What happened to Cozumel?

[ChrisM]

I'm not sure yet if it is or not.
I suppose if you're from Las Vagas Nevada or Austin Texas or somewhere in Nebraska then Cozumel and it's diving might be a wonderful place. But I have an ocean close by and I love it dearly. Warm water and huge visibility is really nice but it's not mandatory for me. My cold water diving is an entirely different experience of "wild" and I have acclimated to it and I love it. Cold water diving and low vis is no deal breaker for me at all.

I have to look at total money spent in relation to the experience gained. My free time is very rare. I own a business and have a lot of responsibilities so escaping is very difficult for me, so if I get a chance and time to get out of here it better be for a damn good reason.
In my book, just because water is warm and vis is 200' and I get to look at a few features that are cool like some morays and some passing mantas and a few corals, cool!
But to be stuck with 35 other newbies and all I see is rototillers with hanging consoles smashing everything and dust outs from split fins and photogs hogging a spot for way too long with a camera rig bigger than my truck, and getting stuck with a 15 dive saucer eyed flailing instabuddy that blows through their air in 15 minutes, and then a DM with a cattle prod moving the heard along, that just doesn't sound like fun to me.
It sounds like there is more of that going on than being taken to a rarely dived spot that is for advanced divers only that really get to see some incredible stuff and being left alone to enjoy it.

I think you're from CA, as am I. I think it's the best diving in the world (and I was just counting the countries i've dove in as a lark, and it's about 20, on 5 continents)

But i've been diving Coz on and off since 2004, and I've never had this experience. You just need to do a little homework into the op you choose Most often, once I've demonstrated I'm a competent diver, I (and my buddy) are left alone to dive as we please, including diving our tank

No doubt there are operators out there like that. I just have never dived with one. But hell I've been in Palau and seen scads of very bad divers (worse than in Cozumel if I'm honest), being dragged around by their first stage by the DM (even, i **** you not, without fins).

Fair enough to not like Coz. But contempt before examination is shortsighted IMO. /shrug

Not that it matters, but i took GUE fundamentals and was in with the group when they were big in so cal, but I never bought into the rigidity. The standardization and gear configs make a lot of sense. My wife and I dive backplates, I use a necklace and a long hose, analog gauge, etc. Nothing dangling from our rigs. Lots of times we'll get on Coz boats and there are other backplates, sometimes not.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

But of course, those of us who dive Cozumel regularly, and there are a lot of us, know that Cozumel diving is not at all like that. That isn't to say that no one ever has a disappointing dive around Cozumel: just like anywhere else, stuff happens, but in 600+ dives there I have only had a handful of dives where I wished I had stayed ashore. It's not just the clear, warm water.

I'll tell you what, just so we can put this to bed and put it away on a nice note.
My dive shop runs trips to all over, but they go to Cozumel quite often. I may sign up for one of those trips just because then I can go with people I know, we can have a good time, and it will all be payed for. I don't like surprises. If it's great then maybe I'll sign for another trip, if it sucks then I won't go back.

It's kind of like a SF vacation forum. You get people talking about how wonderful fisherman's Wharf is pier 39, and they loved walking the GG bridge, and how beautiful the bay is at night with the lights on the bay bridge, and on and on. What they didn't tell you was about getting your rental car window smashed and a bunch of stuff stolen or the sideshow going on a 2 am out your hotel window, or the human poop on the sidewalks, or the passed out drug addicts laying everywhere strung out on fentanyl and neary a cop anywhere.
So there's two sides to everything.

When I read the OP's original post I thought finally, an opposing view from the regulars gushing about how great everything is in Cozumel. Almost like something that's too sweet, after a while it makes you nauseous.
To me it seemed real and straight up, an unvarnished view.
So I'm going to take your word for it and give it a shot, OK?

 

[ChrisM]

OK, there's a description of a possible dive experience. But the OP said diving Coz wasn't up to GUE standards. So what was going on that's below GUE standards?

I didn't recall reading that so went back and checked, and sure enough, he said that. This is just my ,02, but "GUE standards" as I would interpret them mean having the gear you need to meet that standard. I would never expect a recreational dive op to operate to the strict GUE standards that they teach in courses.

Nor do I think it appropriate. It was developed for technical/cave diving. yes some concepts cross over to rec diving as they (IMO) make sense. So I've taken a cafeteria approach (no, i am not always close to my buddy, no we don't do bubble checks every dive, no we don't do OOA drills every dive - altho I should that more).

Maybe unpopular with the OP, but I think if someone believes that EANx must be analyzed under GUE standards, and dive without having it analyzed, that is the violation of standards by the diver, not the boat. Or if they don't have functioning gear and a backup, it's not up to teh boat to give them equipment to meet their specific requirements. Again, just my .02. I dove in November with Blue Angel and it was the first time they did not have an analyzer on board. I was not totally cool with it and will be buying my own but knowing that they get their fills from the island membrane system, it was a little comfort....

