What dive ops let you dive your tank and come up solo?

[deepsea21]

I have a favorite shop in Cozumel (3P) but from what I am hearing the 2 dm’s I really liked are no longer there. What other dive ops let you dive you own tank and come up solo if you are an experienced diver? Prefer smaller boats like 10 or less.

We enjoyed diving with Jorge for several years at 3P's and he's still a good island friend of ours to this day. It's great seeing him at the marina on return trips and catching up. He wanted to do his own thing and good for him. However, we weren't going to leave a well-oiled machine because a DM or 2 left. Jose and George were brought on board as DM's and the first dive we had with George he spots a seahorse on Cedral (and Cedral is certainly NOT one of my preferred sites due to the usual fly-over current) but he spots it and we get our seahorse in that dive. Then Jose is on Skinny the rest of the week and George moves back to Loan Shark and Jose quickly sees the type of divers on these trips who all seem to have cameras and like the little things. He quickly switches gears from looking for big stuff we've all seen 100's of times to finding little nudies and furry crabs mantis shrimp and such that we'd drift past without ever noticing.

So, we keep going back to 3P's... 2 weeks in October coming up followed by another 2 weeks in December. I'm not one who cares to tamper with a good thing but I know there are others who like to spread their diving and dive $ around, give others a try and see what else is out there. Certainly nothing wrong with that but dealing with gear and hauling it around between 2-3 different dive ops per trip is not something I care to do. 3P's is like the diving Ronco Rotisserie for us... "Set it and forget it".

 

[mstevens]

The Arches start at 85ish feet at the top and can be 118 (if you stay towards the top of the arch) when exiting over the wall. Then divers ascend back to the top of the reef where we direct the group northwards to shallower depths.--50-70 feet.

We like to drop to the south, head directly down to the tendedero then north along that and exit up through the arch from below (where there are always toadfish along the bottom) and head slowly up that flat area to which you refer. That does mean longer at maximum depth but it's also less of a "bounce" profile.

I would also like to add that Maracaibo is best done on nitrox.

I totally would if we could get custom mixes through Meridiano 87; I'd want EAN26 for that dive. EAN 26 isn't really that much less nitrogen than the "EAN21" we usually use.

Chunchakabb. This is basically Maracaibo shallow and is a beautiful dive.

But that arch, man... It's my happy place.

I don't want to overstate the risks. I have a video of my kid when he was 15 serenely floating along there in a lotus pose. Upside-down. I would've been making angry paternal hand signs instead of taking video if I'd thought he were at risk.

I get what you're pointing out: there are multiple ways to dive every site in Cozumel. This is part of why I don't think I've really had the same experience or a boring one on a reef even if I've dived it a hundred times (Paso del Cedral, I'm looking at you) and have hardly ever had a bad dive in Cozumel. Those bad dives have all involved (usually non-rental) equipment failures that would've been very exciting indeed at a deep or high-current site.

I just think the farthest southern and northern sites call for more preparation, might not be appropriate for most beginners, and require better gas management as well as greater group cohesion.

 

[ggunn]

If I may--without taking anything away from this last posting---Maracaibo can certainly be a deep dive. However we at Tres Pelicanos do not dive this site or any others deeper than normal sport diving depth.---Yes on Maracaibo one can dive this deep but our usual dive profile is to descend to the reef where we can stay between 70 and 90 feet. However if one wants to go over the wall one can go deeper. The Arches start at 85ish feet at the top and can be 118 (if you stay towards the top of the arch) when exiting over the wall. Then divers ascend back to the top of the reef where we direct the group northwards to shallower depths.--50-70 feet.
AS stated previously, this dive is at the South Point of the Island. We at 3P do this dive as --everyone descends together and every ascends together. This is to make it easier for the boat captain to see surface buoys and pick up the group. Also this dive is very weather dependent--mainly south winds which prevent going this far south.
I would also like to add that Maracaibo is best done on nitrox. The longer bottom time is best because the reef structure is basically flat where we descend. Thus divers spend most of their dive at 80 feet or so. Diving nitrox allows a bit longer bottom time. Which ever way you dive Maracaibo, it is beautiful and fun.
Another option is to dive Chunchakabb. This is basically Maracaibo shallow and is a beautiful dive. 45-85 feet depending on descent positioning.

I should dive Maracaibo again for a better experience. The one time I dove it, where we dropped in the top of the wall was at ~125', and we dropped down to ~155' where we stayed for about 5 minutes and headed back up. We were in and out of deco for ~20 minutes on ascent, hanging in the blue with nothing to see. I was underwhelmed.

 

[mcohen1021]

Yes, it does. I’ve had dives when we give up on any photography or video and just focus on not getting separated, and dives when we could read the bottom of the boat from 165 feet. It’s my favorite place on earth, so I go as often as possible.

However, conditions are often not appropriate for a site so far south and so deep. That includes surface conditions (likely the most common problem), currents, visibility, and other divers on the boat. It can easily be a 160-foot hour-long dive, and is nearly always going to be at least 140 feet and 40 minutes overall with obligatory deco stops that take most of the total dive time. I’ve seen a number of divers there get very LOA (or OOA!) with remaining deco obligation and have stopped going there with anyone I don’t know well.

This is not a location where I’d want to get separated from the DM, even with my buddy of 42 years, and is one of the places where separating the group puts everyone at risk.

Thanks for that answer!

Like I said, it's been decades since I dove it. We went around 2 yrs ago and our friend/ guide said there was no visibility. We left and went back to Palancar something lol

 

[CajunDiva]

Diving nitrox allows a bit longer bottom time. Which ever way you dive Maracaibo, it is beautiful and fun.
Another option is to dive Chunchakabb. This is basically Maracaibo shallow and is a beautiful dive. 45-85 feet depending on descent positioning.

Chunchakabb is my favorite dive in Cozumel. Thank you for introducing us!

 

[ManaDoug]

I have a favorite shop in Cozumel (3P) but from what I am hearing the 2 dm’s I really liked are no longer there. What other dive ops let you dive you own tank and come up solo if you are an experienced diver? Prefer smaller boats like 10 or less.

Blue Note Scuba will let you dive your tank.