robint
Contributor
I am one of the people that did not enjoy my first few dives in Cozumel. This was because of the unusally currents for Coz and diving beyond my experience level. At that point in my diving career I had never had more than two divers with a DM and never been in current and never been below 100 feet. I did a check out shore dive at Hotel Barracuda with no current and a depth of 25 feet. The next morning I did my first boat dive. It was a wall dive and supposed to be no deeper than 80 feet. The DM had probably 10 people with him. After going under, the current took me along the top of the wall. This was no gentle current. The next thing I knew I was going over the side of the wall and was down to 120 ft with extreme pain in my ears. I don't remember seeing my buddy. I was out of control. Then a female diver was with me and she pulled me up from the depth and back to the top of the wall. We then slowly ascended to the surface. The DM had other new divers that he was dealing with. The female diver and her husband became my buddy's and my guardian angels for the next dive and showed us how to deal with the current by using the topography to slow down and to get our bouyancy under control. I'm not sure I would have gone back in if it has not been for them. Moral of the story, if you are uncomfortable, hire a personal DM for the first couple of dives until to can see what it is like.
Looks like a few things went wrong there.
#1. Cozumel Regulations are no more than 8 divers with a DM.
#2. It sounds like you went with a dive op that did not group people by experience, or for that matter understand that it was your first drift dive, and your first boat dive of the trip. ALL good dive ops will do both of these things: ensure that you are familiar with drift diving procedures and take you for your FIRST boat dive with them to assess your skills at a reef that is not a wall. It is critical for your first dive in Cozumel that you do NOT do a wall for these very reasons... if you are a newbie (under 50 dives) and have never done a wall dive or drift dive, SAFETY is key.
This is why I told the OP that she needs to make sure she dives with a good dive op, not just the one she gets the best $$$ deal, and also that she ensures that they know she is a newbie and has zero drift experience. By following those steps, she will have a great experience in Cozumel. And after a few days learning about drift diving, she will be fine on a wall dive. BRAND NEW DIVERS ARE NOT READY FOR WALL DIVES IN MOST CASES!!!!
Look at it this way --- a C-card is just like a driver's license. It means you passed the basic test and you are ready to begin learning to drive on your own. It does not mean you are ready for EVERY situation that will happen while driving, it does mean that you are expected to continue to learn and develop skills.
robin