Cozumel an inherently dangerous place?

[Dave Dillehay]

I've never been diving in Cozumel, but my impression is that there are quite a few diving accidents down there. Where do I get this impression?

One of my former coworkers was paralyzed from the waist down after getting bent in Cozumel. He never talked about the circumstances, but his former girlfriend told me it was from getting bent. I don't know details other than that, and it seemed in bad taste for me to ask more from either of them about the incident without them volunteering more info.

I also have a friend who went diving in Cozumel a few years ago with 3 of her girlfriends, who were all just recently certified OW divers. They all got caught in a down current spilling over the reef ledge. Two made it out, including my friend, but the other two were never seen again.

This won't prevent me from diving Cozumel, though. In fact, my friend was told that it would be good for her to go diving immediately after the accident, otherwise she'd probably never go diving again. She did, and still does, and has become a very proficient and safe diver in the process. The photos I've seen and stories read about Cozumel still intrigue me enough that it's on my must-dive list.

From what I understand, the currents at Cozumel may be a bit to handle for a novice diver and that's where problems may start. Add to the mix some late nights out with a few too many margaritas and Coronas, and you add even more risk to the equation.

Or, is it just the popularity of the place -- with so many visitors there, there just seems to be more dive accidents than usual but in proportion to other dive places in the world Cozumel ranks about average for dive safey? Does anyone have statistics on dive accidents and ratio to number of dives?

Been here 12 years and have heard "stories" about divers being carried away by down currents, but not one has been confirmed since i have been here. Can you elaborate? On the other hand, being the number 1 site,by far, for dive visits, and being #2 in DCS hits should tell you that Cozumel is safer than the other places!



Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[element]

The really dangerous thing in Cozumel is riding mopeds around the island . Dive your skill level, check your buoyancy, stay off the sea life and have fun.

 

[marpacifica]

I haven't had a chance to get the details directly from my friend, but I don't doubt her story. Incidentally, she and her other friend who survived are still close, if not closer, friends and live on Saipan. I don't think they both would be making up this story. The details I can recall are that the two survivors had about 20 logged dives at the time and the two victims were doing their first dives after getting their OW certs. It must have been in the late 90s b/c one of the women was in another part of Micronesia for two years before she moved here two years ago. I'll provide more details next time I talk to them.

 

[landlubber]

I haven't had a chance to get the details directly from my friend, but I don't doubt her story. Incidentally, she and her other friend who survived are still close, if not closer, friends and live on Saipan. I don't think they both would be making up this story. The details I can recall are that the two survivors had about 20 logged dives at the time and the two victims were doing their first dives after getting their OW certs. It must have been in the late 90s b/c one of the women was in another part of Micronesia for two years before she moved here two years ago. I'll provide more details next time I talk to them.

I was staying in cancun and booked a day trip to coz thru manta divers on apr7/04.it was just my girlfriend+I plus our guide pepe going for the day.The ferry ride was nice but things got chaotic once we reached coz.We were informed that pepe couldn't be our dm cause the boat was too full+we would have to use thier dm.the operation was under the spanish name for "seahorse".we were frantically rushed on to the small boat and headed out to sea about 5 mins after getting off the ferry.something that was troubling me was that no one asked too see our cert.or asked us our exp.level.i have logged over 100 dives(no expert by any means)but my girlfriend has logged only about 20 or so.in the dive briefing the dm told us we would dive the santa rosa wall+ drop down to about 90ft and slowly work our way up.sounded good to me as i have dove the back wall of molokini maui before+felt comfortable diving a wall with current.
i assesed that the other 4 divers on the boat probably knew what they were doing+seemed exp.(a british chap with his daughter+2 dudes from calgary)we dropped in and the vis was INCREDIBLE!200ft+ i dropped all the way to what my depth guage said was 80ft+cruised around for 3 min or so amazed at the drop in the wall+vis to the open ocean.I then looked down and saw the calgary guys catching a faster current about 20ft below me and were zooming off,I then looked up and saw the dm+my girlfriend about 20 ft above me!!! I thought this was strange as i looked at my guage and was wondering why we weren't dropping deeper to catch up to the calgary guys??I swam up to them and looked at lauras depth guage which read 80 ft.MINE READ 40FT!!!!!!!! I was not impressed as i showed the dm my guage was f#$ked.he just shrugged his shoulders+kept swimming.I looked for the calgary guys+they were gone!!!!!!!! The dm didn't seem concerned at all!!!!!!! I thought they were toast for sure as if my guage was 40ft off they must have been pushing 140ft!!!
By the grace of god the calgary guys were waiting for us in about 30ft of water at the end of our dive.I was pissed off when we got to the boat about the dm's ambivilence toward the situation.His response to me was u guys shouldn't have gone deeper than me in the 1st place.well i wouldn't have if my goddamn depth guage worked!!!!!!!! the 2nd dive was much shallower at paradise reef(30ft max)so the guage issue wouldn't matter too much,i thought i would just stick to the same level as my buddy.
I checked my air guage as always before dropping in it said 3200psi,sweet.however when i got to the bottom it said 3700psi.wonderful the air guage is screwed too!!!!needless to say it was a short dive + i didn't stray too far from my buddy.
Back at the dock the dm had the nerve to say he lived+ate off his tips so give graciously.I felt like giving him a boot in the ass+said to him try not to starve to death!!!!!!!
cruel.maybe but i felt justified given he didn't seem to give a rats-ass that he lost 2 divers and my guages were screwed.

