Mark and I just returned from a week long dive trip in Cozumel, Mexico. Since we want to save money for a wedding and honeymoon next year (wedding on Catalina Island in California, honeymoon in either the Galapagos Islands, or somewhere in the South Pacific), we wanted to vacation somewhere optimizing value and quality diving, so we opted for Cozumel.
This was our first time back to Cozumel since getting open-water certified on the island 6 years ago. Since getting certified, we'd amassed quite a few dives, gained more dive experience, and can better appreciate the subtleties of marine life better than we first did many years ago.
Since coming back, we were also able to dive Cozumel’s advanced dives most notably “Devils’ Throat”. This dive is famous, not only for it's claustrophobic swim-throughs (hence the name), but also because it is planned as a decompression dive. I felt excited and scared before the dive, but the actual dive itself was easy, and thrilling. A more detailed dive log can be found later in this entry.
Cozumel is an island that can be reached by ferry boat (see left) from Playa del Carmen, a town on the Yucatan mainland. Cozumel does get frequented by numerous cruise ships, however, there is not much to do in Cozumel besides diving.
In Cozumel, we stayed at a diver's hotel called Caribe Blu, which costs $70/night. The Caribe Blu was the perfect mixture of comfort and price. Some on Scubaboard (a scubadiving forum) complain that this hotel is too spartan - that there is inadequate hot water, and inadequate air-conditioning. However, I had no such complaints. Had we booked a more expensive hotel, I would have felt cheated, and probably wouldn’t have been able able to enjoy myself.
I enjoyed the décor of the hotel, which was organic, artsy and beach-inspired (see picture of bathroom, right). There was security in the lobby every night, which made me feel safer. Also, the hotel was right on the water. Every hotel
room had a patio overlooking the sea (see below). Many an hour was spent on the patio reading the latest Harry Potter novel.
For our dive operation, we used Blue Angel, which is conveniently located next door from the hotel. Blue Angel was highly recommended by people on Scubaboard. We were quite pleased with Blue Angel, and would use them again in a heartbeat. Every morning, our dive routine was as follows:
All in all, we did 15 dives over 5 days. In Cozumel, considering the depth of most dives, 3 dives/day were plenty. In fact, we almost got the bends by the end of the trip (more on that later).
Here is a summary of our actual dives. All underwater pictures were taken by Mark Tyler, who was on the same boat dives we were on.
Dive 1: Santa Rosa Wall
Max depth: 88'
Time: 0:56
Observations: The most nitrogen loading I had yet experienced, but not for the entire trip.
Considered to be one of Cozumel's best dive sites, but I don't think it was as good as some of the other dives we were to do.
Dive 2: Paradise Reef
Max depth: 42'
Time: 1:15
Observations: Pumba, the DM, finds us two seahorses (the first time I'd ever seen in the wild), and a fingernail sized, colorful worm eating some algae (don't know the name, but also a first)
2 moray eels
To date, this was the longest dive I'd ever done!
Max depth: 94'
Time: 0:56
Observations: Palancar Reef is one of the most famous dive sites in Cozumel. The saying goes that after Jacques Cousteau dove these reefs, he declared Cozumel to be one of the best dive sites in the world. I can see why he was inspired to say this after diving the "Garden" portion of this immense reef. Palancar Gardens is full of big coral buttressess and swimthroughs, which are typical of the coral formations you find at Cozumel. 
The coral here is some of the healthiest I've ever seen. Hurricane Wilma had devastated much of the coral life in Cozumel. However, the coral has already begun to recover. Everywhere I looked were tiny miniature pinkie-sized purple sea fans and barrel sponges taking over where the old coral had been swept away. Nibbling on these tiny corals, too, were baby stoplight parrotfishes and baby trunkfishes. This was typical of all of the diving in Cozumel.
Dive #4: La Francesca
Max depth: 64'
Time: 1:04
Observations: We observe a big sea turtle munching on coral. A pair of gray angelfishes bravely pick up the scraps.
