Diving Devil's Throat and Columbia Deep

[boulderjohn]

The Devils Throat site varies dramatically in quality depending upon who is leading your dive. If you are diving with a typical AL 80 group, it is an entry, a drop, an exit, and an ascent. If you are diving with a steel 120 and nitrox and an operator with the will to take advantage of it, you will find that the entire site is riddled with tunnels, and you can have a very nice dive there indeed. In that case, though, it is an even more advanced dive than others are indicating.

 

[MMM]

I have done Devil's Throat many, many times. It's not my favourite dive but if everyone else on the boat wants to go, then I won't vote against it. But I'd sure as heck want to do it with more than an AL 80. Can you do it with an AL 80. Yes. But it's so much more enjoyable with a bigger tank.

In regard to the question about referrals, A few years ago, the op I regularly dive with (Living Underwater) had some diver cancellations so he offered to put me onto Liquid Blue's boat, also a steel tank operator. I had dived with the latter years before with LB's original DM, and remain friends with the owner. LU told the LB DM he could confidently take me ANYWHERE. Nevertheless, when I got on the boat, and everyone on the boat wanted to do Devil's Throat, the Liquid Blue DM said "no, I have a diver here I've not dived with before and we'll need to do something different down south". I was fine with that (more than fine, actually ;^) ) but on the way south, the DM came back and said he'd changed his mind and it was OK to do Devil's Throat. I don't know if he reached that decision having watched me on the boat or if there had been some communication between himself and the owner. But it speaks to the need to be sure to do this dive safely. I'm nearly ALWAYS voted to be the last diver through the throat, which is fine by me also since I've done it so often and would rather that divers new to the site enjoy it most. But make sure you have a light. If divers ahead of you have poor buoyancy control, your vis is going to be affected.

 

[cvchief]

If you want to see it, click here : THE DEVILS THROAT DIVE COZUMEL MEXICO - YouTube

The actual "throat" is at 1:33, and if you're observant you'll notice that you see the exit the entire time you're in the devilish 'throat', and it's hardly a squeeze.

You sure? I thought it looked like this:

 

[Woodiver]

I've done Devil's Throat more times than I really wanted to do, mostly because somebody on the boat had to do Cozumel's 'signature dive'. I'd rather do Punta Sur Sur or Columbia Deep any day over Devil's Throat. Unless you are the first person in line after the dive master, chances are good you will be in an underwater sand storm. Way too many people without the proper skills to dive in an enclosed environment.

As far as profiles, I've got a quick descent to 90' and staying under 80' until you start the first of the two descent tunnels, the first going 85' to around 120' and the second going from 80' to 120' - 135' (it depends on how you exit the second tunnel). My average max depth has been 128' and 52 minutes of time with the deepest part of the dive at about 20 minutes into the dive. Based on the profile and your computer, chances are very good that you will be into deco when you exit the deepest part of the dive especially if you are one of the first through and need to wait for the rest of the group. Not a big deal but some people freak out if they get close to having a ceiling. You then do a slow ascent for the rest of the dive which could be a fairly boring drift in the blue to off gas or depending on the current, you can make it into the shallows to finish the dive.

I looked at an old download of my computer and I had a 10' ceiling and deco stop from the exit of the deepest swim through at 20 minutes into the dive and it cleared at 35 minutes when I was at 19'. IMHO there are much better dives than Devil's Throat in Cozumel.

 

[Mossman]

Same thing with any dive op that will take you to Devil's throat without diving with you for at least 1 day of diving prior. Any dive op that takes you there without seeing you dive first hand, I'd advise you to protect your life and avoid diving with them.

Which is why no dive op worth a damn would dare take somebody on that dive without checking them out first hand first.

