Diving depths in Cozumel

[scubajen]

I received my information for my dive trip and read
where my first dive would be 60-100 ft. down.
I am only certified as an open-water diver, which I thought
meant you are not suppose to go farther than 60ft. Now I have
gone on a dive where I went about 70ft. down, which was
fine, but I am not to thrilled about going down to 90 and 100ft!
How likely is it that I will go to these depths and if so will I be
ok since I have no training at this depth?

Just concerned for me and scubahubby's safety!

 

[HammerNoMore]

scubajen once bubbled...
I received my information for my dive trip and read
where my first dive would be 60-100 ft. down.
I am only certified as an open-water diver, which I thought
meant you are not suppose to go farther than 60ft. Now I have
gone on a dive where I went about 70ft. down, which was
fine, but I am not to thrilled about going down to 90 and 100ft!
How likely is it that I will go to these depths and if so will I be
ok since I have no training at this depth?

Just concerned for me and scubahubby's safety!

60-100 ft would be a good description of most every first dive at Cozumel. Typically though anything that would get you above 80' would be a "wall" dive (never seend a real wall in Coz). On these dives you always have the option of riding the wall a bit higher than the rest of the group.

You can do the same on non-wall dives but you may have problems staying with the group because of different current speeds (the current slows close to the reef).

If you are concerned about going these depths then tell the DM. Be firm and I'm sure he will advise you how to proceed with the dive using depths you feel comfortable with. If not, you can blow off the dive and find a better shop the following day.

Note that your open water C-card simply makes it easier for you to get air fills or dive with charter outfits. The 60' thing is simply a suggestion of the certifiying agency and one they can in no way control. If you feel you need additional training for 100' then you should take an Advanced class (should be included in OW anyway) and a Deep class. Perhaps you can even do these while you are in Coz.

 

[Charlie99]

If you give the name of the dive operator you will be diving with, then perhaps people can tell you their experiences.

The guys I'm familiar with -- ScubaDu, AquaSafari, Dive Paradise and Scuba Club Cozumel all tended to make the first dive to 80' max on most reefs. Deeper first dives were only on a few specific reefs, such as 90' on Columbia Deep and 125' on Punta Sur.

If it is a larger operator then they will, hopefully, divide groups up by experience level and some of the boats might only be doing 65 or 70' max. for first dives.

If you wish to stay above 60', then just tell the DM. You might miss out on a couple of swimthroughs, but otherwise you will be able to hang either directly above the group, or more often, you will be 20 or 30' inshore and on top the reef while the rest of the group is down the wall a ways. Usually the group will come back up and off the wall after only 15 or 20 minutes and the rest of the dive will be at 50' or less.

In all cases, the warm water and superb visibility make the dives less challenging than the equivalent depth in a dark, cold quarry.

 

[HammerNoMore]

Charlie99 once bubbled...

In all cases, the warm water and superb visibility make the dives less challenging than the equivalent depth in a dark, cold quarry.

That qualifies as one of the biggest understatments I've seen in a while ut: .

 

[scubajen]

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[ggunn]

scubajen once bubbled...
I received my information for my dive trip and read
where my first dive would be 60-100 ft. down.
I am only certified as an open-water diver, which I thought
meant you are not suppose to go farther than 60ft. Now I have
gone on a dive where I went about 70ft. down, which was
fine, but I am not to thrilled about going down to 90 and 100ft!
How likely is it that I will go to these depths and if so will I be
ok since I have no training at this depth?

Just concerned for me and scubahubby's safety!

Well, there's deep and then there's deep. With the conditions such as they normally are around Cozumel (warm water and tons of viz), you are probably safer at 100' there than you would be at 30' in a lot of other locations. When a cert agency recommends a 60' max depth, they don't take location and conditions into account.

That said, there are plenty of 60' and shallower spots to dive around Cozumel, and the wife and I frequently ask to do 2 shallow dives on the first outing if it's been a while for us. Neither of us has more than an OW cert (though we've been diving more than 10 years now) but we were diving to 80-90' on the later (first) dives on our first trip to Coz as novices.

My advice is to be forthcoming with the dive operation about your experience level and concerns, start off shallow, and increase the depth you dive to as befits your comfort zone. If the dive shop won't accomodate you in this, switch. There are tons of good operators there who will be happy to work with you on this.

Aside: On the several occasions where we boarded a dive boat after a several months' hiatus and asked that we do two shallow dives to reaclimate ourselves, never have we had the slightest prob with either the dive op or the other divers.

 

[ppo2_diver]

If you are uncomfortable with the deep dive, you can hire a personal dive master through Dive Paradise. For an extra $30 or so. Sometimes it is reassuring to have someone within arms reach. I did this with my very first ocean dive in Maui. He as able to keep me calm and gave me the assurance that everything was OK. I enjoyed the dive and now I look forward to deep dives.

With the viz in Coz, 130 foot depth looks just the same as a 60 foot depth.

 

[Brules]

James Goddard once bubbled...


(never seend a real wall in Coz)

Can you explain that statement a bit better? Or were you comparing it to say Roatan or one of the other dive spots where the majority of the dives are straight up and down wall dives that start at shallower depths?

I know there are alot of wall dives in Cozumel, they just start pretty deep IF your definition of a wall is a straight vertical drop wall. Santa Rosa dive is a gradual drop wall, and I think down deep is goes straight vertical.

Punta Sur is another good wall dive I have heard.....at 150'. You do the normal devil's throat, then when you pop out at 125', you swim over the lip of the abyss and dive the wall.

I have never done it myself, but I do know some people who have done it and my LDS owner has done it as well.

Brules

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I have found that the walls in Coz are less sheer than other locations in the Caribbean. They drop to the abyss just not as quick. The wall coming out of Punta Sur was one of sheerest stretches I have seen in Coz.

 

[HammerNoMore]

Brules once bubbled...


Can you explain that statement a bit better?

Sure.

Yes I consider a "real" wall to be a shear drop. What you see in Coz (at least within recreational limits) are slopes.

James