 

[getwet2]

I was staying in cancun and booked a day trip to coz thru manta divers on apr7/04.it was just my girlfriend+I plus our guide pepe going for the day.The ferry ride was nice but things got chaotic once we reached coz.We were informed that pepe couldn't be our dm cause the boat was too full+we would have to use thier dm.the operation was under the spanish name for "seahorse".we were frantically rushed on to the small boat and headed out to sea about 5 mins after getting off the ferry.something that was troubling me was that no one asked too see our cert.or asked us our exp.level.i have logged over 100 dives(no expert by any means)but my girlfriend has logged only about 20 or so.in the dive briefing the dm told us we would dive the santa rosa wall+ drop down to about 90ft and slowly work our way up.sounded good to me as i have dove the back wall of molokini maui before+felt comfortable diving a wall with current.
i assesed that the other 4 divers on the boat probably knew what they were doing+seemed exp.(a british chap with his daughter+2 dudes from calgary)we dropped in and the vis was INCREDIBLE!200ft+ i dropped all the way to what my depth guage said was 80ft+cruised around for 3 min or so amazed at the drop in the wall+vis to the open ocean.I then looked down and saw the calgary guys catching a faster current about 20ft below me and were zooming off,I then looked up and saw the dm+my girlfriend about 20 ft above me!!! I thought this was strange as i looked at my guage and was wondering why we weren't dropping deeper to catch up to the calgary guys??I swam up to them and looked at lauras depth guage which read 80 ft.MINE READ 40FT!!!!!!!! I was not impressed as i showed the dm my guage was f#$ked.he just shrugged his shoulders+kept swimming.I looked for the calgary guys+they were gone!!!!!!!! The dm didn't seem concerned at all!!!!!!! I thought they were toast for sure as if my guage was 40ft off they must have been pushing 140ft!!!
By the grace of god the calgary guys were waiting for us in about 30ft of water at the end of our dive.I was pissed off when we got to the boat about the dm's ambivilence toward the situation.His response to me was u guys shouldn't have gone deeper than me in the 1st place.well i wouldn't have if my goddamn depth guage worked!!!!!!!! the 2nd dive was much shallower at paradise reef(30ft max)so the guage issue wouldn't matter too much,i thought i would just stick to the same level as my buddy.
I checked my air guage as always before dropping in it said 3200psi,sweet.however when i got to the bottom it said 3700psi.wonderful the air guage is screwed too!!!!needless to say it was a short dive + i didn't stray too far from my buddy.
Back at the dock the dm had the nerve to say he lived+ate off his tips so give graciously.I felt like giving him a boot in the ass+said to him try not to starve to death!!!!!!!
cruel.maybe but i felt justified given he didn't seem to give a rats-ass that he lost 2 divers and my guages were screwed.

