Cozumel - Dive Ops / general questions

[DandyDon]

I found Scubaboard and saw recommendations to do pool sessions at home and just do the check-out dives on Cozumel too late. Even though we did get our OW cert, I would definitely recommend doing all pool sessions at home. You just never know what you might struggle with.

The instructor just yelled at my daughter not to breathe through her nose and then berated her when she did. He convinced my daughter to quit in the middle of our pool sessions and told us we’d only get a $150 refund (of the $800 we had paid).

That so sucks. I'm tempted to ask his name, but I guess it's best that you not post it.

Clearly, this is not what happens to most folks who seek their OW cert on Cozumel but really, you just never know. If you don’t have the trip flexibility to deal with unexpected struggles with scuba, ear problems, uncooperative weather, it could be tricky. Best to do all but the check-out dives at home.

Really good advice!

and my ear infection

I hate those. I had a pretty good instructor for my OW & AOW, but he never warned me about those, and I'd never had them with swimming and snorkeling. After a few bouts tho, ending up in any available doctor's office on the verge of tears, etc. - I learned how to prevent them with a simple mix of vinegar and alcohol. Different sources suggest different alcohol strengths, but I like the lower 50%. Mix half and half, add a squirt of glycerin to reduce inflammation risks from the alcohol, and pour in squeeze dropper bottles. I get those from Ebay. I carry one in my mask box to use after every dive and one in my toilet kit to use after showers. Empty the bottles after a trip as the mix breaks down after a mont or so, but it's almost free.

 

[DandyDon]

We did 60 minute bottom times in Cozumel at the 60-80 ft range. With square profiles, that would just barely put you into deco on air.

Square profiles are so rare in Cozumel tho.

With SI of 60 minutes that also cuts the second dive short.

Or a few minutes of deco on the second dive that should clear on the safety stop. Nitrox is a great tool, but I never use it in Coz. But then I am an air hog so for those who get more dive time from a tank, it's possibly useful.

 

[nanches]

I hate those. I had a pretty good instructor for my OW & AOW, but he never warned me about those, and I'd never had them with swimming and snorkeling. After a few bouts tho, ending up in any available doctor's office on the verge of tears, etc. - I learned how to prevent them with a simple mix of vinegar and alcohol. Different sources suggest different alcohol strengths, but I like the lower 50%. Mix half and half, add a squirt of glycerin to reduce inflammation risks from the alcohol, and pour in squeeze dropper bottles. I get those from Ebay. I carry one in my mask box to use after every dive and one in my toilet kit to use after showers. Empty the bottles after a trip as the mix breaks down after a mont or so, but it's almost free.

Thanks so much for this advice! I’ve had 3 ear infections in my life, and twice it was after swimming/snorkeling in the Mexican Caribbean. Both times, though, I had also been in pools (with questionable filtration/chlorine maintenance), so… not 100% sure of the cause, but I suspect the pools. I’ll definitely try your remedy though, I’d hate to have a diving trip ruined by another ear infection.

 

[DandyDon]

not 100% sure of the cause, but I suspect the pools.

Causes vary and we never really know, but Swimmers' Ear infections happen.

I’ll definitely try your remedy though, I’d hate to have a diving trip ruined by another ear infection.

You can buy ear-drying products in stores, but they are alcohol-water-glycerin mixes without vinegar that would shorten the life of the product. Mix your own with vinegar good for a month for each trip, save and reuse the bottles, for almost nothing. You will also need a tiny funnel from a Dollar Store.

Choices in bottles vary, but I like at least 30ml/1oz size and take three just in case. These look good: 10 bottles for less than $10. Save & reuse. 10PCS Empty Plastic Squeezable Dropper Eye Liquid Dropper Refillable Bottles JL | eBay

 

[halocline]

We did 60 minute bottom times in Cozumel at the 60-80 ft range. With square profiles, that would just barely put you into deco on air. You could cut that short a few minutes, but you would probably still be into mandatory safety stops. With SI of 60 minutes that also cuts the second dive short. So, while not required, Nitrox gets more bottom time with less decompression stress from pushing NDLs with air.

I've been diving in Cozumel for about 20 years and I have never seen square profile dives in the 80 ft range. The dives are always multi level. If you had a boat full of nitrox divers, and a guide on nitrox, with the specific intent of diving square profiles, then I could see something like that. But the reality is that most divers on the boats are using air and the dives, which are all guided, follow air profiles. The 2nd dive is invariably shallower. I'm very good on air consumption and I have never been NDL limited in Cozumel on air. This is diving with the typical profiles that the various dive ops follow. And the terrain in Cozumel lends itself to multi level diving; it provides a nice variety throughout the dive.

Certainly you could dive with deeper, squarer profiles if you wanted to, but it would mean your group and your guide would all be on nitrox. I imagine that some dive ops would offer this sort of thing, but it is not the typical Cozumel practice.

 

[Sallygirl]

Two considerations:
Check where the dive op does the confined water sessions. It may make a difference to you.

steal vs. aluminum tanks. If you have a small diver, the tank weight may be an issue.

 

[ggunn]

I hate those. I had a pretty good instructor for my OW & AOW, but he never warned me about those, and I'd never had them with swimming and snorkeling. After a few bouts tho, ending up in any available doctor's office on the verge of tears, etc. - I learned how to prevent them with a simple mix of vinegar and alcohol. Different sources suggest different alcohol strengths, but I like the lower 50%. Mix half and half, add a squirt of glycerin to reduce inflammation risks from the alcohol, and pour in squeeze dropper bottles. I get those from Ebay. I carry one in my mask box to use after every dive and one in my toilet kit to use after showers. Empty the bottles after a trip as the mix breaks down after a mont or so, but it's almost free.

Swim Ear works well, too. A US$7 bottle lasts me multiple dive trips.

 

[gopbroek]

We stayed on the island longer than we planned and did lots of snorkeling to help boost her confidence. We then went with Tres Pelicanos and did a Discover Scuba Dive with Jose. He was everything the instructor at Cozumel Dive School was not: very patient with my daughter and me; explained things multiple times, multiple ways; kind and understanding; fun. We ended up doing the full OW with 3P and Jose. Everyone at 3P was very flexible and supportive. They knew about my daughter’s previous troubles and let us try the Discover and OW without a huge commitment of cash. So it turned out well in the end - and we had some amazing first dives!!!

Jose is a great guy and very calm and patient. I enjoy diving with him and several weeks back I was digging around in a drawer at home and found my original log book. I was surprised to see he was my DM on the first dive I did in Cozumel back when he worked for BA.

 

[ggunn]

Jose is a great guy and very calm and patient. I enjoy diving with him and several weeks back I was digging around in a drawer at home and found my original log book. I was surprised to see he was my DM on the first dive I did in Cozumel back when he worked for BA.

Oh, that José; I agree, he's great. We got to dive with him when he was at Blue Angel, too.

 

[DandyDon]

Swim Ear works well, too. A US$7 bottle lasts me multiple dive trips.

Yeah, those will dry your ear canals and prevent bacteria growth usually. I started with three bottles of that, then learned here that the vinegar additive makes the mix work better, so I've been making my own mix to funnel into those same bottles. I guess I've been using the same bottles for 20 years with maybe a couple of dollars of ingredients. They seem to clean up well.