RubberDucky
Contributor
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I made my 5th trip to Cozumel from June 16th - 28th this year. I've been going once a year since 2007, typically anywhere from December to May. I used to stay with family until they left the island, so for the past 2 years we've stayed at villas instead of hotels. This year's stay was at Villa Zaztun (TripAdvisor). Its website can be found here (CozumelVillaZaztun.com). It's a cozy place located right up the street from Chedraui. It's run by locals Tommie and Sarah who stay in the downstairs apartment. Tommie was kind enough to pick me up from the airport when I arrived. Not only did they have answers for any questions I had, but always took the time to extend additional advice as well. We played Canasta with them on my last night on the island and had a great time. A++ for Villa Zaztun.
Though we had an awesome place to stay, the weather left a lot to be desired on this trip. Anyone else who was there in June can tell you that it rained. A lot. In the future I'll stick to the months that have been great from the last 4 trips; June is out.
These were the dives I did:
Note: "Paprika" is a restaurant on the Malecon. I don't know if there's a name of the reef we dove, so I just call it "Paprika" because it's right across the street from the restaurant.
My preferred dive op is Dive with Carlos. I've dove with a number of shops since 2007, but Carlos (and his brother Hernan) was the first, and has always been my favorite. I don't think a year has gone by that I haven't dove with him. He's been mentioned on ScubaBoard and TripAdvisor by others, and it seems like a handful of other folks around here know him as well.
The 3 most important things I learned from this trip are:
A. If you've been out of the water for a year, do a refresher first like you've always done.
B. If the currents are crazy, sit out.
C. If you're tired, don't dive.
"A" applies to the first dive of the trip.
"C" applies to the last dive of the trip.
"B" applies to the dives on Palancar reef, which were a little nerve wracking and taught me that there's more to the currents of Cozumel than I had ever realized.
I had always wanted to do a dive in fast currents, just to know what it was like. I got my wish that day - twice. Sometimes our sense of adventure overtakes our common sense. Though we dove from the Anita Divers boat (nice boat, by the way!), my dives were done with someone who isn't affiliated with them, and another diver who was a photographer.
I had no idea what to expect diving in a group of 3, or with a photographer. I also underestimated just how fast the currents could get. Tony from Anita Divers jumped in first, then popped back up a short time later to let us know that it was time to get in the water. I jumped in with my other 2 "buddies" and down we went. We descended and drifted along the reef, enjoying life. We hit around 100' and the DM stopped and pulled out his slate. He drew a heart on it and pointed to the reef. Sure enough, there was part of the reef that looked very similar to a heart. Those of you who've dove Palancar Caves before may know exactly where I'm referring to.
Then the DM swims into an opening in the reef, followed by the other member of our group. I had drifted a little past that part, unaware that we needed to enter that swim through. I started kicking my fins to get over to the reef, but not much was happening. Uh.. this has never happened before. I start kicking a little harder, pondering life over the deep blue alone and wondering if I'm going to be able to make it to the swim through or not. Thankfully I do have a little common sense and I spent 3 months prior to the trip working on my cardio. It took a fair amount of effort, but I was able to fight the current and get into the opening.
Now I'm in a swim through where the current is much more calm, but I'm breathing heavy from adrenaline and the impromptu underwater workout. I'm also beginning to realize that I don't really have a buddy on this trip - I'm just part of a group. And that's pretty much how this dive and the next would go. The photographer was only focusing on what she could find to take pictures of, and the DM was mainly interested in her. My main goal at this point was to get my breathing under control so that I didn't blow through my air in 20 minutes. Breathing heavy in shallow water is one thing, doing it at 100' is another. We ended up around 80' a short time after, but then went back down to 100' again. Ugh.
When the photographer stopped to take a picture, I would have to plant my fingers in the sand so I wouldn't drift away from her and the DM, but even then the current still pushed me back, leaving a trail in the sand where my fingers had been. This was nuts. I just remembered to stay as close to the reef or ocean floor as possible to minimize the effects of these crazy crazy currents.
