bond007069:
In your guys opinion would diving in Cozumel, be ok for a first time diver, you know with the drift diving set up?
My 2 OW buddies and I went there right after getting certified. We made it very clear to them that we had only 6-8 dives each. For our first dive out they dropped us over 65 feet of water (the deepest we had been to that point was 45 ft), then we headed over a wall. We were told to stay above 80, but the bottom was ~150 feet down. I did OK, but one of my buddies got down to 94 feet before he knew it. My other buddy ended up running out of air and had to share air during his safety stop. All in all it was an extremely unnerving dive. All subsequent dives for us went off extremely well, as they were all reef dives in 45-75 feet of water. After several of those I felt much more confident to go back to a wall dive.
Drift diving is wonderful fun, and you shouldn't have any problems if you take a few precautions. In fact, drift diving (with a good dive op) is a lot less work and probably safer than regular boat diving.
As others have posted:
1) tell your dive op you're a newbie
2) watch your depth guage and your air.
3) Listen VERY closely to your dive brief, and ask LOTS of questions
I'll add a fourth:
4) Pair up with your buddy, review contingencies with your buddy on the boat ride out, and don't expect your DM to be your buddy (despite what he tells you during the briefing). "DM" in Cozumel doesn't stand for "Dive Mama". They're more of Dive Guides, not the instructor you're used to when you're getting your OW training. Since you're in a group setting it's very easy to forget your buddy skills you've learned.
As a newbie you'll (probably) run out of air before everybody else on the boat. There's nothing wrong with that, but if that happens you and your buddy should expect to surface by yourselves without the DM. Our DM lifted a float bag (so the chase boat knew where we were) and then he stayed down with the more experienced divers. Where my buddies and I got into trouble is "assuming" we'd all go up together (this is where asking lots of questions during the dive brief would have helped). We were in such awe at the incredible 100+ foot visibility, the 6 foot eagle ray swiming below us, and the rest of the incredible sealife around us that we kind of forgot to monitor each other as good buddies should.
One other bit of advice I'll pass along. I was diving with all new gear, and had no idea as to what kind of weight I should carry (my previous dives were in a drysuit). I dove in underweighted, and used up half my tank trying to reach the bottom. Finally the DM took pity on me and swam up and dropped 5 pounds in my BC. So if you get the opportunity (and you haven't done so already), do a proper salt water weight balance check with your gear before the dive op drops you over the edge. I realize all this is basic stuff, but it's easy to get overwhelmed on your first dive in Coz.
Anyway, as others have said diving in Cozumel will spoil you for all your future dives.
Jerry
