Devil's Throat - Cozumel

[ggunn]

.....I've done DT and it's more of a 'been there got the T-shirt" type of dive......my favorite part is popping out at the bottom on the wall at 135' and seeing the blue abyss and the deep infinity stretching out below...I LOVE wall dives! ...but going through the 'throat' itself wasn't very fun....definitely bring a light.....and if you aren't the 1st diver in line but are instead somewhere in the middle or back of the pack, and it's a larger group...the tunnel will be totally silted out with swirling sand kicked up by all the divers in front of you.....I wasn't really looking at anything other than trying not to lose sight of the diver's fins in front of me, with my nose up someone elses butt! ...I could have swam right by 'pink elephants' and never spotted them!

Which brings up an only slightly OT pet peeve of mine. If you are in a line of divers going through a swimthrough (any swimthrough), please don't stop, and when you exit the swimthrough, please move out of the way of divers emerging behind you. Getting stopped inside a swimthrough with dropping visibility due to other divers kicking up silt trying to keep from running into the walls is a scary and potentially dangerous situation.

 

[mstevens]

if you aren't the 1st diver in line but are instead somewhere in the middle or back of the pack, and it's a larger group...the tunnel will be totally silted out with swirling sand kicked up by all the divers in front of you..

While this is fairly likely, it's not at all unavoidable. I'm usually last in line with my family and always have an unobstructed view. My wife and kid know how to fin without silting things up and have good enough buoyancy control that they don't smash into the sides or overhead.

12 year-old descending at Punta Sur

Which brings up an only slightly OT pet peeve of mine. If you are in a line of divers going through a swimthrough (any swimthrough), please don't stop, and when you exit the swimthrough, please move out of the way of divers emerging behind you. Getting stopped inside a swimthrough with dropping visibility due to other divers kicking up silt trying to keep from running into the walls is a scary and potentially dangerous situation.

+ eleventy billion!

It is indeed scary to get stopped and potentially dangerous. My very first time there the woman who zipped in behind my wife and ahead of me stopped dead in the middle. I would have backed out but the guy behind me ended up with his head between my ankles and didn't seem to have the ability to reverse. I'm sure she wasn't stopped for an hour and a half, but it felt like it. I never did figure out why she stopped.

13 year-old exiting Garganta del Diablo

 

[Himself]

I never did figure out why she stopped.


The Devil made her do it?

 

[tedgarner]

The above reasons are why I will only dive Devil's Throat with people I know and that know how to not kick up the sand.
Also if you know them and they do something stupid like stop or kick to hard You can give them hell about it on the boat later.
I think this is a great dive if you can do more than just that one tunnel there is so much more to see after the tunnel.
As much as I like it I never ask to go there, I usually wait until someone else wants to go.
All things being said I would dive somewhere else first and let DT be a later dive. That my dos centavos

 

[Papa_Bear]

A lot of good opinions, and I have done it many times as well, and like most dives it is what you make it! Here is a video of the dive: Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services

 

[Christi]

There have been fatalities at this site. This time last year, a Japanese diver disappeared on the ascent. I think she was an Asst Instructor. You can search SB for the details. You can find video's on the internet of dives at Devil's Throat. The video's I found were before Wilma, when the opening was bigger. Should give you an idea of what the site is about.

Wow how this story has changed!

The more accurate story is this:
She was a brand new diver who had requested a private DM. Not only was she not provided with a private DM - she was taken to a dive site she had no business being taken to in the first place. Add fuel to the fire, she was with an inexperienced crew - the DM was a fairly new DM (less than a year diving here) with very little experience and definitely not much experience on that dive. The dive shop was renting a boat from an independent operator that rarely does that site due to the location, therefore the captain was not familiar with the proper drop - so they were dropped pretty far from where they should have been. They were descending in blue water with no reference and no formations in sight, so they were required to swim for awhile. Other witnesses (divers) reported that they never did find the reef.

She was lost during the descent - but the DM kept going and proceeded with the rest of the dive - trying to find the reef and swimming like mad.

This is NOT common - this preventable tragedy was the result of numerous errors on the part of the shop and the crew.

No, this is not a dive that should be done by new divers which is why the reputable shops have strict policies about who dives this site and when. So, for those who are qualified to do the dive, please also make sure you are doing it with a DM and Captain that frequent the site and KNOW the site and dive.

I'll even add that NO ONE, experienced or not should even do it on their first dive of a trip - equipment needs to be checked, and "feet need to get wet" before plunging right down the throat.

Just my professional opinion

 

[cicopo]

I followed that story for quite a while without hearing that part of it. Thanks for the final clarification of the facts.

 

[scubafanatic]

While this is fairly likely, it's not at all unavoidable. I'm usually last in line with my family and always have an unobstructed view. My wife and kid know how to fin without silting things up and have good enough buoyancy control that they don't smash into the sides or overhead.

12 year-old descending at Punta Sur



+ eleventy billion!

It is indeed scary to get stopped and potentially dangerous. My very first time there the woman who zipped in behind my wife and ahead of me stopped dead in the middle. I would have backed out but the guy behind me ended up with his head between my ankles and didn't seem to have the ability to reverse. I'm sure she wasn't stopped for an hour and a half, but it felt like it. I never did figure out why she stopped.

13 year-old exiting Garganta del Diablo

...WOW ! you guys must have really taken your time swimming through DT if that diver in the photos was 12 years old going in and was 13 years old coming out !

 

[Karen Cleveland]

Dove Cozumel for the first time this week. Was taken to Devil's Throat. No real expectations as I had heard it was one tunnel. Surprisingly enough the place was like swiss cheese down there. Many tunnels and quite an enjoyable dive.

It is an advanced dive as others have mentioned but was surprised how much fun it was, deep but beautiful.

And Cozumel in general was quite a surprise, amazing diving. Might have helped meeting up with 7close dive buddies so we booked our own boat. But awesome diving. I will definately return.

Karen

 

[mstevens]

...WOW ! you guys must have really taken your time swimming through DT if that diver in the photos was 12 years old going in and was 13 years old coming out !

True dat.

Or I had one good pic from one year an another good pic from the next year.

I like your explanation better.