Not to say that I agree with everything the DM did but why didn't you descend with your less experienced buddy? If you had descended with your buddy and did a gear check once you were down you would have noticed that your gauage was not functioning properly sooner. What if your less experienced buddy had problems with her gear and didn't realize it? Also the DM is there more as a guide and not a baby sitter, if the two from Calgary happened to be very experienced divers and were using their own gear maybe they have been diving with this guide before in this same site and he doesn't worry about them too much. You didn't say if they were using rental gear or not but you did say they were together which is the most important thing. It is also up to the Calgary guys to pay attention to where everyone else in the group is. You also stated that they were waiting for you up ahead so that leads me to believe that they have been to this site before and probably knew what they were doing. As for back on the dock, you should tell the DM what you think and if he doesn't deserve a tip in your opinion that's fine too, a tip is based on what you think the level of service was like, it's not automatic.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I think part of the "problem" with the rate of accidents in Cozumel stems from the number of divers being spilled off of cruise ships. If I am there for a week the dive op has the opportunity to evaluate my dive skills for a day or two before taking me to some of the more challenging sites and /or putting me in harm's way. If I am there for a day off as cruise ship the ops lose that opportunity and in fact may be putting me in harms way by even putting me in the water. Thye don't know me - I am an unknown quantity. Mix that with cattle boats and inadequate supervision and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[HammerNoMore]

I think part of the "problem" with the rate of accidents in Cozumel stems from the number of divers being spilled off of cruise ships. If I am there for a week the dive op has the opportunity to evaluate my dive skills for a day or two before taking me to some of the more challenging sites and /or putting me in harm's way. If I am there for a day off as cruise ship the ops lose that opportunity and in fact may be putting me in harms way by even putting me in the water. Thye don't know me - I am an unknown quantity. Mix that with cattle boats and inadequate supervision and you have a recipe for disaster.

And Darwin wins again....

 

[bertschb]

I've only been to Cozumel once but compared to diving off the Oregon coast, Cozumel is like a swimming pool. It doesn't get much easier. You don't have nearly as much gear or weight. The vis is 10-20X better. The water is REALLY warm (relatively speaking). Diving in Cozumel is so relaxing you almost forget you're diving. Just drift along and check things out. The boat picks you up when you're done. No way would I say Cozumel is dangerous. It's gotta be just more accidents because there are so many divers.

 

[DoUDive2]

On the other hand, being the number 1 site,by far, for dive visits, and being #2 in DCS hits should tell you that Cozumel is safer than the other places!

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

What's the #1 place for DCS hits?

Chris

 

[HammerNoMore]

I've only been to Cozumel once but compared to diving off the Oregon coast, Cozumel is like a swimming pool.

No offence intended, but that sounds like every PNW diver I have ever met .

It doesn't get much easier.

To those of us who have had the "luxury" (your term for it may vary) of diving in, shall we say, less than ideal conditons, you are quite right. IMHO anyone who has learned to dive or has spent time diving 10' vis and cold water should consider Cozumel more of a bathtub than a swimming pool. However, the currents present their own small challanges that are not to be overlooked. Personally I can see a direct relationship between the current in Coz and my air usage. I.E. the faster the current the more air I use. This is about 10% lack of familarity, the rest is trying to keep from getting ahead of the DM's that deal with the currents every day and are almost a slippery as the fish...

You don't have nearly as much gear or weight. The vis is 10-20X better. The water is REALLY warm (relatively speaking). Diving in Cozumel is so relaxing you almost forget you're diving. Just drift along and check things out. The boat picks you up when you're done. No way would I say Cozumel is dangerous. It's gotta be just more accidents because there are so many divers.

100% accurate. But remember two things:

1. People don't go to the PNW for dive vatcations (unless they are really die hard divers.)
2. Not all of the sites at Coz are as simple as you make them out. Punta Sur and Maricbo (sp?) depths will challange the air usage of any new diver. Baracuda and the east side diving can have riping currents/surge that can be disasterous for a new diver.

You are quite right that if you can dive in low vis/cold water you will be fine in Coz but there is a BIG if...IF you don't let yourself be talked into the the more demanding dives...unfortunatly some ops will take you anwhere you ask, whether you are ready or not.

James