Somehow I managed to do ok on air. Not as good as the DM, but just as good as the petite Japanese lady who was in our group.
I remember prior to the dive that, upon seeing my dry snorkel attached to my mask, the DM tells me that I wouldn't need it. I politely mentioned that I always take it with me. I will tell you that if I had not taken it, and if I had ended up on the surface for any amount of time and been unable to use my reg, I think there is a reasonable chance that I would have drowned before reaching the boat. The water that day was choppy. Thank you to Michael Ange (author of Diver Down, and scuba articles on accidents and safety) for imparting his wisdom on the necessity of a snorkel.
Against better judgment, I ended up doing the second dive as the currents were believed to have been a little calmer (not really the case, but I wanted to dive). This one was similar to the first, though I felt better prepared after the previous dive. I had also dove Palancar Gardens a few times in the past, whereas Caves was a first. I have a whistle which is attached to my SMB, so I feel reasonably comfortable about being on the surface alone if necessary. None of these things are good excuses for doing this dive in the first place (which I should not have done given the "buddy" situation), but thankfully everything worked out fine.
The guys from Anita Divers were great, and the food was fantastic. I really like being able to climb up to the top of their boat for the long ride out to Palancar. As mentioned above, the DM I dove with is not affiliated with Anita Divers. I don't want this to seem like anything negative about their dive op, because they were all excellent. In fact, I don't want this to sound negative towards anyone. Instead, I hope it is something that folks can learn from. If all you're used to in Cozumel is nice, calm currents, you should be aware that there is a "bad" season, and you can find yourself in some nasty currents very quickly. You're not going to see much when you're whizzing by at 90mph, it's true. Both of these dives were rather uneventful in that regard. However, the experience itself was invaluable to me.
So, that's Cozumel in June. Valuable lessons learned, which I do not plan on repeating. I did get bored one night and walked over to the boxing match that took place there (Soto vs. Sasaki). No, I'm not buying a ticket for $100. $50? Guess again. $25? Now that's more reasonable. I'm not a big boxing fan, I just wanted to go for the atmosphere. Let me tell you the energy in the place was unbelievable. That was a night to remember.
Safe diving to all.
Though we had an awesome place to stay, the weather left a lot to be desired on this trip. Anyone else who was there in June can tell you that it rained. A lot. In the future I'll stick to the months that have been great from the last 4 trips; June is out.
These were the dives I did:
- 16th - Yucab night dive from boat (Dive with Carlos)
- 17th - Paprika shore dive (Dive with Carlos)
- 21st - Paprika shore dive (3 loosely affiliated friends)
- 22nd - Tunich and Paraiso (Dive with Carlos)
- 25th - Palancar Caves and Palancar Gardens (Anita Divers / unaffiliated DM)
- 26th - Paprika shore dive (Dive with Carlos)
Note: "Paprika" is a restaurant on the Malecon. I don't know if there's a name of the reef we dove, so I just call it "Paprika" because it's right across the street from the restaurant.
My preferred dive op is Dive with Carlos. I've dove with a number of shops since 2007, but Carlos (and his brother Hernan) was the first, and has always been my favorite. I don't think a year has gone by that I haven't dove with him. He's been mentioned on ScubaBoard and TripAdvisor by others, and it seems like a handful of other folks around here know him as well.
The 3 most important things I learned from this trip are:
A. If you've been out of the water for a year, do a refresher first like you've always done.
B. If the currents are crazy, sit out.
C. If you're tired, don't dive.
"A" applies to the first dive of the trip.
"C" applies to the last dive of the trip.
"B" applies to the dives on Palancar reef, which were a little nerve wracking and taught me that there's more to the currents of Cozumel than I had ever realized.
I had always wanted to do a dive in fast currents, just to know what it was like. I got my wish that day - twice. Sometimes our sense of adventure overtakes our common sense. Though we dove from the Anita Divers boat (nice boat, by the way!), my dives were done with someone who isn't affiliated with them, and another diver who was a photographer.