Dive #5: Night dive at Paradise Reef
Max depth: 45'
Time: 1:04
Observations: I manage to stumble upon 2 great finds: I swim directly over a huge deformed lobster with a head the width of my outspread hand. It appeared to have no claws, and not much of a tail. I find out this wasn't some mutant experiment, but a huge Slipper Lobster. I was pretty repulsed by this animal.
I stumble upon a Splendid toad fish , a species endemic to Cozumel. I and Jose managed to coax out the fish into the open, which is not something that is often seen. Even DM Jose was pleased to see this.
Dive #6: The Cathedral, Punta Sur
Max Depth: 109 feet
Time: 0:47
Observations: This dive site has majestic walls and buttresses, swimthroughs and channels. The Punta Sur reef is one of the most famous sites in Cozumel for its awe-inspiring vistas, and for its challenging conditions. Black tip reef sharks lingered at 150 feet, just beyond our visibility.
This was the first time I'd ever entered deco. I followed the DM around the numerous coral towers until my computer finally reached the dreaded deco screen. I'm ashamed to say, I wasn't well prepared, and I didn't know how to interpret my dive computer's instructions. I somehow managed to get out of deco by following the other divers. That night and the following morning, I studied the computer manual to understand how to interpret it's decompression instructions.
Dive #7: Cedral Wall
Max Depth: 74 feet
Time: 1:09 minutes
Observations: Tiny drum fish flaunting its stuff inside a hole (see above for Mark's picture of this tiny wonder).
Got stung by stinging hydroid while trying to maintain position in the current looking at a green moray eel.
A turtle brushes Mark in the head in its eagerness to munch food (see pic of Mark being brushed by the turtle at left).
Dive #8: Palancar Bricks
Preceding Surface Interval: 12+ hours
Max depth: 97 feet
Time: 0:59 minutes
Observations: Saw a blue butterfly fish that was probably a juvenile surgeon fish(?)
Dive #9: Cedral Shallows
Preceding Surface Interval: 0:54 minutes
Max depth: 97 feet
Time: 0:59 minutes
Observations: Huge green moray (picture of me and the moray left).
Pumba took us through a labyrinthine swim through.
Dive #10: Twilight dive at Punta Tunich
Preceding Surface Interval: 5:34 minutes
Max depth: 82 feet
Time: 0:54 minutes
Observations: There were 10 people diving with us this evening. In the confusion of gearing up on the small boat, I forgot my weight belt. During the dive, as my tank emptied, I had to compensate for my lack of a weight belt by exhaling a lot. Later on in my dive, I had to pick up a heavy conch shell to compensate for the depleted air in my tank. I was frowned upon deeply by DM Jorge for picking up the shell. The DM's in Cozumel are anal retentive about collecting things off their precious reefs. Later, I nearly dropped the shell on Mark's head in my eagerness to return the precious shell to the reef.
This dive site is known for its ripping, ripping current. A fair kicking pace was only sufficient in keeping a diver in the same place. We pretty much gave up trying to control where we were going. In the midst of all of this current, we manage to stay in place enough to spot a scorpion fish.
Dive #11: Night Dive at Paradise Reef
Preceding Surface Interval: 0:43 minutes
Max depth: 43 feet
Time: 1:02 minutes
Observations: This was a crazy night dive with 10 people (some of whom hadn't dove in 7 years). Surprisingly, it was very civilized, with noone colliding into each other. Once again, DM Jorge did an excellent job of shepherding everyone in the right direction.
The thing I enjoyed the most on this dive was diving alone at a fair distance away (10-15 feet) from everyone else - this gave me a great sense of independence and self-reliance. DM Jorge didn't even dive with a light half the time, but I knew he was there from the flashing beacon he wore, and by the ambient light carried by all of the other divers.
Mark saw a huge 2.5 foot long puffer fish.
Dive #12: Tormentos
Preceding Surface Interval: 12+ hours
Time: 1:03 minutes
Observations: Started to notice creatures in the sand flats, such as the yellow head jawfish.
Dive #13: Chankanaab Bolones
Preceding Surface Interval: 0:54 minutes
Max depth: 65 feet
Time: 0:58 minutes
Observations: We see our first trumpet fish in Cozumel. In the Bahamas, these were virtually on every dive.
