Questions for virgin OW diver and Coz

[DandyDon]

Thanks. That was what I’ve been thinking. Do you connect with a private DM thru an op, or is there another better place to track one down? On a different subject……in the area around town is there any area that it would be safe/advisable to put in a run? My wife is trainInd for a 50 miler in New Mexico in the middle of march. The thought of going 8 days without a run has her breaking out in hives…..runners

Agreeing with others, do hire a private DM the first day if not more, thru your dive OP.

I saw many runners on Melgar (front street) every morning as I was donning my dive suit, and that sidewalk if in much better shape than on side streets. Running between parked cars and the seawall sounds safest.

If needed, you can rent shorty wetsuits to wear over what you already have.

 

[bassplayer]

wanted to mention, even though where the boat goes is up to group consensus, the good DMs can tailor your dive pretty well to your preferences.
On any given named reef in cozumel, there are usually many different ways to dive it. shallower vs deeper, more cracks and swimthroughs vs staying above the reef, casual drift vs zigzagging to points of interest, etc.
Just 2c in favor of the private guide, and tell them what you're in the mood for.

 

[dundles]

Nevermind. I read the thread title and thought this was about something totally different, perhaps someone looking for a dive buddy.

Well played....I thought a little spice in the title might get me at least a few extra pairs of eyes

 

[dundles]

Thanks to all for the input. The news of availability to run has already helped... Continue to investigate the rest. Keep it coming

 

[gopbroek]

As others have said most shops have a ready list of 'eventuals' to operate as extra DM's and Private DM's. They are typically vetted and have a good working relationship with the dive op and their full time personnel.
As for suits, the common go to rental suit is a 3MM (many are from Jimmy at Scuba price as they wear like iron but the thermal properties are about 2.5 - 2.75) If you like a warmer suit, and February ranges from 77 to 79F, let your dive Op know in advance and they can probably scrounge up a 5MM. Rental 7MM suits are rare but Amazon sells cheap 2MM tops for less than $40 that can be used as a core warmer.

 

[cozcharlie]

I missed where you are staying , but the area north of town isn’t a bad spot for running and walking either. Mostly a separate walking path next to road(with exception of where it narrows down to just a sidewalk as it goes by Puerto Abrigo marina ) Probably 3 miles each way from airport road up toward Melia (could run further north if she wants but gets deserted past there ). It is quieter up there than in town and to the South .

If she wants to put in major mileage you might drive over to the east side and run on the bike/running path near the ocean. I used to go over there early morning years ago, but haven’t done it in years (and sadly it shows ). . I wouldn’t go before dawn because there are probably police checkpoints keeping people away from the east side overnight .

 

[kaerius]

I'd say most dive sites in Cozumel are beginner friendly, so don't worry much about it.
There's a few exceptions, such as Punta Sur(which is usually a special occasion dive, it's deep and also among the furthest from port). Delilah Mountains can be a little tricky I guess, mostly because the depth varies during the dive, so you'll end up cruising along tens of feet over the bottom in some sections so you need to be able to control your buoyancy.

Dive operators usually fit the dive sites to the divers, and even if you go to a potentially more advanced site there's usually a shallow area they can drop thew newbie group in, and they'll be fine. I mostly dove with Deep Exposure, and they usually had 3-4 groups on board(on the "big" boat), ranging from newbie groups to tech divers, and it was never an issue. I liked them, max group size I saw was 4, and max dive length was whatever your gas consumption could provide, pretty much (advertised 60 minutes, I usually did 70-80 on a single AL80, also had a couple of planned decompression dives around 85-90 minutes, with 50% nitrox stage tank). I think they tried to keep the tech/rebreather dives to 90 minutes max.