I had no idea what to expect diving in a group of 3, or with a photographer. I also underestimated just how fast the currents could get. Tony from Anita Divers jumped in first, then popped back up a short time later to let us know that it was time to get in the water. I jumped in with my other 2 "buddies" and down we went. We descended and drifted along the reef, enjoying life. We hit around 100' and the DM stopped and pulled out his slate. He drew a heart on it and pointed to the reef. Sure enough, there was part of the reef that looked very similar to a heart. Those of you who've dove Palancar Caves before may know exactly where I'm referring to.
Then the DM swims into an opening in the reef, followed by the other member of our group. I had drifted a little past that part, unaware that we needed to enter that swim through. I started kicking my fins to get over to the reef, but not much was happening. Uh.. this has never happened before. I start kicking a little harder, pondering life over the deep blue alone and wondering if I'm going to be able to make it to the swim through or not. Thankfully I do have a little common sense and I spent 3 months prior to the trip working on my cardio. It took a fair amount of effort, but I was able to fight the current and get into the opening.
Now I'm in a swim through where the current is much more calm, but I'm breathing heavy from adrenaline and the impromptu underwater workout. I'm also beginning to realize that I don't really have a buddy on this trip - I'm just part of a group. And that's pretty much how this dive and the next would go. The photographer was only focusing on what she could find to take pictures of, and the DM was mainly interested in her. My main goal at this point was to get my breathing under control so that I didn't blow through my air in 20 minutes. Breathing heavy in shallow water is one thing, doing it at 100' is another. We ended up around 80' a short time after, but then went back down to 100' again. Ugh.
When the photographer stopped to take a picture, I would have to plant my fingers in the sand so I wouldn't drift away from her and the DM, but even then the current still pushed me back, leaving a trail in the sand where my fingers had been. This was nuts. I just remembered to stay as close to the reef or ocean floor as possible to minimize the effects of these crazy crazy currents.
Somehow I managed to do ok on air. Not as good as the DM, but just as good as the petite Japanese lady who was in our group.
I remember prior to the dive that, upon seeing my dry snorkel attached to my mask, the DM tells me that I wouldn't need it. I politely mentioned that I always take it with me. I will tell you that if I had not taken it, and if I had ended up on the surface for any amount of time and been unable to use my reg, I think there is a reasonable chance that I would have drowned before reaching the boat. The water that day was choppy. Thank you to Michael Ange (author of Diver Down, and scuba articles on accidents and safety) for imparting his wisdom on the necessity of a snorkel.
Against better judgment, I ended up doing the second dive as the currents were believed to have been a little calmer (not really the case, but I wanted to dive). This one was similar to the first, though I felt better prepared after the previous dive. I had also dove Palancar Gardens a few times in the past, whereas Caves was a first. I have a whistle which is attached to my SMB, so I feel reasonably comfortable about being on the surface alone if necessary. None of these things are good excuses for doing this dive in the first place (which I should not have done given the "buddy" situation), but thankfully everything worked out fine.
The guys from Anita Divers were great, and the food was fantastic. I really like being able to climb up to the top of their boat for the long ride out to Palancar. As mentioned above, the DM I dove with is not affiliated with Anita Divers. I don't want this to seem like anything negative about their dive op, because they were all excellent. In fact, I don't want this to sound negative towards anyone. Instead, I hope it is something that folks can learn from. If all you're used to in Cozumel is nice, calm currents, you should be aware that there is a "bad" season, and you can find yourself in some nasty currents very quickly. You're not going to see much when you're whizzing by at 90mph, it's true. Both of these dives were rather uneventful in that regard. However, the experience itself was invaluable to me.
So, that's Cozumel in June. Valuable lessons learned, which I do not plan on repeating. I did get bored one night and walked over to the boxing match that took place there (Soto vs. Sasaki). No, I'm not buying a ticket for $100. $50? Guess again. $25? Now that's more reasonable. I'm not a big boxing fan, I just wanted to go for the atmosphere. Let me tell you the energy in the place was unbelievable. That was a night to remember.
Safe diving to all.
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