Diving to 130 ft ?

[iztok]

Here is the link to the You Tube Video of the Devils Throat (My 5th post...).

YouTube - SCUBA Diving Devil's Throat Cozumel (part 1)

Who is the guy diving in front of you? Not the greatest buoyancy control or trim. Octo is not clipped and dragging.

 

[scubadada]

Hi mfinley919,

My son and I visited Cozumel several years ago and enjoyed diving Punta Sur, Devil's Throat very much. At the time we had about 175 dives, about 15 dives deeper than 120 feet, and were certified to PADI Rescue. We did the dive on day 3 with Aldora Divers using HP steel 120 tanks. The dive went very well, we ended up with a beautiful 65 minute dive, most of it at considerably lesser depth.

You and your wife have considerably less experience, no experience at equivalent depth, and less training. Ultimately it will be your decision whether you attempt this dive. I certainly can't advise you what to do and have no way to judge your confidence and skills. My wife is OW certified, is reasonably skilled, and has 66 dives including about a dozen to around 100 feet. I can honestly say that I would not take her on that dive, but that's just me. I wouldn't take her to Barracuda either.

Have a great trip to Cozumel, there are many, many, great dives to be had there.

Good diving, Craig

 

[muddiver]

I wrote an article for folks like you ... it may answer your questions and give you things to consider that you haven't yet.

When I was in Cozumel, my group decided to pass up that dive ... primarily because we felt we'd get more value out of a longer, shallower dive that was more suitable to our goals and the equipment we were using. And I think, in hindsight, that was a good decision.

Narcosis is certainly a good consideration ... but a more important one is how quickly will you go through your air supply, and what will you do if one or both of you get to unacceptly low reserves while you're inside that swimthrough?

What size cylinder will you be using? If AL80's, then count on it being a very short dive ... do "trophy" dives appeal to you? If not, then opt for a shallower, longer dive. There are plenty of those to be had that will give you more bang for the buck.

Also, will you be using your own or rental regs? Personally I would never take a rental reg to 130 fsw ... because you don't know when it was serviced last or how well it will perform at that depth. Cheaper regs that are commonly used for rentals regs tend to perform less well at deeper depths ... and increased work of breathing leads to CO2 buildup in your bloodstream ... which will lead to an unpleasant (at best) feeling like you can't get enough air. That tends to stress people out ... and even if you don't normally feel the effects of narcosis, CO2 and stress will help you feel it at deeper depths.

Read the article, weigh your options, and make an informed decision ... only you, really, can determine what's important to you. But if you DO decide to go ... keep a close eye on your pressure gauge. You'd be surprised how quickly it can go down when you're in any new environment ... much less one at that depth.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I have to strongly agree with Bob here on the speed of breathing gas consumption. It will sneak up on you if your are not on top of watching your pressure gague. I did a simple dive a few years back to find a sunken marine preserve marker buoy. Depth to the buoy was 132 feet sea water when we found it. Problem was I was carrying a steel 72 cu ft cylinder instead of the 80 cu ft cylinder I thought I had grabbed (lesson 2 always check your gear twice!). Anyway after following the buoy anchor chain back to the anchor point, hand-over-hand along the chain, I checked my pressure guage and was supprised to find it close to 500 psi (good test of the Sherwood Blizzard regulator, still supplies air at 500 psi cylinder pressure ). The saving grace was I dive local on all dives with a pony cylinder as a reserve which got me back to the boat where I did my safty stop on a cylinder hung over the side.

Dumb, yes. Did I follow standard diving procedures of the time, yes. Did I plan my gas use for the dive, no because very few agencies tought gas planning and I never considered it. Search for "rock bottom" or gas planning in teh ScubaBoard threads and do some reading before you wiz off to 130'. It can be very educational on how short a span of time an Aluminum 80 will last on a dive that deep.

 

[scubadada]

I wrote an article for folks like you ... it may answer your questions and give you things to consider that you haven't yet.

When I was in Cozumel, my group decided to pass up that dive ... primarily because we felt we'd get more value out of a longer, shallower dive that was more suitable to our goals and the equipment we were using. And I think, in hindsight, that was a good decision.

Narcosis is certainly a good consideration ... but a more important one is how quickly will you go through your air supply, and what will you do if one or both of you get to unacceptly low reserves while you're inside that swimthrough?

What size cylinder will you be using? If AL80's, then count on it being a very short dive ... do "trophy" dives appeal to you? If not, then opt for a shallower, longer dive. There are plenty of those to be had that will give you more bang for the buck.

