Would you do it THAT way?

[BDSC]

Like I said earlier, to each their own. I know some folks who will not do any overheads period. They wouldn't even do a six foot swim-thru because they are not comfortable doing so. Others have no problem with it. I've never had any sort of formal overhead or cavern training but feel confident in doing those dives. But we all have different levels of "risk" that we are willing to take. What one person sees as being risky, another person may not. The important thing in my opinion is don't do any dive you don't feel comfortable or prepared to do.

 

[Doby45]

Looks like a big cavern to me. I personally would love to check it out. No different than other "caverns" that do not require formal cavern training, such as the Ballroom, Devil's Den and the Blue Grotto. I would do it in a skinny minute with my dive buddy or a backup air supply. That kind of thing interests me though and I am wanting to progress down the line to full cave training, to some people that is not their cup of tea and that is also perfectly fine..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Since it has been about 10 years or so since I have done that dive I went to their website and Dos Ojos is marketed as a Cavern dive. I really can't remember if at all times I could see some type of ambient light but I do know at times you were definitely in an overhead environment. Most of the time actually. There were a couple of places, one was called the bat cave, where we surfaced and the guide pointed out the bats above us and then continued the dive.

I also did a search to see if there had ever been any fatalities at that particular location and I did not see any that had ever been reported but that doesn't necessarily mean there hasn't been any but I would suspect if there had, you'd be able to find out about it. My take on the safety aspect is this, if it were truly a dangerous dive or dangerous situation to be in and realizing that they likely take 100's of divers thru there each week, we would have a body count by now. That doesn't appear to be the case and I don't believe that everyone has just been lucky so far so I still characterize that dive as being quite safe and no special training is needed to do it.

I don't have an issue with cavern dives ... as long as folks remain in the cavern zone and don't head off into the cave system. You're well within recreational limits for depth, as well as distance to ambient air. And in that particular place, vis is essentially clear and the risk of a silt-out is basically nil. So your risk factors are within reasonable limits.

It's when I see people back in the caves in places like Gran Cenote or Carwash who clearly don't belong there (i.e. on single AL80's with just a single hand-held light) that I think they're pushing their luck well beyond safe boundaries. Because if you should happen to have a failure or lose your way, you are going to run out of air before you can manage to find your way to the surface.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[BDSC]

It was my first time in literally crystal clear water. You almost feel as if you can just take your mask off because there's nothing there. I can see the draw for some people to cave dive but I'm pretty sure it won't ever be for me as I like the pretty fishes but I'm sure it fascinating.

 

[BDSC]

Looks like a big cavern to me. I personally would love to check it out. No different than other "caverns" that do not require formal cavern training, such as the Ballroom, Devil's Den and the Blue Grotto. I would do it in a skinny minute with my dive buddy or a backup air supply. That kind of thing interests me though and I am wanting to progress down the line to full cave training, to some people that is not their cup of tea and that is also perfectly fine..

We did it on a Cozumel trip. You schedule the trip when you get to Cozumel and take the ferry over to PDC. The dive shop you book with will meet you and take you to do the dive. You typically do two dives and then we had lunch before returning to Cozumel. Well worth doing.

 

[Bogtrotter]

I did that Dos Ojos dive a few years ago. It is very cave-like as it gets narrow in a few spots and it is very dark, pitch-black through much of it- but apparently you are never too far away from a place you can surface. There is also a permanent line in place and my guide had extra lights and doubles. As for the video- definitely not something I would do.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

We did it on a Cozumel trip. You schedule the trip when you get to Cozumel and take the ferry over to PDC. The dive shop you book with will meet you and take you to do the dive. You typically do two dives and then we had lunch before returning to Cozumel. Well worth doing.

I did my first cavern dives the same way back in 2006, on a trip to Cozumel with TSandM and some other friends. Same deal, except we did Gran Cenote ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dberry]

I'm enjoying reading different perspectives on overheads and risk in this thread. Especially the issue of when does a "short swim-thru" become something else. Out of curiosity, how do people classify the "Devil's Throat" at Punta Sur in Cozumel?

 

[The Chairman]

The Devil's Throat is a series of swim throughs. There are a number of places to escape if need be. However, this is probably pushing the limits for most divers.

 

[BDSC]

Yep. It's a swim through and at one point a very tight one. Done it a couple of times over the years. Last time I was there I passed on it and just swam over the reef. Kind of a been there done that dive.