How many dives to plan for in Cozumel?

[krbailey]

When do you have time to eat with 4 dives a day? Cozumel has so many awesome places to eat it is already tough to fit them all in...


Would some time in that new oxygen aquarium help counteract the nitrogen loading?

I'll eat when I'm dead. The "oxygen aquarium" might not be a bad idea.

 

[waynel]

4 dives a day? I admire that you love diving so much, as do we all, but I agree with the above...take some time to chill. Great restaurants, sidewalk cafes and bars. However, as a young diver, when the light went on and I really learned how to dive...I did 4 dives a day on some trips. As I got older I cut back and found that while I was diving less, I was enjoying those dives more. Didn't feel I was "working at it". But hey, if you love it...go for it!

 

[Lorenzoid]

I don't know how you people fit in 4 dives a day in Cozumel. I can see doing 4 or even 5 at true dive resorts and on liveaboards, where the dive/boat is just steps away from your meal and lodging and everything is timed for you like clockwork. But it takes so long (relatively speaking) to get to and from the sites on Coz, even with the fast boats. Last trip, my wife and I attempted 4 dives a day, and we found ourselves exhausted. Alarm goes off at 6:30, breakfast at 7:00 (when it opens), rushing to get to the dock by 7:30, scarfing down a taco at lunch (can you say indigestion?) and scrambling to get back to the dock and geared up for the afternoon, arriving back in the evening in time for a shower and late-ish dinner. And the days when we traded the afternoon dives for a night dive, we got back to the dock tired and hungry, ate whatever we could find, and by the time we collapsed in bed it was 10:30 ... all to repeat the process the next day. Again, at a dedicated dive resort or liveaboard where your schedule is timed for you and your fellow divers like clockwork, this is easy. But I have not found doing 4 dives a day easy in Cozumel. As much as I relish the dive/eat/sleep/repeat mentality, my wife and I are going to limit ourselves to 2-3 dives a day in Coz next time, enjoy a leisurely evening meal, and be refreshed and ready to go the next day.

 

[krbailey]

"I don't know how you people fit in 4 dives a day in Cozumel." You people? I take offense! ! I am landlocked 51 weeks a year so I gotta get my fix in. I also travel solo. The majority of my socializing is done to/from the dive site. Befriended 4 people last year and we are meeting again there this year. Can't wait! 69 days and counting.

 

[scubadada]

Asteve,

I did 36 dives over 9 days @ Blue Angel last year using 100cf nitrox tanks, including a 6 dive day (2 tanks morning, 2 tanks afternoon, 2 tanks twilight/night) using a Oceanic Geo 2 computer. Didn't come close to the limits. However, I made sure to do a long, gradual ascent on each dive and as long of a safety stop as my air would allow.

Keith

I'm surprised you did not hit your O2 limit on this schedule. All Oceanic computers use the NOAA 24 hour exposure limits with a rolling 24 hour window. Prior dives do not clear until 24 hours after the end of that dive. Oceanic does not utilize any oxygen elimination half life (some computers do, e.g. Shearwater)Four dive days back to back generally give you 5 dives in the 24 hour window. Diving the day after your 6 dive day would give you up to 7 dives in the 24 hour window. Seven dives on EAN 32 would have to be very short and/or very shallow not to exceed the O2 limit. Perhaps you achieved this by steering well clear of deco. Your ascent strategy may or may not have helped you with your nitrogen exposure, it only increased your oxygen exposure. Regardless, the dive times, avg depths, and nitrox mix would be interesting to know for this maximum exposure. The Geo2 locks out at 100% O2 exposure until it falls below 100%, I dive a Geo2 backup. My VT3 primary does not lock out but one must access alternative screens to get all dive information available.

 

[Asteve]

I don't know how you people fit in 4 dives a day in Cozumel. I can see doing 4 or even 5 at true dive resorts and on liveaboards, where the dive/boat is just steps away from your meal and lodging and everything is timed for you like clockwork. But it takes so long (relatively speaking) to get to and from the sites on Coz, even with the fast boats. Last trip, my wife and I attempted 4 dives a day, and we found ourselves exhausted. Alarm goes off at 6:30, breakfast at 7:00 (when it opens), rushing to get to the dock by 7:30, scarfing down a taco at lunch (can you say indigestion?) and scrambling to get back to the dock and geared up for the afternoon, arriving back in the evening in time for a shower and late-ish dinner. And the days when we traded the afternoon dives for a night dive, we got back to the dock tired and hungry, ate whatever we could find, and by the time we collapsed in bed it was 10:30 ... all to repeat the process the next day. Again, at a dedicated dive resort or liveaboard where your schedule is timed for you and your fellow divers like clockwork, this is easy. But I have not found doing 4 dives a day easy in Cozumel. As much as I relish the dive/eat/sleep/repeat mentality, my wife and I are going to limit ourselves to 2-3 dives a day in Coz next time, enjoy a leisurely evening meal, and be refreshed and ready to go the next day.