I saw a pair of longsnout butterfly fishes for the first time - a rare sight.
Dive #14: Devil's Throat, Punta Sur
- Preceding Surface Interval: 2:17 minutes
- Max depth: 129 feet
- Time: 0:47 minutes
Observations: We were finally granted our request to dive Devil's Throat after days of requesting and lobbying. However, dive shops won't allow people to dive this site until they've been observed diving for several days.
This dive site well earns its reputation as being one of the best dive sites in Cozumel. A lot of people say that there is nothing to see, but I disagree. There were three circuitous swim throughs opening out into immense blue vistas plunging into the depths. Colorful coral growth line all the tunnels, and we even saw a huge crab, and a school of glassy sweepers inhabiting one cave. Unlike what some people say, the swim throughs have plenty of light and diving with a light is unnecessary. However, without a light, you'd miss out on the colorful life within the caves. One of the divers lost their fin in one of the tunnels at 100'. This could have been a panic situation, however, we managed to calmly swim out of the tunnel. DM Jorge descended upon the scene like a hawk and assembled the diver's fin strap back together.
I was feeling adventurous and a bit stupid, so I decided to explore the coral reef, even though I had already entered deco and even though everyone else had started their decompression stops. I had a ton of air, you see, and wanted to push the boundaries of my diving. Mark was furious with me and kept signaling me to surface. I kept waving him away - I had so much air. Finally, I felt a bit uneasy when the rest of the group disappeared from my vision. I had been carried off in the current. I began my decompression sequence with Mark beside me. Unfortunately, I was rewarded for my adventurousness with a 12 minute decompression obligation at 10 feet. Mark was confused as to why I didn't surface sooner and I kept signaling him that my computer wouldn't let me. The divers on board the boat wondered how much air I had left. I still had 1300 psi after the entire dive was over.
Dive #15: Columbia Shallows
Preceding Surface Interval: 0:05 minutes
Max depth: 40 feet
Time: 1:00 
Observations: I think that it is a well-kept secret that this might be the best dive site in Cozumel. It is far enough from all the major hotels and dive operations to make it less frequented by people and this is perhaps the reason why it has so much fish life. This was by far and away the most life I've ever seen in one dive spot, including Monterey and Carmel, which generally have more life than Caribbean sites:
- 2 flamingo tongues
- 4-5 large groupers that would burn trails through schools upon schools of grunts and schoolmasters.
- Sergeant major and its nest of purple eggs. It successfully wooed a female sergeant major into laying more eggs in its nest while we watched! This reminded me of California Garibaldi behavior.
- Arrowhead crabs
- All of the above could have easily made this one of the best dives ever. But what topped it off was the pod of common Bottlenose(?) DOLPHINS that swam upon the scene. Mark had used his noisemaker to alert us to an eagle ray in the distance. The noisemaker must have conjured up the dolphins because they burst upon the scene, chasing the eagle ray away. They lingered for 5 precious seconds before disappearing into the distance. Everyone put their hands to their heads and started screaming with disbelief.
Epilogue:
On our last day of diving, we did the most aggressive diving I've ever done. In retrospect, I think we almost got the bends:
In the morning: we did two “shallow” (if you count 60+ feet/ 1 hour long dives shallow) dives in the morning. After lunch, we followed this up by diving “Devil’s Throat”. Devil’s Throat is an infamous deep dive in Cozumel that is planned as a decompression dive. After about 15 minutes of being led through the swimthroughs, I had plenty of air, so I decided to wander around the deep 80+ foot reefs, although I had already exceeded my no-deco limit. Mark, was quite upset at me. I was also rewarded with a 12-minute decompression stop 10 feet below the boat. After Devil’s Throat, we barely had a breather before doing a 4th dive at Columbia Shallows merely 5 minutes later. Even though the dive was only 40 feet deep, I went into decompression again, and had to perform a 3 minute decompression stop at 10 feet.
