Kids diving in Cozumel?

[Hotpuppy]

One of the reasons dive operators have a policy of requiring a DM with children under a certain age is because they don't know you from Adam. You may talk a good talk, but until they see you in the water, they don't really know how well you will do. This policy was probably put into place because they have had enough problems arise where a parent was solely responsible for the child and either a) the child had problems and the parent didn't respond properly, b) the parent had problems and the child could help, or c) the child wouldn't follow the directions of their parent and got in trouble (No one has ever had one of those have they?). When you add in that the local DM is familiar with the surroundings and isn't there to sight see like the paying customers are, the child will have a more observant partner on the dive. I think it is a good policy to have. You can always adjust that policy once you see how the parent and child perform underwater. It is a whole lot easier to relax a policy than it is to tighen it up mid course.

You know... this whole conversation reminds me of the diving Cat. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-FS9EA-NQ

 

[LIdiveGirl]

I just came back from Cozumel three days ago, I have been there 10 times and I once brought my 13yr old with us. The diving is easy as long as the currents are not too strong when you get there and they change often so it is not really predictable. All of the boat dives will be greater than 30 feet in depth. Even the shallow dives like Paradise Reef and Chankanaab which are the second dive choices are max of 45-60. We have dove with Hotel Cozumel and Scuba Club Cozumel. Both will have no issue with taking a 10 year old out on the boat, however they will always do a deep dive in the morning and a shallow in the afternoon. They do not change from this routine. The deep morning dives are usually on a wall and will max between 80-100. You may want to contact them and see if you can pay to have your own divemaster with just your family to stay shallower during the first dive. Overall however you will not be able to keep it to 40 feet. So maybe a beach diving place would be better such as curacao or Bonaire or even Bermuda, all the dives in Bermuda off the boat were 30-50 and he would be able to see soem broken wrecks with cannons too!

 

[Mrs. K]

I like the idea of having a private DM for my kids diving. Of course I would be in the water as well. I love to dive and share the experience with people I love. Another set of eyes is a great idea. A private DM will have his/hers eyes/attention focused directly on the needs and saftey of my child. They have much experience and training in diving, instruction and in saftey issues and in addition, I will be keeping a watch out as well. Don't quite get the donkey story or its relevance to having a private DM. You have to place some trust in peoples expertise.
My husband and I love to dive together. He by far is my favorite dive buddy. I could not imagine limiting my husbands diving by only allowing him to dive with me nor could I imagine him limiting my diving to only diving with him. For us, that would be a huge deal breaker. We love sharing the stories of our dives with others with each other. Everybody thinks about things differently.

The point of the donkey story is that it is easy to make promises if only one person knows you cannot follow through with them. To become a dive master, you only need 60 dives and some classroom work. I personally don't believe that means you can deal with an emergency. So just like the "shop" not knowing me from Adam, I don't know the dive master from Adam. My point is that my kid will not be diving with out me, as I know I can take care of her. If the "shop" wants a dive master on the dive with us, that is fine. But I am my kid's buddy, not the dive master. And her first line of problem solving starts with me, not a stranger.

As far as my husband is concerned, he basically only dives because I want to dive. He is fine sitting on the beach. But he is also not a strong diver, so it is best he dive with someone I can trust. That is usually me, or one of my family members, or sits on the beach.

Cozumel would not be my first choice of dive sites for a young child. I am merely trying to figure out if a DM is required for kids 10-12 or if just a certified parent is required.

 

[judydivescoz]

The point of the donkey story is that it is easy to make promises if only one person knows you cannot follow through with them. To become a dive master, you only need 60 dives and some classroom work. I personally don't believe that means you can deal with an emergency. So just like the "shop" not knowing me from Adam, I don't know the dive master from Adam. My point is that my kid will not be diving with out me, as I know I can take care of her. If the "shop" wants a dive master on the dive with us, that is fine. But I am my kid's buddy, not the dive master. And her first line of problem solving starts with me, not a stranger.

As far as my husband is concerned, he basically only dives because I want to dive. He is fine sitting on the beach. But he is also not a strong diver, so it is best he dive with someone I can trust. That is usually me, or one of my family members, or sits on the beach.

Cozumel would not be my first choice of dive sites for a young child. I am merely trying to figure out if a DM is required for kids 10-12 or if just a certified parent is required.

Okie Dokie!!
As I said before everybody is different with their expectations. Still finding that donkey story a bit weird and dismissive of the dive profession
My son learned to dive at 12 and is now an adult. He has not been diving in while but I am looking forward to that day when he decides to dive again. We took several mom and son dive vacations and family vacations where I paid for (but not required to)and appreciated the extra set of eyes when we went diving. By the time he was 14 he thought it was a bit overkill but I insisted until he turned 15. If something did happen, I wanted someone there to back me up just in case. Nothing horrible ever happened but I was happy knowing that there were 2 (sometimes 3 if hubby came) sets of eyes on him just in case. That said, you will have no trouble finding an op that will allow your child to dive without a private DM in Cozumel. Looking forward to getting my oldest granddaughter certified in the next year.

 

[Christi]

The point of the donkey story is that it is easy to make promises if only one person knows you cannot follow through with them. To become a dive master, you only need 60 dives and some classroom work. I personally don't believe that means you can deal with an emergency. So just like the "shop" not knowing me from Adam, I don't know the dive master from Adam. My point is that my kid will not be diving with out me, as I know I can take care of her. If the "shop" wants a dive master on the dive with us, that is fine. But I am my kid's buddy, not the dive master. And her first line of problem solving starts with me, not a stranger.