Blue angel ( true dive resort ) is on the water so no travel time to the dock. They have fast boats. Yes you do have to get up at 6:30. Restaurant open up at 7:00, boat leaves at 8:00 so have time to eat. After each dive on the boat, they have water, fruit and cake. Boat back at dock at 11:00 and leaves at 1:00, so 2 hours to eat. I found after the first day of eating all the fruit and cake, I did not want lunch. So with travel time and 2 hour back on shore, I was getting at least 3 hour SI. Do the afternoon dives and back to the dock about 4:30 , Clean up gear, store gear at dive shop, go to room, hang up gear and shower, done by 5 PM. To the BA restaurant for happy hour, at a table over looking the water. Yes I did miss the first hour of Happy Hour. I have found it very easy to do 4 dive a day using Blue Angel, it is like a dive boat, they are there to make diving easy.
Wife was only doing 2 morning dives ( she is not a water person ). We did 3 meals in town. It is hard to beat the view at BA over looking the water.
Maybe when I get old, I will slow down when it come to warm water, after all I am only 67, maybe in another 20 years.

PS I do not have to go deep to have fun, So when there is a wall, I am on top. It is all about time in/under the water.

 

[Tunaman68]

I agree that the BA makes it fairly easy to do 4 tanks a day, and 5 if you skip happy hour and do a 20' safety stop dive out in front of the stingray pen.

 

[scubadada]

Blue angel ( true dive resort ) is on the water so no travel time to the dock. They have fast boats. Yes you do have to get up at 6:30. Restaurant open up at 7:00, boat leaves at 8:00 so have time to eat. After each dive on the boat, they have water, fruit and cake. Boat back at dock at 11:00 and leaves at 1:00, so 2 hours to eat. I found after the first day of eating all the fruit and cake, I did not want lunch. So with travel time and 2 hour back on shore, I was getting at least 3 hour SI. Do the afternoon dives and back to the dock about 4:30 , Clean up gear, store gear at dive shop, go to room, hang up gear and shower, done by 5 PM. To the BA restaurant for happy hour, at a table over looking the water. Yes I did miss the first hour of Happy Hour. I have found it very easy to do 4 dive a day using Blue Angel, it is like a dive boat, they are there to make diving easy.
Wife was only doing 2 morning dives ( she is not a water person ). We did 3 meals in town. It is hard to beat the view at BA over looking the water.
Maybe when I get old, I will slow down when it come to warm water, after all I am only 67, maybe in another 20 years.

PS I do not have to go deep to have fun, So when there is a wall, I am on top. It is all about time in/under the water.

Does Blue Angel have time limits on the dives? The boat run time of 3 hours in the morning and 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon does not give much time for travel, 2 dives, and a reasonable surface interval. You said you were diving 100 cf cylinders, that could make for reasonably long dives unless they are limited by time.

My previous comment regarding O2 limit may unduly reflect my own experience with longer and deeper dives. You could do seven 1 hour dives to about 50 ft avg depth on EAN 32 and just stay under the 24 hour O2 exposure limit

 

[nodakdive]

I (we) do 4 tanks a day. The boat leaves from downtown at about 9am. After the second tank, we get dropped off at a beach club for lunch. They pick us up from there for the afternoon dives. We dive EAN 36 on 2nd and 4th tanks. I use a Suunto Mosquito computer, and without nitrox, my NDL would be severely limited after about 2 days. Fatigue would be an issue too. Personally, I'm not a fan of diving nitrox with a computer set for air, certainly not if I'd be diving 4 nitrox tanks per day.

We get back to the hotel at about 5:30pm, shower, and go to "town" for supper every night.

4 a day is aggressive. 4 a day, day after day, is really aggressive. Every few days or so, we do 2 tanks. Near the end of our stay, we back off a little more, and we'll also do a cenote day. Last trip, we made 42 dives (2 week trip), and it felt laid back. When you back off near the end, it stretches out your trip, psychologically speaking.

If you can go for 15 days, do it. Took a couple trips to learn that a week is nice, but 10 days or more are better, and if I can't go for 10 days minimum, I won't go. It's another psychological thing. On a week trip, you're acclimated after a couple days, and then the next day you start thinking about packing in 3 more days. On a two week trip, you're acclimated after a couple days, and you realize that you haven't even been there for one week yet. Makes for a much more relaxed, enjoyable trip.

Final two cents on doing 4-5 tanks per day: STAY HYDRATED!!! Don't pound away at the NDL dive after dive. Dive nitrox on 2nd and 4th tanks. If you're avid about working out, chill during your trip. Consider diving your exercise. Did I mention hydration? Do it. For example, I routinely put just under 100 ounces of liquid in before my 1st dive of the day. I'm a big guy. When I get home, I'll loose 10 to 12 pounds in two days. It's all water.

 

[ronscuba]

I'm a little more lazy as I have gotten older. If I want a lot of diving, I do a liveaboard or a place with a really good house reef.

I like Cozumel, but two 75 minutes dives a day with big nitrox tanks is good for me. Everyone a little different I guess.