Drift diving in Cozumel

[TheRedHead]

Many divers don't realize that when diving in situations that require some degree of finning, their finning compensates for being out of trim, and the diver sometimes doesn't notice that they're out of trim, ususally bottom-heavy. This can easily happen with rental equipment that doesn't fit you as well as your own stuff.

One of the best divers I've ever seen is Omar Gomez at Deep Exposure. His trim is perfect and can ride currents like he is playing quidditch without a broom. He sculls his fins constantly in a current to keep position. I guess it depends on what kind of finning you are talking about.

 

[yak]

One of the best divers I've ever seen is Omar Gomez at Deep Exposure. His trim is perfect and can ride currents like he is playing quidditch without a broom. He sculls his fins constantly in a current to keep position. I guess it depends on what kind of finning you are talking about.

What I meant is that in non-current situations, divers are used to finning (either scissors or frog-kick) to get around, and doing so can compensate for out-of-trim situations. In a current, where you don't do much finning for the purposes of moving forward, out-of-trim becomes very apparent.

I found that when I have my trim dialed in, I only use a minimal bit of sculling to maintain position. The rest is like auto-pilot.

 

[ggunn]

What I meant is that in non-current situations, divers are used to finning (either scissors or frog-kick) to get around, and doing so can compensate for out-of-trim situations. In a current, where you don't do much finning for the purposes of moving forward, out-of-trim becomes very apparent.

I found that when I have my trim dialed in, I only use a minimal bit of sculling to maintain position. The rest is like auto-pilot.

I pull up my weight belt like old man pleated pants to tune my trim. ;^)

 

[TheRedHead]

I pull up my weight belt like old man pleated pants to tune my trim. ;^)

.......................

 

[lmorin]

Here is some fairly thorough information about currents throughout the Gulf of Mexico and western Carribean, and specifically about the Yucatan Current that flows around Cozumel and into the Gulf.
The Loop Current of the Gulf
The Yucatan Current
Maps, text and a reference list. There is an obvious effect of season on water temperature (a link takes you to seasonal maps), but there is no indication of change in current rate, although I would expect them to be related.

 

[ggunn]

There is an obvious effect of season on water temperature, but there is no indication of change in current rate, although I would expect them to be related.

The temperature doesn't vary by much; the warmest I have seen it is about 84 degrees in July, and the coolest I have seen it is about 78 in January. The local short term variations in the current due to the interaction of the flow through the channel and the island swamp any seasonal variation that there may be in the flow itself.

 

[halocline]

And BTW, the reefs are completely coral, not rock. It may be alive or it may not be, but it's all coral.

Ummm, don't know exactly what to say about this; if you're saying that all those large limestone structures are ancient coral skeletons, I suppose that might be true, but touching dead limestone will have no deleterious environmental impact. And, maybe I was halucinating all those times, but I feel pretty certain that I've seen actual rocks on the 100+ dives I've made in Cozumel. The point is, there are lots of places you can hang on to in a current if you have to wait for the group to catch up to you without killing a live coral or damaging an area that might be habitat for coral in the future.

BTW, much of the biomass in stony coral dominated reefs is coralline algae that has built up on rocks over time. Cozumel is not even a stony coral dominated reef; certainly the shallower reefs had a covering of finger coral (which I think is a caribbean Madracis genus) that was seriously damaged in Wilma. But the deeper reefs lack the turbulence that many branching stony corals need, and are more heavily populated by sponges, foliose algae, some anemones, gorgonians, and some non-branching species of stony corals. (like Colpophyllia, the big "brain" corals)

I will certainly agree that it's a very good idea to avoid touching anything on the reef, and we've all had our share of experiences seeing new divers blunder into live coral and other delicate animals. This can be pretty irritating to see, but it doesn't mean that anyone who touches anything like sand and rock is causing any more damage to the reef than just the presence of all us divers.

 

[Christi]

The point is, there are lots of places you can hang on to in a current if you have to wait for the group to catch up to you without killing a live coral or damaging an area that might be habitat for coral in the future.

This is a true statement. I know you were addressing Gordon, but since I made the comment that it was coral not rock, I should clarify.

I was referring to lmorins description of pulling himself on the rocks to get back to the group going through the swim through. This "rock" was a wall, which was most certainly full of coral.

 

[Ron Brandt]

I pull up my weight belt like old man pleated pants to tune my trim. ;^)

I'd like to see that...

Ron

 

[halocline]

This is a true statement. I know you were addressing Gordon, but since I made the comment that it was coral not rock, I should clarify.

I was referring to lmorins description of pulling himself on the rocks to get back to the group going through the swim through. This "rock" was a wall, which was most certainly full of coral.

I know you were, and I am fully in agreement that there's alot of unnecessary impact made on the reefs at Cozumel by poor and/or inexperienced divers, and by irresponsible divemasters (or dive ops!) that do not hold their clients to strict standards. But it's really hard to know exactly what happened in this case just by someone's post. We see the post, we think of all the times that we've seen divers banging into corals, and we assume that this must be something like that. But, since we weren't there, it's impossible to know...now if the guy said, "and then I pried an anemone off the rock with my knife so I'd have a good handhold" or something like that, that's a real strong indication there's something bad going on.

BTW Gordon, I didn't mean to be snide in the rock comment; it's just that usually I agree with your posts, this time I had to take issue.