After we left the boat, Mark and I felt the strangest we ever had after diving. We felt completely wiped out, sedated even, and laid on our hotel beds in a daze. I could barely rouse myself from bed to eat dinner. Furthermore, we felt faint tingling in our extremities. I could even feel tingling through my carotid arteries. We didn’t feel uncomfortable, rather, we felt relaxed, like we had just had a nice relaxing massage. I was concerned that we had developed signs of the bends, but when I suggested to Mark that we get ourselves to a hyperbaric chamber, he just laughed it off. Eventually, the symptoms disappeared the following day. Besides, the feeling was nice. We wouldn't fly until 48 hours later.
I posted this particular day’s dive profile on Scubaboard, a popular dive bulletin board, and got lambasted by several senior members, including Christi, the owner of a successful dive shop on Cozumel Island. She and others said that I and the divemaster had been irresponsible, and that we had better conduct a review of basic diving fundamentals. Here is a link to that thread:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=196513
People were basically attacking us for several reasons:
(1) They attacked why we did such a short surface interval after Devil’s Throat before doing our 4th dive.
(2) They criticized us conducting the deepest dive of the day as the third dive. Everyone has been taught to do the deepest dives first, as most of the Navy and Haldanean dive research was conducted performing the deepest dives first.
(3) Finally, they criticized the fact that I had pushed my first two dives into the yellow, knowing that we would do Devil’s Throat in the afternoon.
I was pissed off and upset by this electronic onslaught. To this day, I still don't see a problem with performing (1) and (2) above. My rebuttal to point (1) is as follows: Jorge the DM intended the 4th dive as a decompression stop, hence the short surface interval preceding the 4th dive. Also, the diving was aggressive, but we surfaced without violating any computer limits.
My rebuttal to Point (2) is as follows: Although, it is not a recommended practice, because not much is known about diving deep after diving shallow, the computers were able to handle it. When reviewing Mark's dive log, we found out that he never even entered deco (although my computer gave me a 12 minute decompression penalty).
The only thing I agree was stupid, was point (3). It was reckless to have conducted two “caution” yellow dives, knowing this would be followed by a red “alarm” deco dive. I should have surfaced early on the first two dives to incur less nitrogen loading before performing the deep third dive.
I believe I was lulled into complacency with the ease of diving in Cozumel, which explains why I became reckless. In Cozumel, we were never concerned about navigation, because the boat always found our bubbles. Nor were we limited by feeling cold. We got spoiled, and we ended our dives much later than we otherwise would have (1 hour).
I think it was stupid to be so reckless on this last day of diving. I was intentionally pushing my limits to see what would happen. Perhaps people on Scubaboard, were repulsed by a young woman being reckless. Also, I think Christi was trying to generate negative publicity against a rival shop.
Compared to other sites in the Caribbean, I would say Cozumel was better in many aspects. The sponge and coral life in Cozumel was far more colorful than in the Bahamas, and especially Florida. The coral buttresses that are characteristic of Cozumel created some of the most awe-inspiring natural scenery I have yet witnessed underwater.
However, the fish in Cozumel tended to be smaller than in the Bahamas, or Florida (you can’t get much bigger than sharks in the Bahamas, or the Goliath Grouper in Florida). Cozumel had more juvenile fish than large adults. Perhaps Cozumel's absence of big fish is a result of its recovering from the damage done by Hurricane Wilma. Also, there generally were less fish in Cozumel (with the exception of the dive site, Columbia Shallows). The Florida Keys, for example are crawling with grunts and sergeant majors.
Finally, how did Cozumel compare to our first impressions as newly certified divers? Diving Cozumel this time around was a far richer experience. We were able to stay more alert, and were more familiar with animals. For example, we were able to recognize behavior at cleaning stations, and even nesting and courting behavior. We were also able to find little critters in the sand, which newbie divers don’t even look at.
Diving in Cozumel is also easier than diving in Monterey (duh). At one point, I had a leaking BCD, but continued (stupidly) to dive. You can only attempt to do this in warm 80+ degree water where one doesn't require an exposure suit. I am close to being neutrally buoyant in these conditions, and barely need a buoyancy compensator. In Monterey, a leaking BCD could mean an exhausting kick up to the surface without ditching weight and could easily spell a disaster.