As far as my husband is concerned, he basically only dives because I want to dive. He is fine sitting on the beach. But he is also not a strong diver, so it is best he dive with someone I can trust. That is usually me, or one of my family members, or sits on the beach.

Cozumel would not be my first choice of dive sites for a young child. I am merely trying to figure out if a DM is required for kids 10-12 or if just a certified parent is required.

A certified guardian and/or dive professional is required.

I never said that the DM would be diving ALONE with a child - agreed, DM's are not babysitters, they are guides - but the DM's here are for the most part very experienced and seasoned with far more than 60 dives - all of my DM's have in the 4,000 - 10,000 range actually.

It's not always a question of how well you can take care of your child - the parents (or dive professional) are not immune to equipment failures or emergencies - but a DM or Instructor are more likely to be able to help themselves or at least direct the child on how to help them. What happens if you blow a LP hose (this will drain your tank within a couple of minutes) - will your 10 year old be able to help you? Will he know what to do - or will he panic because Mom is in trouble?

I could list numerous reason to defend this policy - but I think the above is a solid argument and I'll just further say that there is much more to think about with a 10 - 15 year old diving than whether they can physically do the dives.

This is a policy followed by most reputable operators on the island - but again, there is nothing to say that you can't also dive with your child, but you'd need to be willing to stay shallow as well.

Also don't forget, that a DM is required on all marine park dives - the ratio is 8:1 although some shops do 6:1 and others regularly exceed the ratio.

Per PADI standards (BTW, PADI is not the only agency out there - they may be the biggest, but they don't govern the entire diving world) - the ratio is 4:1 when there are 10 or 11 year olds.

 

[Mrs. K]

A certified guardian and/or dive professional is required.

I never said that the DM would be diving ALONE with a child - agreed, DM's are not babysitters, they are guides - but the DM's here are for the most part very experienced and seasoned with far more than 60 dives - all of my DM's have in the 4,000 - 10,000 range actually.

It's not always a question of how well you can take care of your child - the parents (or dive professional) are not immune to equipment failures or emergencies - but a DM or Instructor are more likely to be able to help themselves or at least direct the child on how to help them. What happens if you blow a LP hose (this will drain your tank within a couple of minutes) - will your 10 year old be able to help you? Will he know what to do - or will he panic because Mom is in trouble?

I could list numerous reason to defend this policy - but I think the above is a solid argument and I'll just further say that there is much more to think about with a 10 - 15 year old diving than whether they can physically do the dives.

This is a policy followed by most reputable operators on the island - but again, there is nothing to say that you can't also dive with your child, but you'd need to be willing to stay shallow as well.

Also don't forget, that a DM is required on all marine park dives - the ratio is 8:1 although some shops do 6:1 and others regularly exceed the ratio.

Per PADI standards (BTW, PADI is not the only agency out there - they may be the biggest, but they don't govern the entire diving world) - the ratio is 4:1 when there are 10 or 11 year olds.

I have no problem having a DM on a dive. Other posts had implied the child needed a personal DM, and that was what was confusing me. When they were saying personal DM, it sounded like they had to be their buddy, and they were there solely for the child (so in a group situation, you would need 2 DMs on a dive?).

In "foreign" locations (meaning place not regularly dived by one's self) It is aways safer to dive with a DM. And accept at Roatan, and Bonaire where the resorts made shore diving so easy, I have always had a DM on a dive with me.

 

[Craig66]

. Overall however you will not be able to keep it to 40 feet. So maybe a beach diving place would be better such as curacao or Bonaire or even Bermuda, all the dives in Bermuda off the boat were 30-50 and he would be able to see soem broken wrecks with cannons too!

Not sure I agree with that. We dove with Scuba Mau last year with my 10 year old and we were able to stay at 40 feet without exception. You are right that they will always do a deeper and then shallower dive for the other non-10-yr-old guests however on each occasion a site was chosen for the deeper dive where the top of the wall was at around 40 feet. You might not be able to get to the sand on those sites but at 40 feet most of the time we were no more than 2 or 3 feet above the reef. Second dive was likewise.

I think that while Key Largo and other places are certainly also great options I would not discount Cozumel by any stretch and most dive ops will go out of their way to accommodate you and I can safely say that non of the adults on our trips were put out by my daughter being along with us.

Besides the great service we got from Scuba Mau the fact that they base at La Palapita was great for my non diving wife and daughter who could sun and swim at La Palapita and the food options through La Hach are excellent.

 

[Craig66]

I am merely trying to figure out if a DM is required for kids 10-12 or if just a certified parent is required.

Remember when diving with a kid, the DM is not there as much for your kid but rather more for you. Whilst I believe a mature younger child can handle issues that coming along with diving I dont think they can realistically be your buddy if things go wrong with you and so the DM is really there in a sense to be your dive buddy.

 

[Christi]

When they were saying personal DM, it sounded like they had to be their buddy, and they were there solely for the child (so in a group situation, you would need 2 DMs on a dive?).

Yes - that would mean 2 DM's on the dive. One is automatically required...the second would be as a back up - but dedicated to the person needing the extra DM - so he/she would dive with you and your child and any other family members that you would want along with you.