I am posting this trip report in what may seem to be an unusual place, because the trip was nowhere near the Rocky Mountains. The reason for this decision relates to my hope, mentioned in a different thread, of getting a small cadre of like minded people together to plan such trips in the future. This trip was not a typical one, and I am hoping it might spark some interest among like minded people in the Rocky Mountain region.
The last year and a half have been pretty bad for diving for me. Because of a series of illnesses followed by a bad injury, I was not in the water all that much. I therefore planned a trip that would allow me to see where I was with basic recreational diving and then go as far as I could with increasing complexity in a two week period. The ideal place for that seemed to be Cozumel and the adjoining Yucatan area, so I started planning the trip for as soon after my recovery as my doctor thought I could dive. I also wanted to test out some new dive operators with an eye to future group trips, so I started my planning with nothing more than a set of dates.
My trip started with basic recreational open water diving, and I went with a couple of Cozumel operators during that period of time. My goal was not only to see how I was doing physically; it was also to see how these operators served the more advanced recreational diver. I am not going to name the operators because I was not completely pleased with them and am carrying on conversations with them about how they could be improved. Oh, they did a pretty good job providing dives the average diver would love, but I was looking for more than that, and if I bring a group there, I think the recreational divers I bring will be looking for more than that as well.
But as for me, it was just great to be doing some dives like this again. I felt good enough to do a day of recreational dives while wearing double steel tanks and carrying an AL 36 tank as a stage bottle. The operator (Deep Exposure) had suggested this as a step toward seeing if I could handle the rig before using it on a serious dive. My left shoulder had been severely injured, and in the week or so before the trip, I was still not sure I had recovered sufficient strength and flexibility to do the required valve shutdown process. The day was a success in that regard—no problems at all.
For the next two days with Deep Exposure, I tagged along with a trimix class doing decompression dives, reaching a maximum depth of 310 feet. The first day I found that I really needed the practice doing extended decompression stops in a strong current, and was happy to see that my skills were returning on the second day. Those two days also illustrate the reason I am trying to build a group here in the Rocky Mountain region. Tagging along on the class saved me a lot of money. If I had just come along as a single diver, I would have had to pay the full cost of a technical dive guide and all of the guide’s helium costs. Dividing costs with the students was a big help to me (and the students).
For those of you who are curious about what there is to see down there in Cozumel, the answer is not all that much. There was some beautiful black coral—quite a bit, in fact—near the 200 foot level, but there is not a lot of interesting stuff to see at 300 feet, at least where we did it (Palancar Caves). There are also a lot more lion fish between 150-200 feet. On that deepest dive,the most interesting part of the dive visually was on the ascent, between 120-50 feet.
We ate at our favorite restaurants and some new ones, and never had a disappointing meal. We ate lion fish a Casa Mission, and it may have been the best meal of the week.
I then went over to Akumal and did four days of cave diving with Natalie Gibb of Diablo Divers. Those were four excellent days of diving in truly beautiful caves. Each day seemed better than the one before. The best cave experience was well back in the jungle, after a long journey on roads that came near to 4-wheel drive conditions. The dive itself was a fantastic journey full of beautiful formations and even mastodon bones.
My cave diving experience provided an interesting comparison with the decompression diving. Throughout the entirety of each cave dive, I was surrounded by beautiful sights, as opposed to extended blue water drifts during long decompression stops. The cost differential is huge. Even though I was alone on the cave dives and had to pay the full cost of a guide by myself, my cave diving costs were much, much lower than the decompression diving costs. If I had had to pay the full price of a 300 foot decompression dive on Cozumel, that one day would have cost me about as much as four days of cave diving. Those of you who are concerned about the high costs of technical diving might well consider focusing on the caves. The Yucatan caves are shallow enough that there is no need for expensive helium, and there is never a boat fee.
So I returned after two weeks in the Yucatan with my spirits buoyed and my enthusiasm restored. It had been a long road back, but it is good to be home.
Does this trip seem beyond your abilities? It was beyond mine only a few years ago.
The last year and a half have been pretty bad for diving for me. Because of a series of illnesses followed by a bad injury, I was not in the water all that much. I therefore planned a trip that would allow me to see where I was with basic recreational diving and then go as far as I could with increasing complexity in a two week period. The ideal place for that seemed to be Cozumel and the adjoining Yucatan area, so I started planning the trip for as soon after my recovery as my doctor thought I could dive. I also wanted to test out some new dive operators with an eye to future group trips, so I started my planning with nothing more than a set of dates.
My trip started with basic recreational open water diving, and I went with a couple of Cozumel operators during that period of time. My goal was not only to see how I was doing physically; it was also to see how these operators served the more advanced recreational diver. I am not going to name the operators because I was not completely pleased with them and am carrying on conversations with them about how they could be improved. Oh, they did a pretty good job providing dives the average diver would love, but I was looking for more than that, and if I bring a group there, I think the recreational divers I bring will be looking for more than that as well.
But as for me, it was just great to be doing some dives like this again. I felt good enough to do a day of recreational dives while wearing double steel tanks and carrying an AL 36 tank as a stage bottle. The operator (Deep Exposure) had suggested this as a step toward seeing if I could handle the rig before using it on a serious dive. My left shoulder had been severely injured, and in the week or so before the trip, I was still not sure I had recovered sufficient strength and flexibility to do the required valve shutdown process. The day was a success in that regard—no problems at all.
For the next two days with Deep Exposure, I tagged along with a trimix class doing decompression dives, reaching a maximum depth of 310 feet. The first day I found that I really needed the practice doing extended decompression stops in a strong current, and was happy to see that my skills were returning on the second day. Those two days also illustrate the reason I am trying to build a group here in the Rocky Mountain region. Tagging along on the class saved me a lot of money. If I had just come along as a single diver, I would have had to pay the full cost of a technical dive guide and all of the guide’s helium costs. Dividing costs with the students was a big help to me (and the students).
For those of you who are curious about what there is to see down there in Cozumel, the answer is not all that much. There was some beautiful black coral—quite a bit, in fact—near the 200 foot level, but there is not a lot of interesting stuff to see at 300 feet, at least where we did it (Palancar Caves). There are also a lot more lion fish between 150-200 feet. On that deepest dive,the most interesting part of the dive visually was on the ascent, between 120-50 feet.
We ate at our favorite restaurants and some new ones, and never had a disappointing meal. We ate lion fish a Casa Mission, and it may have been the best meal of the week.
I then went over to Akumal and did four days of cave diving with Natalie Gibb of Diablo Divers. Those were four excellent days of diving in truly beautiful caves. Each day seemed better than the one before. The best cave experience was well back in the jungle, after a long journey on roads that came near to 4-wheel drive conditions. The dive itself was a fantastic journey full of beautiful formations and even mastodon bones.
My cave diving experience provided an interesting comparison with the decompression diving. Throughout the entirety of each cave dive, I was surrounded by beautiful sights, as opposed to extended blue water drifts during long decompression stops. The cost differential is huge. Even though I was alone on the cave dives and had to pay the full cost of a guide by myself, my cave diving costs were much, much lower than the decompression diving costs. If I had had to pay the full price of a 300 foot decompression dive on Cozumel, that one day would have cost me about as much as four days of cave diving. Those of you who are concerned about the high costs of technical diving might well consider focusing on the caves. The Yucatan caves are shallow enough that there is no need for expensive helium, and there is never a boat fee.
So I returned after two weeks in the Yucatan with my spirits buoyed and my enthusiasm restored. It had been a long road back, but it is good to be home.
Does this trip seem beyond your abilities? It was beyond mine only a few years ago.
