Reef difficulty

[hudson]

Can a newbie with <40 dives, who's well streamlined, properly trimmed, used to cold water/low-vis diving, but with mediocre buoyancy control and probably lacking in finer skills, dive any of the following (assuming the DM is ok with it of course):

Colombia Deep
Devil's Throat
Santa Rosa Wall
Punta Sur - The Chapel
El Paso Del Cedral
Punta Tunich

These strike me as the more difficult dives in Cozumel. My buddy who is far more experienced will do them if possible (it'll likely be his only trip to Cozumel, ever), and I want to know if I can realistically tag along for one or two..

 

[Garrobo]

I've got less than 50 dives but I would dive any of these if I had a DM along to keep an eye on me. Others with less nerve might not.

 

[1gromit]

I think it's dangerous, generally, to approach your diving that way. First, no one can tell you which dives you should or should not do. There is no exception to this, not even when you're training. Second, those dives are very different types of dive: some have stronger current, some are simply deep, others have long cave-like swim throughs. Have you researched these dives? Do you know why some relative beginners would hesitate to dive them? I would start there: understand the dives, understand the challenges, then begin to measure your experience and skill against what's required on the dive. Treat each dive individually.

- Al

 

[hudson]

Al, thank you, that's sound advice. I should have asked a better question. I don't have any issues with the depth. I am worried about particularly tight swim throughs given lingering buoyancy issues - in fact from what I could find I can clearly tell Devil's Throat is not for me, but I'm not sure about the other reefs with swim throughs. As for the current, I have no experience diving in current. I'm simply not sure how much or what kind of problem it could pose, so I was hoping someone with experience could provide a guideline.

 

[Bratface]

Work on your buoyancy. You don't want to be the one kicking over the 5 foot high vase coral do you? Just keep diving, experience will help you tremendously.

Diving in a current can be exhausting. You do not want to panic, it could be your last dive. Dive the easy reefs, stay shallow and enjoy finding small critters, like Pederson cleaning shrimp to give you an underwater manicure or watching garden eels dance just for you. You can hover just inches above the sand and be fascinated in all there is to see. Once you are comfortable with that, go do those daring dives.

Be safe. Live to dive another day. We don't want to read about you in the forums.

 

[Hooked4Life]

Before ocean diving I did about 25 or so dives in a quarry. We got AOW certified on our first trip to Cozumel, second trip to Cozumel we dove the Cenotes in Playa, third trip to Cozumel we dove Devil's Throat, El Paso Del Cedral. I felt comfortable doing those dives.. but I knew my bouyancy was not an issue.

Its all about feeling comfortable underwater and knowing your limits.

 

[TSandM]

I wouldn't worry so much about your buoyancy control in the swim-throughs -- I'd worry a LOT about your buoyancy control on the ascents from dives that deep. Some of the dives you list are at or close to the limit of recreational depths. Good buoyancy control on the subsequent ascent is important for your safety. Blowing a safety stop or ascending too fast after a 40 foot reef dive is one thing; doing the same when you've spent time below 100 feet is something entirely different.

When are you going? Why don't you spend some time before you go polishing the buoyancy control, so you don't have to worry about it?

 

[Jim Baldwin]

Can a newbie with <40 dives, who's well streamlined, properly trimmed, used to cold water/low-vis diving, but with mediocre buoyancy control and probably lacking in finer skills, dive any of the following (assuming the DM is ok with it of course):

Colombia Deep
Devil's Throat
Santa Rosa Wall
Punta Sur - The Chapel
El Paso Del Cedral
Punta Tunich

These strike me as the more difficult dives in Cozumel. My buddy who is far more experienced will do them if possible (it'll likely be his only trip to Cozumel, ever), and I want to know if I can realistically tag along for one or two..

I strongly agree with the other posters. There are other great dive locations like Palancar Caves, Bricks, Horseshoe, Columbia Normal, Columbia Shallows, just to name a few that are great dive sites. These can all be dove in the 80 foot or less range.

You will be surprised how quickly you burn through your air if you're moving around kicking your feet and using your arms to maintain control in a current.

Most of the dives I do are in excess of an hour and several of the dives you listed I do as planned deco dives with bigger tanks. Being able to maintain proper depth and hang in open water is something that takes practice. As TS&M said this is not where you want to find out that you don't have enough weight to be netural or enough air for a long safety stop.

This is not a competition and as your skills, buoyancy and air consumption get better and they will you can really appreciate these sites.

There are thousands of people who visit Cozumel and dive the reefs with no problems. There are also two dive chambers on the island for people who make mistakes, dive beyond their limits and training or who simply don't drink enough water get dehydrated and get bent. Make sure you have dive insurance as one five plus hour session will run you around $5,000.

Be safe.

 

[scubawife]

I've got less than 50 dives but I would dive any of these if I had a DM along to keep an eye on me. Others with less nerve might not.

Your level of nerve and back up plan of a DM watching you and saving you butt when your skill level doesn't match your nerve is not a smart dive plan. :shakehead

It's one thing to challenge yourself in safe, comfortable, familiar surroundings and another to decide to do roll in and go through a tight, dark swimthrough that will spit you out at 130ft on a wall with thousands of feet of blue below you based simply on having the nerve to do it. If you get into trouble, you're endangering yourself, the DM and the other divers in your group.

A dive master is not a babysitter, spare air or your personal rescue diver on call. They're a guide who's there to hopefully show you the best and safest way to navigate a site. Some are better then others at also pointing out the cool stuff along the way and making a good site into an amazing dive experience. Others are happy just herding cats... Whichever kind you choose to dive with, they're providing a service to all the divers in the group and shouldn't be expected to have to watch any one diver that closely and really shouldn't be viewed as a bail out plan.

 

[Garrobo]

Scubawife: A Divemaster IS a 'babysitter' if you hire him to go diving solo with you as an individual diver which I have done on several occassions. Like wreck diving. I have paid extra just for that, both for the expert instructions before the dive and to watch that I didn't screw up and kill myself because of inexperience or stupidity. When I first started diving I went to Florida and hired an instructor to dive with me for a week because I didn't think that the OW training was sufficient or safe and didn't feel like I knew enough to ocean dive without a 'babysitter'. So there.