current concerns

[Juardis]

Hi all, wife and I going with our LDS to Coz 6/18-25. It'll be our first trip to Coz and we're totally looking forward to it. I'd consider us both to be intermediate divers (50+ dives, mostly drift dives in W. Palm Beach). We're both deep certified but I don't particularly enjoy going deep, mainly because I'm an air hog and I just don't get much bottom time at all below 60'. Anyway, reading up on the various dive sites, and having never done wall diving, I'm particularly concerned about the currents and potential upwells/downwells. Is that really a problem in Coz like some of the literature I've read. If so, which dive sites are notorious for them (or are they all susceptible to some degree or other)? Any advice on what to do if caught up in one?

 

[Brules]

Very rare for up/downs. Current runs S->N majority of the time. No worries! If you have air issues, ask the dive op for a 100AL tank and then talk to the DM and ask for tips on how to breath better. These guys really know their stuff and if you ask are more than happy to give you advice to be a better diver.

Been going 20 years to Coz and last year Pedro of Blue XT Sea really helped me on my breathing. I am a 6' 285lb guy and I was doing 80min dives after some cues form him!

Also on the wall dive concern, most times you will be on a "wall" that slopes, so like Santa Rosa wall, it slopes down so there is reef below you so it isnt like you are out on a total vertical wall. Most of the time you have reef/sand/rock below you so no worries! Only the deep more exp dives have true vertical wall dives and I doubt you will get there since you all are new to coz/diving (relatively so to speak).

No worries and have a great time, but I must warn you - Cozumel is an addiction! Be warned! You may catch Cozumelitis and have to make multiple trips a year for the rest of your life to keep the disease at bay!

 

[mmmbelows]

50 plus drift dives in WPB means you're good to go for Cozumel, as well or better qualified than the majority of people going for the first time.

You're going to get a bunch of very intricate, in depth answers, but here's the best one - just be aware. A down current doesn't sneak up on you and pull your pants down from you from behind. It's not going to be a sneak attack. Just open your eyes and look around, you know what current is from your diving already, it's not going to be a secret if there is a down current. You'll see bubbles doing strange things, as you get closer to the bottom or the wall look - do you see soft corals bent over the wall, you might see sand moving down the wall in the sandy patches, what are the fish doing? In my opinion the people who report back scary down current stories are the ones who for some reason are suddenly in the middle of one, how they manage that is by not paying attention, there will be plenty of signs if the current is running down the wall. Just watch what is going on, put more air in your BC and deal with it. But you probably aren't going to experience it anyways, they don't happen enough.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Thanks Juardis for the post. Coz is scary for me because of the usual posts. They gave me the impression that it was always a nail biter, the posts here are more measured and informative.

 

[fmerkel]

First time I went to Coz with a group I watched people try to put their BC on upside down. Face it, Coz and other warm water destinations are stuffed with people that do less than 10 dives/year and often are SO pleased the dive guides do all the work for them. Such divers are their own worst enemies.

 

[cvchief]

I am scared to go someplace without drift diving. I have 4 checkout dives Antigua and close to 280 in Cozumel. I would be scared to go someplace and have to swim and stuff.

280 dives and I have seen one really noticeable down welling. It made it a little hard to stay at 15 foot. I have had current change direction a number of times. If you have a decent guide, you just turn around and go the other way.

Want to worry me: Tell me about these places where they just dump you and you have to swim around alone with your buddy and then show up alone later. Or where you drive a truck out and you and your buddy dive alone and no one knows where you are and what you are doing....

 

[mmmbelows]

Using fins is over-rated. Besides that chief think about the pain in the butt of navigation out and back to a moored boat. Drift diving is truly the simple man's pleasure for relaxing diving.

 

[ggunn]

Thanks Juardis for the post. Coz is scary for me because of the usual posts. They gave me the impression that it was always a nail biter, the posts here are more measured and informative.

I have been diving Cozumel for 22 years and only once have I experienced anything like a downwelling. It was at Barracuda Reef where the current was flowing over a cliff at a 45 degree angle. It was a little scary for about 30 seconds but it wasn't that big of a deal. Other than that, easy peasy.

 

[diver0008]

Currents are mild, lateral, and plenty of great sites with none. Just go with them and enjoy the scenery. No problems finning against them for an experienced diver if you want to stop for a closer look once in a while. Keep your DM in sight and no worries.

 

[diver0008]

where you drive a truck out and you and your buddy dive alone and no one knows where you are and what you are doing....

Bonaire. Love it.