Also, will you be using your own or rental regs? Personally I would never take a rental reg to 130 fsw ... because you don't know when it was serviced last or how well it will perform at that depth. Cheaper regs that are commonly used for rentals regs tend to perform less well at deeper depths ... and increased work of breathing leads to CO2 buildup in your bloodstream ... which will lead to an unpleasant (at best) feeling like you can't get enough air. That tends to stress people out ... and even if you don't normally feel the effects of narcosis, CO2 and stress will help you feel it at deeper depths.

Read the article, weigh your options, and make an informed decision ... only you, really, can determine what's important to you. But if you DO decide to go ... keep a close eye on your pressure gauge. You'd be surprised how quickly it can go down when you're in any new environment ... much less one at that depth.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The article by Bob Bailey (NWGratefulDiver) is a very good one and worth reading. There are several additonal good articles on his website. The section on gas management is very good, I would recommend a read.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Mike]

My wife is OW certified, is reasonably skilled, and has 66 dives including about a dozen to around 100 feet. I can honestly say that I would not take her on that dive, but that's just me. I wouldn't take her to Barracuda either.

Good diving, Craig

Actually, we did Barracuda last year.

We went through the same trepedations and preparations before that dive as we are now going through on this one. The currents, the warnings of people ending up in Cancun, etc... of course the worrying was way worse then reality. Barracuda was an absolute joy and well within our skills.

 

[scubadada]

Actually, we did Barracuda last year.

We went through the same trepedations and preparations before that dive as we are now going through on this one. The currents, the warnings of people ending up in Cancun, etc... of course the worrying was way worse then reality. Barracuda was an absolute joy and well within our skills.

Well then, maybe you have nothing to worry about. The day we did Barracuda, the current was ripping. One of the other experienced buddy pair did not make it down to join us and got picked up by the boat. The rest of us had a great roller coaster ride on a great wall. On a good day, many dives are a piece of cake, whereas, on a challenging day, they can be a tough for the most skilled divers. The Duane and the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo, both at just over 100 feet, are good examples. I've had incredible lesurely dives on both wrecks but have also had amongst the most challenging dives of my career, partcularly on the Duane. Timing and conditions are everything.

Best wishes and good luck on your trip, I'm sure it will work out very well. Sounds like both of you may be more skilled and confident than your modest number of dives and limited depth excursion would suggest. Perhaps you'll choose an operator like Aldora who will help judge your skills, supply superior equipment, and make sure you have a skilled and attentive DM. We were lucky enough to be dive with Mateo, can't do much better than that.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Mike]

We always dive with Aldora in Coz.

I'll take all the advice to heart, it is much appreciated.

We will see what happens. I like the idea of trying some deeper depths on a wall dive if the opportunity is there and we can discuss it with the DM prior. Perhaps I'll bring some math flash cards along to test each other with.

If everything aligns properly we will see about moving forward with Punta Sur, if not, so be it. Like said there are plenty of other dives there.

I've got the shark dives over in Playa on the list to look into and we have always wanted to dive on the east side of the island, but have never had the right timing for that to work out yet.

The bottom line is the wife has to feel comfortable and I have to feel comfortable in the narcosis issue in order to feel capable of keeping an eye on her. She gets to call the go or no go on advanced dives and we always discuss before an advanced dive that there is no shame in aborting the dive if everything isn't kosher to her. I'm fine with sitting out a dive on the boat if that is what the call is in order to ensure diving another day.

 

[scubadada]

Hey mfinley919,

Very reasonable attitude. There are also the cenotes dives Aldora does as a day trip. We did Dos Ojos with Mateo, a really great day. Enjoy your trip.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Matt S.]

My wife and I have roughly 45 dives each over the course of about 7 years of recreational vacation diving.

100ft is the deepest we have dived, with many logged dives to 80.

We are comfortable with diving but I'm wondering what the thoughts are in regard to going to 130ft for the first time.

The reason I ask is we will be diving in Cozumel this Thanksgiving and have plans of doing Punta Sur which goes to 130 ft.

I would not do that dive if it is as others have described--and I have more experience than you guys and probably in worse conditions, too. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, just comparing logbooks. In fact I fully expect to get flamed by someone for being a scaredy-cat.

Fine. Meeeow.

 

[StreetDoctor]

average of around 6.5 dives a year and you want to dive to 130' with an AL80? sounds like an accident waiting to happen.