In regard to the question about referrals, A few years ago, the op I regularly dive with (Living Underwater) had some diver cancellations so he offered to put me onto Liquid Blue's boat, also a steel tank operator. I had dived with the latter years before with LB's original DM, and remain friends with the owner. LU told the LB DM he could confidently take me ANYWHERE. Nevertheless, when I got on the boat, and everyone on the boat wanted to do Devil's Throat, the Liquid Blue DM said "no, I have a diver here I've not dived with before and we'll need to do something different down south". I was fine with that (more than fine, actually ;^) ) but on the way south, the DM came back and said he'd changed his mind and it was OK to do Devil's Throat. I don't know if he reached that decision having watched me on the boat or if there had been some communication between himself and the owner. But it speaks to the need to be sure to do this dive safely.

I did Devil's Throat as my first dive ever with LU. We dove with LB for a day, then I got knocked out by a norovirus and missed two dive days with Jeremy, though J still went out with him. He had promised the three other guys on the boat a Devil's Throat dive for their last day and didn't want to disappoint them so he took a chance on me when I was finally well enough to get wet.

But I'm special

 

[Mike]

I've done Devil's Throat more times than I really wanted to do, mostly because somebody on the boat had to do Cozumel's 'signature dive'. I'd rather do Punta Sur Sur or Columbia Deep any day over Devil's Throat. Unless you are the first person in line after the dive master, chances are good you will be in an underwater sand storm. Way too many people without the proper skills to dive in an enclosed environment.

As far as profiles, I've got a quick descent to 90' and staying under 80' until you start the first of the two descent tunnels, the first going 85' to around 120' and the second going from 80' to 120' - 135' (it depends on how you exit the second tunnel). My average max depth has been 128' and 52 minutes of time with the deepest part of the dive at about 20 minutes into the dive. Based on the profile and your computer, chances are very good that you will be into deco when you exit the deepest part of the dive especially if you are one of the first through and need to wait for the rest of the group. Not a big deal but some people freak out if they get close to having a ceiling. You then do a slow ascent for the rest of the dive which could be a fairly boring drift in the blue to off gas or depending on the current, you can make it into the shallows to finish the dive.

I looked at an old download of my computer and I had a 10' ceiling and deco stop from the exit of the deepest swim through at 20 minutes into the dive and it cleared at 35 minutes when I was at 19'. IMHO there are much better dives than Devil's Throat in Cozumel.

Another example of why to not buy a Sunto.

 

[Woodiver]

Not an Sunto, I dive a Uwatec and an Oceanic. My wifes Sunto is much more conservative.

 

[DiveNav]

Does anyone have a dive profile for this site? Depth vs time for a 'typical' guided dive?

Here you go.

​

The dive profile is available on divePAL server (just search for the site name). You will need divePAL to analyze it.

This profile is either an "aggressive no-deco" or a "light-deco" ... depending on the computer/setting you are using.

I did this dive with an AL80 .... but ... next time I dive this site I would rather prefer to have a bigger tank .... actually, make it 2

Alberto (aka eDiver)

 

[ozarkjim]

' I've done it enough times that it isn't one that I care to do any more. Nothing against it but I'd much rather do Punta Tunich or one of the other reefs. I can understand why everyone wants to do it but for me there are many other fun dives I'd rather do. If the boat (divers) wants to do this dive in the future I will not complain but will sit it out. '

Chris,
Please don't mention Tunich too much. It's my favorite dive and there's usually very few other divers around.

 

[ggunn]

Wow, so referrals mean nothing in this business?

I would hazard a guess that a referral from someone else on the island who knows your skills and whom is known personally by the receiver of the referral will carry a lot more weight than will a glowing report from someone he has never met. As others have said, what's on your C card(s) means next to nothing; many "advanced" divers do not, in my opinion, deserve their advanced certifications judging from how they act in the water.

My advice is not to fixate on any one dive; there are scads of dives around Cozumel which are just as good in their own ways. I wouldn't go through a lot of gyrations just to do the Throat; it's not worth stressing over and stress is a real vacation killer. If it doesn't work out this trip, don't sweat it. You'll be back.