shallower reefs

[Reelman1]

Good morning everyone;
My wife and I have been to Cozumel several times over the years, and have dove with (in our opinion) some of the best ops on the island... six pack fast boat valet type operations. The trips have all been a deep wall or far south (Punta Sur, Maracaibo, Columbia Deep) dive followed by a shallower reef. Whenever possible, the choice of sites has been up to the passengers, and I completely understand that most folks, especially advanced divers using 120's want to go there, and that majority rules. We've always wanted to... this trip, however, we'd like to stay relatively shallow, but still use the larger bottles, dive our computers, but not get put on the "novice" boat...I've emailed a couple of folks and haven't heard back...can anyone suggest a valet type operation that would allow us to stick with shallower "advanced" dives?
Thanks in advance!

 

[redacted]

Good morning everyone;
My wife and I have been to Cozumel several times over the years, and have dove with (in our opinion) some of the best ops on the island... six pack fast boat valet type operations. The trips have all been a deep wall or far south (Punta Sur, Maracaibo, Columbia Deep) dive followed by a shallower reef. Whenever possible, the choice of sites has been up to the passengers, and I completely understand that most folks, especially advanced divers using 120's want to go there, and that majority rules. We've always wanted to... this trip, however, we'd like to stay relatively shallow, but still use the larger bottles, dive our computers, but not get put on the "novice" boat...I've emailed a couple of folks and haven't heard back...can anyone suggest a valet type operation that would allow us to stick with shallower "advanced" dives?
Thanks in advance!

Unless you have a group that will fill the boat, you will probably need to look at Bonaire. I did manage to talk a boat into a Columbia Shallows first dive but it was not easy and the boat still limited the bottom time to stay on schedule.

Good luck.

 

[Skittl1321]

How shallow are you talking?
(I'm also not really sure what a shallow "advanced" dive is in Cozumel. What are you looking for to make it advanced? Swim throughs? Current? So my response kind of ignores that part.)

I've done 22 dives in Cozumel and never been below 75 feet, and am usually higher than that. The group is always below me, I just keep an eye where they are. It can be challenging when they do swim-throughs, but my buddy and I stay together, and do our best to watch the bubbles and stay aware of where the group is.

On Santa Rosa wall, for example, I've never been over the side of the wall. It is beautiful on top of it.

If you are not confident on your own, why not hire a private DM to stick with you? You can do whatever site the others are at, just shallower. (Now this might be tough for the most advanced sites- I haven't been to Tormentos, Punta Sur, Maracaibo... I don't know if there is anything there that is shallow. But Columbia Deep, all of Palancar, Santa Rosa, Francesa, Delilah, Cedral, no need to go very deep.)


But if you are looking for all Columbia Shallows/Paradise Reef depth dives, that is going to be hard to find.

As for the "novice boat"- if you dive your own computer/air; what does it matter the skill level of the others? Just don't swim close to them and then it doesn't really matter who they are. Their surface interval is just going to be longer waiting for you to come up.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Cozumel isn't know for it's shallow reefs... Mostly because at the majority of the sites, the reef is already 60-70 feet down. You can do Paradise Reef as a shore dive, but other than that and Columbia Shallows, you're not going to have much luck. If you want shallow diving, I'd suggest considering one of the shore diving Meccas, like Bonaire or Curacao.

I do recall one other shallow reef, but I don't recall the name. It was way south, and we never went below 35-40 feet. Tons of elk horn corral. Not a bad dive, but it wasn't up to the usual standard of Cozumel dives. We went there because one of our group on that trip was an Uber Hoover, and wanted to do whatever it took to get a 60+ minute dive.

 

[ColoDale]

I don't know of any dive op that does dedicated shallow dives only. As said, what do you mean by shallow? It's all going to be according to their schedule and divers choice as far as I know.

We have done La Francesa and Dalila as our two dives for example but that was mainly due to heavy traffic on the Palancars or other sites and we are avoiding them. This was all divers choice.

My dive op does not use 120 Cuft tanks but you can get 100's and you dive your air and computer. It's always divers choice unless something special has been arranged. Since you asked for speific dive op recommendations, I use Bottom Time Divers. Some small ops may go out with less divers and the divers choice issue may be easier but that depends on their schedule and time of year.

I am assuming your previous dives by description were with a dive op that used 120's. They generally don't have mixed tanks in the group. If your stuck on 120's then I have used Jeremy with Living Underwater. He can try to accomodate you but you'll have to talk to him. It will depend on who else is on the boat. There are other dive ops with 120's.

If you are only making a reference to people using 120's on deep dives in general then any valet dive op could be considered. The cattle boat ops seem to have a schedule of sites.

For much shallower dives, Colombia shallows, Santa Rosa shallows, San Clemente, and some to the North inshore might do. I don't dive Paradise that much. We do some of these as a change of pace but it's divers choice that day. Possibly the top of San Francisco wall or Santa Rosa wall.
Some dives we organize start on a "traditional" reef then we break off towards the island to look in shallow grass and sand areas for seahorses, batfish, and other things we might not normally see on the reef. I can be a bit boring if someone is not into that.

If you dive a novice boat make sure to ask them if they require the entire group to come up together, stay with the group always or if they will allow you to stay after others ascend.

 

[Hondaid]

Yes i can help you please pm me

 

[Lorenzoid]

Yes i can help you please pm me

To the OP: If you find a solution, please let the rest of us know. I understood your question perfectly and am curious.

 

[ColoDale]

I don't know of any dive op that does dedicated shallow dives only. As said, what do you mean by shallow? It's all going to be according to their schedule and divers choice as far as I know.

We have done La Francesa and Dalila as our two dives for example but that was mainly due to heavy traffic on the Palancars or other sites and we are avoiding them. This was all divers choice.

My dive op does not use 120 Cuft tanks but you can get 100's and you dive your air and computer. It's always divers choice unless something special has been arranged. Since you asked for speific dive op recommendations, I use Bottom Time Divers. Some small ops may go out with less divers and the divers choice issue may be easier but that depends on their schedule and time of year.

I am assuming your previous dives by description were with a dive op that used 120's. They generally don't have mixed tanks in the group. If your stuck on 120's then I have used Jeremy with Living Underwater. He can try to accomodate you but you'll have to talk to him. It will depend on who else is on the boat. There are other dive ops with 120's.

If you are only making a reference to people using 120's on deep dives in general then any valet dive op could be considered. The cattle boat ops seem to have a schedule of sites.

For much shallower dives, Colombia shallows, Santa Rosa shallows, San Clemente, and some to the North inshore might do. I don't dive Paradise that much. We do some of these as a change of pace but it's divers choice that day. Possibly the top of San Francisco wall or Santa Rosa wall.
Some dives we organize start on a "traditional" reef then we break off towards the island to look in shallow grass and sand areas for seahorses, batfish, and other things we might not normally see on the reef. I can be a bit boring if someone is not into that.

If you dive a novice boat make sure to ask them if they require the entire group to come up together, stay with the group always or if they will allow you to stay after others ascend.

 

[ggunn]

Now this might be tough for the most advanced sites- I haven't been to Tormentos...

Despite its ominous sounding name, Tormentos is not an advanced site, nor is it deep. Tormentos was the site of my very first dive after being certified.

 

[Skittl1321]

Despite its ominous sounding name, Tormentos is not an advanced site, nor is it deep. Tormentos was the site of my very first dive after being certified.

Thanks for the correction. I see it isn't south either. I wonder why we've never made it there then. I might have to ask for it, since we seem to always miss it!