Are reef hooks allowed in Cozumel?

[tursiops]

Yeah these "minor" details are my concern. Also, I just don't want to learn/attempt a new skill for the first time on my expensive liveaboard trip. I know people are saying it doesn't take much skill but I see no reason not try to practice it in potentially calmer current before I go if I can.

I don't think you'll be deploying a reef hook anywhere without a dive guide to help you.

 

[rongoodman]

I keep one of these on my end of the line, so I can pull the pin and drift away in case of an issue:

2-Fixed-Snap-Shackle-Type-316-Stainless-Steel

 

[mcohen1021]

and everyone had to use one to stay together but perhaps I am wrong.

You have to learn to work the current vs what reefs and sand there are to slowdown and stop... when you get ahead, drop down in back of a coral formation, and you'll see that the current flies over you.... You'll see all the noobs fly by you....

Cozumel: Please don't ruin it more with a reefhook, its already huting.

 

[Jcp2]

That is true! I had assumed reef hooks were used during group dives and everyone had to use one to stay together but perhaps I am wrong. Thanks for your perspective- I certainly don't mean to start controversy!

I’ve seen a dive guide who holds the flag for drift diving off Florida use a hook to stay in one spot while the other divers descend to the reef. The hook seemed to be attached to the reel for the flag. Once we were all down we were able to start the dive together, but invariably got separated into smaller groups, each deploying a separate DSMB at the end.

 

[also_anon_dc]

Cozumel: Please don't ruin it more with a reefhook, its already huting.

Now that I know they're not allowed I have no intention of using one.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I read that they were used frequently in Indonesia and Maldives. Is that not true? Even on Scuba Board people talk about using them in Indonesia. See this thread.

I did use a hook when working as DM/Instructor at Maldives in the eighties.
It was a tool to be used when doing a specific type of dive, which I did not see anywhere else.
That was Kandu Diving. Kandu in Maldivian (Divehi) means a deep channel in the outer reef of an atoll.
We did usually dive in channels where the current was flowing inside the atoll.
You splash a few hundredth meters outside the atoll, where the depth is some hundredths meters, and swim down to the same depth as the edge of the channel (which was usually between 30 and 50 meters).
The current brings you quickly towards the channel, with speed increasingly due to the Venturi effect.
As you see the edge of the channel, you try hooking the edge and to get a stable position on it, looking towards the external side, where big pelagic fish swims around.
On the edge the current is incredibly strong: without the hook it is almost impossible to keep a stable position.
There is no live coral on the edge, so no risk of damaging it with the hook.
However, when doing other types of diving, such as following a reef being transported by the current, no reef hook was used.
And when at the end of the drift dive you launch the buoy, so that the Dhoni comes and launches the deco bar with additional deco tanks, of course you are not hooked.
It would be impossible to launch a buoy while hooked.
Instead launching the buoy is easy if you are drifting together with the current, as in practice, doing so, it is as if there is no current, as you are not moving relatively to the surrounding water.

 

[judydivescoz]

You might find an OP that will allow you to practice with a hook on the divesites north of town. It’s out of the Marine Park, you can wear gloves and even hunt with a spear. That said, I have never heard of any dive OP using hooks here. Not all dive OPs go north. Try Aldora or Salty Endeavors.

 

[Centrals]

Yeah these "minor" details are my concern. Also, I just don't want to learn/attempt a new skill for the first time on my expensive liveaboard trip. I know people are saying it doesn't take much skill but I see no reason not try to practice it in potentially calmer current before I go if I can.


Oh I know- I meant the reef hook and SMB deployment as two separate skills. As a new-ish diver that mostly dives in the Caribbean with a guide I have had almost no experience deploying an SMB and, again, would rather be comfortable doing it if the need arises.

There is not much point to practice reef hook in calm current. Because you have to act FAST.
Some divers should not be diving in this site:


Another tragic story from Palau.

Diving Palau: Beauty And Tragedy In The Remote Pacific

Palau is a cluster of tiny, beautiful islands in the western Pacific. It is one of the world’s premier sites for scuba divers with dramatic scenery.

www.happy-ali.com

 

[Scubagolf]

I suspected as such. Thanks all! Anyone have a recommendation of someplace I can practice with one before my trip? I'm on the East Coast of the US so Caribbean would be easiest.

We used “reef hooks” on a live aboard in Palau in 2014. It wasn’t difficult, and we did not hook onto live reefs, rather into rock outcroppings. Watch a couple of YouTube videos and have fun.

 

[Thunder Struck]

I suspected as such. Thanks all! Anyone have a recommendation of someplace I can practice with one before my trip? I'm on the East Coast of the US so Caribbean would be easiest.

This video gives a good idea of how you can practice DSMB deployment at home. It helps reinforce keeping ahold of everything:

There are stylistic differences. It's not the end-all be-all method. Such as I don't clip the double ender back onto the spool until after it's been floated.