Trip Report Cozumel- October 10-20, 2021

[Trailboss123]

Why was nitrox a must?

It was a deep wall dive where the first 30 minutes are spent at 80+ feet. Without nitrox, people were bumping up against their no deco limits half way through the dive and with the top of the reef being at 60 feet, you get forced to come up to 30-40 feet and are so far above the reef that you don’t get to see much.

Same could be said for diving Maracaibo.

 

[mcohen1021]

It was a deep wall dive where the first 30 minutes are spent at 80+ feet. Without nitrox, people were bumping up against their no deco limits half way through the dive and with the top of the reef being at 60 feet, you get forced to come up to 30-40 feet and are so far above the reef that you don’t get to see much.

Same could be said for diving Maracaibo.

I can see that, especially if that wasn't your 1st dive of the trip. I've never used nitrox in cozumel, but i only do 2 dives a day there.

Maracaibo is deep, if I recall correctly, deeper than nitrox depth limits. Its been years since I dove it

 

[morecowbells]

I love your video and pics! Just returned yesterday from a wonderful week long vacation in Cozumel. At Palancar bricks, we saw a school of 8 reef sharks, but they were so far away that were practically shadows. You were fortunate to get some closer video. I agree with you that the Palancar reefs were saturated with divers. My dive master Raul said that over the past year, sharks have made a big comeback. Great video of the Flying Grunard! I scoured the sandy areas for a Flying Grunard or a Batfish, but no luck.

 

[ggunn]

Maracaibo is deep, if I recall correctly, deeper than nitrox depth limits. Its been years since I dove it

My one experience at Maracaibo was not all that good. The top of the reef where we descended was at ~130 feet and our max depth was 154 feet. We only had 5 - 10 minutes on the reef before it was time to ascend, slowly with several deco stops. Most of our "bottom time" was spent suspended in the big blue watching the numbers tick off on our computers, and on the reef we didn't see anything that we couldn't have seen at Palancar or Colombia. I was underwhelmed.

 

[Trailboss123]

My one experience at Maracaibo was not all that good. The top of the reef where we descended was at ~130 feet and our max depth was 154 feet. We only had 5 - 10 minutes on the reef before it was time to ascend, slowly with several deco stops. Most of our "bottom time" was spent suspended in the big blue watching the numbers tick off on our computers, and on the reef we didn't see anything that we couldn't have seen at Palancar or Colombia. I was underwhelmed.

Pretty much my assessment as well. We were in a section of it that topped out at 90 feet, so not quite as deep and like you, I won’t be requesting that dive site in the future.

 

[dflaher]

Great video and stills, TB! I'm gonna check out the link to that housing and light. Thanks for sharing.

 

[k4kafka]

My one experience at Maracaibo was not all that good. The top of the reef where we descended was at ~130 feet and our max depth was 154 feet. We only had 5 - 10 minutes on the reef before it was time to ascend, slowly with several deco stops. Most of our "bottom time" was spent suspended in the big blue watching the numbers tick off on our computers, and on the reef we didn't see anything that we couldn't have seen at Palancar or Colombia. I was underwhelmed.

Sounds like your boat dropped you in an odd location. I‘ve dived Maracaibo many,many times and never encountered the conditions you describe.

 

[ggunn]

Sounds like your boat dropped you in an odd location. I‘ve dived Maracaibo many,many times and never encountered the conditions you describe.

Maybe I'll give it another chance some time. Did you have to go into deco? I don't do that any more.

 

[k4kafka]

Maybe I'll give it another chance some time. Did you have to go into deco? I don't do that any more.

No deco necessary, unless you insist on diving such a deep profile.

 

[mcohen1021]

We tried maracaibo 2 trips ago, water wasn't clear... anyone else experience this?