First vacation to Cozumel, suggestions?

[llBuckshotll]

I'm also planning a trip to Cozumel in Late March this year. All of this info has been a great help. Especially on the AI and food areas.
My 1 other question would be: How much do you guys dive here? Do most people just do a 2-tank dive daily?
I'm figuring at least a 2-tank dive daily and maybe 1 night/twilight dive as well thrown in over 4/5 dive days.

How much diving do you do there?

 

[gopbroek]

I'm also planning a trip to Cozumel in Late March this year. All of this info has been a great help. Especially on the AI and food areas.
My 1 other question would be: How much do you guys dive here? Do most people just do a 2-tank dive daily?
I'm figuring at least a 2-tank dive daily and maybe 1 night/twilight dive as well thrown in over 4/5 dive days.

How much diving do you do there?

I dive 2 tanks every morning and try to get in an additional 2-tank afternoon dive every other day, provided my LDS has a boat scheduled. With the warm water and using the currents my times usually go 70+ minutes so EAN helps avoid NDL limits.

 

[llBuckshotll]

Yeah I plan to go EAN once I get my breathing better under control. Currently sucking down an AL80 @ 30 ft in about 45 mins. Got a few dives scheduled before then, so hopefully the new experience will decrease my sac. Im still a newb:coolingoff:

 

[DjDiverDan]

My 1 other question would be: How much do you guys dive here? Do most people just do a 2-tank dive daily?

I think you'll find that the answer to that question varies depending on who you ask, and on how long they've been diving. When I got certified 25+ years ago, after I got my feet (and everything else!) wet, I tended to be a "dive, dive, dive" guy - two tank morning trip, an afternoon trip if it was available, shore diving if it wasn't, and at least two night dives during the week, so 3-4 dives every single day. There was one vacation when I got in 22 dives in 6 days. It was easier then, since computers were all much too expensive to be common, pretty much all Dive Ops dove by the tables, so deeper dives were limited to 45 minutes. With computer diving the norm, and dives over an hour - even 90 minutes or more with Steel 120 tanks, and the longer SI necessary if you want a long second dive, just the length of the morning trip makes it tough to schedule even 4 dives a day. But I'm too old for that anymore. Now, on a one week trip, I'll do the two-tank dive trip in the morning on 5 out of 6 days, taking a day off from diving after 2 or 3 days, and one night dive during the week if I can schedule it. And I know some friends who think the 2-tank morning trip on 4 days out of 7 is plenty, while others (typically a lot younger than I am) who are used to Live-Aboard schedules, want to get in 4-5 dives every day (which is really tough on Cozumel unless you either keep the dives short or shallow or you use Nitrox, as the long deep dives will really drive your Nitrogen load up). Different strokes.

 

[FishLovingStudent]

Yeah I plan to go EAN once I get my breathing better under control. Currently sucking down an AL80 @ 30 ft in about 45 mins. Got a few dives scheduled before then, so hopefully the new experience will decrease my sac. Im still a newb:coolingoff:

Good point, what are the dive sites like in Cozumel? Trying to convince my girlfriend to get her nitrox and advanced (I'm Nitrox certified), will the dives necessitate nitrox/AOW? Is there more to see at depth and would we find ourselves constantly restricted by NDLs? I would not mind going shallower to avoid hitting NDLs but if we have to thumb our dives because of NDLs and not air...well that would annoy me to no end too

And hey, that SAC rate doesn't sound too bad!

 

[MMM]

I ALWAYS do my second dive on nitrox. Always.

Good point, what are the dive sites like in Cozumel? Trying to convince my girlfriend to get her nitrox and advanced (I'm Nitrox certified), will the dives necessitate nitrox/AOW? Is there more to see at depth and would we find ourselves constantly restricted by NDLs? I would not mind going shallower to avoid hitting NDLs but if we have to thumb our dives because of NDLs and not air...well that would annoy me to no end too

And hey, that SAC rate doesn't sound too bad!

 

[DandyDon]

Good point, what are the dive sites like in Cozumel? Trying to convince my girlfriend to get her nitrox and advanced (I'm Nitrox certified), will the dives necessitate nitrox/AOW? Is there more to see at depth and would we find ourselves constantly restricted by NDLs? I would not mind going shallower to avoid hitting NDLs but if we have to thumb our dives because of NDLs and not air...well that would annoy me to no end too

And hey, that SAC rate doesn't sound too bad!

I always dive nitrox on wrecks in Florida, North Carolina, the Saint Lawrence river as those are square bottom profiles.

I never bother on Cozumel 2-tank days. It's expensive there unless you have personal connections, and not much benefit unless you are an air sipper who lasts forever on a tank. The multilevel profile of the dives keeps most in well within NDLs on most computers. This can vary of course, for divers who last twice as long as me on a tank, who dive super conservative computers (that actually just penalize you needlessly), etc.

Now, on a 4-tank day, I'd order nitrox for the third dive as it'd probably be deeper than the second dive before lunch - especially if it was a short lunch break.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

If you are diving steel 120s, each dive will give you lots of bottom time. That's why I dive LivingUnderwater. DM is great at pointing out stuff. I would definitely recommend the Nitrox cert for your gf. Sometimes we have ha three tank days with LU as well. Depends on other customers, but Jeremy aims to please. Smaller boat, smaller group. Always a great experience.

 

[BDSC]

I don't use nitrox in Cozumel. Just not necessary. Usually the first dive is the deepest but you rarely spend a lot of the dive at depth. Maybe if I were going to do 4 dives a day I'd think about it but I've never done 4 a day there. Typically I do 2 and sometimes 3. Save your money.

 

[cvchief]

I don't use nitrox in Cozumel. Just not necessary. Usually the first dive is the deepest but you rarely spend a lot of the dive at depth. Maybe if I were going to do 4 dives a day I'd think about it but I've never done 4 a day there. Typically I do 2 and sometimes 3. Save your money.

Well, I guess maybe you are average or less on air or have a liberal computer. I can't dive air without zeroing out bottom time. None of this diving is anything crazy or deep. Now I do dive a Mares wide. Perhaps if I had an Oceanic, but that would not change the nitrogen loading that my Mares says is bad. The chambers do a fair business with divers in Coz. Now if you are going to dive a timed dive op, where they bring you up at a set time, they you are probably fine.

Dove Punta Sur last week and was down to 5 minutes no deco on 32% Nitrox at a max depth of 88 feet on 52 minute dive. And I didn't dive the day before.

Of course I did Columbia Shallows for 1hr 50min and without a shovel actually hit 31 feet once and never saw a reduction from 99 min no deco.

I don't know about other places as mostly all of my diving is in Coz, but I would guess Coz dive profiles lend themselves well to nitrox except for cattle boats with 30/45 min, two dive plan.

I know someone who got bent in Coz recently, just a little. He took two chamber rides, had to move plane reservations and isn't supposed to dive for 6 months. His computer, well be it an Oceanic, never went into deco and he wasn't diving much or the day before. The dive itself I am told was a relatively long one, but nothing unusual otherwise.

So my advice is look at your air consumption and your op. If either of them result in short dives, then maybe it is excessive. If not, I would not so lightly dismiss it. Talk to some people bent with undeserved hits. I dive nitrox ALL the time. And of course I have DAN insurance too.

"Geezer gas, it ain't just for geezers in Coz"