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I think you're from CA, as am I. I think it's the best diving in the world (and I was just counting the countries i've dove in as a lark, and it's about 20, on 5 continents)

But i've been diving Coz on and off since 2004, and I've never had this experience. You just need to do a little homework into the op you choose Most often, once I've demonstrated I'm a competent diver, I (and my buddy) are left alone to dive as we please, including diving our tank

No doubt there are operators out there like that. I just have never dived with one. But hell I've been in Palau and seen scads of very bad divers (worse than in Cozumel if I'm honest), being dragged around by their first stage by the DM (even, i **** you not, without fins).

Fair enough to not like Coz. But contempt before examination is shortsighted IMO. /shrug

Not that it matters, but i took GUE fundamentals and was in with the group when they were big in so cal, but I never bought into the rigidity. The standardization and gear configs make a lot of sense. My wife and I dive backplates, I use a necklace and a long hose, analog gauge, etc. Nothing dangling from our rigs. Lots of times we'll get on Coz boats and there are other backplates, sometimes not.

I'm orginally born and raised in Carmel (Monterey Peninsula) then moved up here in 1974 with my family. Mostly been up here ever since. Norcal diving is much different than anything in Socal. You talk about wild! Probably still one of the most under explored and under dived places left in the world.

You probably know some of the same people I know, and you were probably exposed to GUE much like I was. It's kind of like going to a party where everyone is passing around a joint but you just pass it along without partaking. You know what it is and what it does, but you don't get involved, but you're still in the same room.
I use a long(ish) hose primary and a bungeed second, SPG clipped to my left hip D-ring, compass on left wrist, computer on right wrist, jets, BPW but it is my own Freedom plate (which is not GUE compliant BTW). Call what I do kind of a GUE contact high.
I might have even run into you somewhere down there during my visits, and especially if you were ever a member of the Sea Divers.
Jon Davies? Frank O'Donnell? Ross Overstreet? Chris Grossman? Our own @MaxBottomtime?

 

[ggunn]

I dove in November with Blue Angel and it was the first time they did not have an analyzer on board. I was not totally cool with it and will be buying my own but knowing that they get their fills from the island membrane system, it was a little comfort....

One thing about a membrane enrichment nitrox system is that the resultant gas cannot have a lower O2 content than ambient air. If one dives nitrox as if it were air (I do) and does not descend to depths where extra O2 would be a problem (I don't), I don't see how it could be a safety issue not to analyze it. If I am mistaken, please enlighten me.

 

[ChrisM]

I'm orginally born and raised in Carmel (Monterey Peninsula) then moved up here in 1974 with my family. Mostly been up here ever since. Norcal diving is much different than anything in Socal. You talk about wild! Probably still one of the most under explored and under dived places left in the world.

You probably know some of the same people I know, and you were probably exposed to GUE much like I was. It's kind of like going to a party where everyone is passing around a joint but you just pass it along without partaking. You know what it is and what it does, but you don't get involved, but you're still in the same room.
I use a long(ish) hose primary and a bungeed second, SPG clipped to my left hip D-ring, compass on left wrist, computer on right wrist, jets, BPW but it is my own Freedom plate (which is not GUE compliant BTW). Call what I do kind of a GUE contact high.
I might have even run into you somewhere down there during my visits, and especially if you were ever a member of the Sea Divers.
Jon Davies? Frank O'Donnell? Ross Overstreet? Chris Grossman? Our own @MaxBottomtime?

I've dived with all of those gents except Chris G. Maciek A, Jon D and I had a couple years where we did a shoredive every Wednesday nite, and all took fundamentals together from John... can't recall the last name but he was part of the UB 88 crew. They all went on to tech diving and I really had no interest so lost diving contact.

I still have my jets in the garage, but dive with stroky Mares fins

I think I almost bought a Freedom plate once, i think. Only Nor Cal experience is the breakwater and a day at Lobos (although I've been much further north and to the Quadra, Vancouver Island tides

 

[MaxBottomtime]

John Walker.

 

[ChrisM]

John Walker.

duh, don't know why that name escaped my brain other than OLD disease

Pool work at Tobin's pool as well

 

[ChrisM]

One thing about a membrane enrichment nitrox system is that the resultant gas cannot have a lower O2 content than ambient air. If one dives nitrox as if it were air (I do) and does not descend to depths where extra O2 would be a problem (I don't), I don't see how it could be a safety issue not to analyze it. If I am mistaken, please enlighten me.

TBH I've forgotten how the mix systems work. I dive EANx tables but nowhere near MOD. I would think that the primary issue is that you (or more precisely your computer) is not accurately analyzing N properly and might get inadvertently over-saturated over multiple dives?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

One thing about a membrane enrichment nitrox system is that the resultant gas cannot have a lower O2 content than ambient air. If one dives nitrox as if it were air (I do) and does not descend to depths where extra O2 would be a problem (I don't), I don't see how it could be a safety issue not to analyze it. If I am mistaken, please enlighten me.

Well it could be a deal if they were pumping 36 and not 32, or maybe 27 and not 32.
You kinda want to know, especially if you're touching 1.4 with what you were told is 32 and they give you 36, that might piss some people off. Plus there's max O2 exposure for the day to think about.
Or taking what you think is 32 up to max ndl then find out it's 27, oops!
Somebody who is particular will just want to know.
You don't mind running an air profile using nitrox but a lot if people won't do that. They will set everything to the mix but scale back the dive.
I would certainly want to analyze what I'm breathing. That was my training so to me it's just better.