced hotels there, we have a nice dinner, then Breakfast, then we don't have to worry about the ferry so we are not rushed.
 
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