DjDiverDan
Contributor
When I think of "Cattle Boats", I think not only of the size of the boats, but how many divers they put into the water at the same time, and how they organize the dives. In the old days, before the Marine Park set the rule on no more than 8 divers to a DM, there were operations like Del Mar Aquatics that might put 20 or so divers on a big boat, then put them all in the water at the same time, with one DM leading the group and another following. Too damn many newbie divers flailing around in the water, running into each other (and running into the reefs and killing corals), kicking sand up and masks off while trying to navigate swim-thrus, and generally creating chaos. That no longer exists on Cozumel (at least I hope not) as a result of newer Marine Park Rules - one DM, no more than 8 divers. BUT there are still big boat ops that will put two or even three groups into the water at once, and while they are technically separate groups, they might all come together to see something interesting, like a Nurse Shark asleep under a reef, or a big green moray out hunting, or a big sea turtle munching on a barrel sponge, to create an underwater crowd scene. I have no objection at all to big slow boats that carry 20-24 divers IF the boat puts no more than 8 divers in the water at once and separates the groups by at least 5-7 minutes so they aren't all falling over each other. Not my thing, but not terrible for a newbie just getting introduced to diving.
