Group Diving and Bottom Time

[tmartin110]

I am a rookie OW certified diver traveling to Cozumel resort for a diving vacation. I plan to buy a dive computer to help increase bottom time. How does the group thing work? Do they split up the computer diver from the dive chart divers. Seems kind of pointless to buy computer if I have to ascend with the dive chart diver who has no adjusted bottom time. Is it a case by case basis depending on the dive op? I am a very conservative safe diver just want the most bang for the buck. Help a rookie out.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I have never dove in Cozumel...I believe they have guided dives so you would be correct in your assumptions. In the Fla Keys you get off the boat and come back in an hour your depth and time up to an hour are up to you. I'm sure you will get alot of reponses from others who have dived Cozumel.

And Welcome to Scubaboard.

 

[boulderjohn]

Cozumel dives are indeed led dives--required by law. The DM will make the dive plans and lead the dives. However, that does not release you from the responsibility of monitoring your own dives and acting accordingly.

If you are doing multiple dives over multiple days, your profile will be different from everyone else's. Your computer will help you monitor that. As you dive with the group, pay attention to your nitrogen loading. If you are getting toward the yellow, stay a lttle above the group while diving--it will make a big difference. The same is true of air consumption. New divers tend to go through their air faster, so you might want to stay a little shallower than everyone else--again, it makes a big difference.

You may need to surface before the rest of the group, either because you are running low on air faster than others or because you have hit your no decompression limits. No problem. Let your DM know. You and your buddy will ascend before the rest, usually going up the line of a marker buoy. The boat will pick you up and you will be safely aboard when the rest surface.

 

[rawls]

Can you get in touch with the resort. It is "generally" suggested that one utilize the buddy's time that is the most conservative. A table is definitely going to be the more conservative of the two. It could be that the dive times are already set and fall within NDL's, then everyone has the same amount of dive time. I would suggest you call them or maybe someone on SB, who knows how this is handled, will give you an answer.
As far as being pointless to buy a computer...I assume you will continue diving after this trip...Enough said...

 

[susan6868]

Yup, that's been my experience. My family dives together, two buddy pairs, me and my daughter, my husband and my son. The boys always go low on air before the girls.
When they signal, the DM sends up the buoy and they ascend and do their safety stop. They surface by the buoy, the boat picks them up, we conitnue on with the DM. It worked the same way when a diver hit his limit, he and his buddy went up, we went on.
No worries, you'll get plenty of bottom time! The "dive chart" people won't spoil your fun!

 

[Charlie99]

I plan to buy a dive computer to help increase bottom time. How does the group thing work? Do they split up the computer diver from the dive chart divers. Seems kind of pointless to buy computer if I have to ascend with the dive chart diver who has no adjusted bottom time.

Nice to see someone that thinks things through ahead of time. You correctly realized that dive ops should either 1) split groups up into table divers and computer divers, or 2) everyone ascend per the tables.

There is actually a third alternative --- that the dive is planned as a multilevel dive.

Typical dive briefings will at Cozumel will include some multilevel profile info such as "first 15 to 20 minutes at 80', then on up to 40-50' for another 15 minutes, and then head on into the shallows". If you were to plot out the profiles on a multilevel planning device such as the PADI wheel, you would find that the plans are valid, but most divers don't have a clue whether or not they are.

In practice, most non-computer divers just blindly follow the DM. I'm not saying that it is right, just that it is common.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Big group, DM will assigning buddy team in same dive profile .
Welcome to :sblogo:
:wave-smil :wave-smil

 

[tmartin110]

Thanks for the welcomes, information, and support. "rawls" you are correct. Computer or no computer I still would go on the trip and do it all again. Thanks everyone.

 

[stefo2]

There is actually a third alternative --- that the dive is planned as a multilevel dive.

Typical dive briefings will at Cozumel will include some multilevel profile info such as "first 15 to 20 minutes at 80', then on up to 40-50' for another 15 minutes, and then head on into the shallows". If you were to plot out the profiles on a multilevel planning device such as the PADI wheel, you would find that the plans are valid, but most divers don't have a clue whether or not they are.

In practice, most non-computer divers just blindly follow the DM. I'm not saying that it is right, just that it is common.

Haven't dived in Cozumel, but this is exactly the way it is done in Dahab, Egypt, another place where all dives are guided. At the end of the dive you will find that everyone using the wheel or a computer are well within the NDL, whereas divers who try to track the dives they have just done (following the DM) on the tables start getting worried for a while, until someone reminds them that we didn't dive a square profile...

 

[PM-Performance]

I just did Cozumel last week and they plan the dives ahead of time with the place I went with. Also they MAKE you use a computer. If you do not have one, they loan you one.
We did mulitlevel dives for the first dive as it was a deep dive. The second dive we pretty much stayed at a constant depth for the most part.