Cozumel Dive Report - Dec 1st

[mwhities]

DaLila Wall:

Air Temp: 82
Bottom Temp: 86
Viz: 70+
Depth: Average: 52 Max: 80
Bottom time: 45 minutes

This dive being my first drift dive, I wasn't to sure what to expect. To be honest, didn't know it was a drift dive until I heard the dive briefing. I was excited to be diving at Cozumel and the fact I was going to be doing a drift dive excited me more.

Pedro, my DM briefed myself and another gentleman named Dave on our dive. He told us what we might see and what our dive profile will be. He gave us the signs we might see while we dove this site. After planning the dive and making sure our gear was setup properly, we rolled off the boat and started our descent.

We stopped descending about 60 fsw or so and already I saw more fish than I've ever seen in my life. I wish I knew the fish better, but Pedro helped me identify most after the dive. I know I saw several Princess Parrotfish, Gray Angel Fish, Snappers, Grunts, Queen Angel Fish, all sorts of Sponges, Toadfish, Black Durgon (BEAUTIFUL), Queen Triggerfish, and many many more. The Black Durgon being my favorite on this dive. Of course there were more Sponges and Coral than I could shake a stick at. Some of it was still covered with sand, but to me, it was the most beautiful site I've ever dived.

We slowly made our way down to 80 fsw and drifted along the wall and still saw more and more fish and coral and everything else. I was so amazed be how effortless drift diving was. I actually had my best bottom time with this dive. I practiced as much as I could on my buoyancy and trim. I think my trim needs a LOT of work and my buoyancy needs a lot more as well. Although, I never did once hit any part of the wall or reef. I concentrated on breathing in fully and exhaling fully. I did have to add just a touch of air into my bc as I believe I was slightly over weighted. Other than that, I was able to breath in to go up and breath normally and stay there, then exhale fully and kinda "pause" for a second and drop down, then breath normally again and stay there.

We came back up to 50 fsw or so and watched the wonderful view pass us by. Being more of an air hog than Pedro and Dave, I had to start my way up after 40 minutes or so. I got up to 20 fsw and stayed there for about 2 minutes and slowly made my way to 15 fsw. This was kinda scary for myself as I've never really ascended without a anchor line of some sort or something to use as a reference. Plus, hanging out in the middle of nothing with a 180+ feet wall right below me had me kinda spooked. I just concentrated on my breathing and my SPG for my depth. After 5 minutes at 15 fsw and slowly circling around looking up, I again slowly made my way up to the surface. I never thought that I would be able to do it the way I did without an anchor line or reference. (One thing I thought about was when I had a OOG experience on my last boat dive in the Gulf of Mexico, my dive buddy shared air with me and we slowly came up and stopped at 15fsw to do our safety stop. Remembering that helped me understand and focus on how important it was to ascend slowly and safely.)

Again, being my first dive in Cozumel, floating there with a 180+ feet wall under me (I think Pedro said it went to 1000+ feet or so?), I had the thoughts of sharks and anything else that could happen to me. I just focused on my breathing again and signaled "ok" (fist ontop of the head in a "circle") and waited for the boat to pick me up. Shortly after, maybe another 10 minutes or so, we picked up Pedro and Dave.

[mwhities]

San Francisco Wall:

Air Temp: 89
Bottom Temp: 86
Viz: 70+
Depth: Average: 40 Max: 60
Bottom time: 35 minutes

After our first dive, we had a SI of 70 minutes. Apple juice, bread and an assorted bowl of fruit. Quite nice.

After the interval, we made our way to the San Francisco Wall. We descended down to 60 fsw and slowly drifted down the wall. Again, another beautiful dive, I saw another variety of fish and coral. Pedro pointed out a couple of Scorpin Fish and a couple Toadfish. The SF Wall seemed to be teaming with more fish than the DaLila Wall had. All-in-all, both were great. Although, the SF Wall will forever stand out as my favorite wall thus far.

Why? Well, let me tell you. I was about 20 feet away from Pedro, just minding my business and I had constantly (even on the previous dive) looked down the wall out into the blue in hopes of seeing something grand. Well, this time, I lucked out. About 30 feet down and away from me was a shark. OMG! I didn't freak out the way I thought I would. I'm not sure how I did it, but I was able to get to Pedro fast and still had my eyes on the shark. All I did was signaled to Pedro and after he saw it, he motioned to Dave and he was able to see it too. After about 15 to 20 seconds, the shark disappeared. Pedro, Dave and I all high fived under water and gave the "ok, that was bad (__Y__)" signal.

I wish my breathing heavy had as well. I was so excited and thrilled to see my first shark that I was sucking my gas out fast. Pedro swam to me and signaled for me to listen to his breathing. It helped out quite a bit. I had read that before and never really thought about how that helps out mentally. After that, I did calm down quite a bit, but I still thought about seeing the shark and it excited me. Pedro again came up to me and signaled to breath slower and to relax. I did my best.

After 30 minutes or so. I again was running low on air so I started my way up to the surface. Again, focusing on my depth and making sure I wouldn't ascend to fast. I slowly made my way to 15 feet and hung out for about 3 minutes and then started slowly heading to the surface. This time, the boat was quite a ways from me and I could tell he was picking up the other divers that were doing their Nitrox check out dives.

I had a smile still from ear to ear. (Ohh, BTW, my dive buddy allowed me to use his Oceanic Shadow mask, worked wonderfully on all the dives I did, until I saw the shark! (from smiling and talking to myself. crazy eh? )) Even though I was still excited about seeing the shark, I was still somewhat worried about thing depth below me and seeing the shark had me spooked. I kept looking down below me making sure no shark was after me. I know I didn't have much to worry about, but it's the thoughts that get to me.

Come to find out, after the dive, Pedro said it was a 7' Nurse Shark. I'm still excited about seeing it. I think I told everyone on the cruise that would listen to me.

If ever you need a great dive op in Cozumel, please give Christi a call at http://www.bluextseadiving.com and dive with them. Pedro is my #1 DM. The boat was small and fast and by no means a cattle boat. Excellent Captain and was always on the look out for us when we were ready to be picked up.

(Sorry for the length and if none of it make sense, I apologize. This is my first "real" dive report. I'm sure with more dives, like my SAC rate, my dive report will get better as well. )

[Lt-Warner]

Sounds like you had a blast. I'm envious of your dive......We did not see any Sharks. We did see one very large sea turtle.
     I'm glad that your experience was like mine in the fact that you were not on a so called Cattle Boat.
      Did you see what I meant about the dive masters helping you see as much as you could?
      Cozumel was my first drift dive also. It was an experience that was unforgettable. I wish we had diving like that around here. But then I would not get nothing done.....Ha Ha

[mwhities]

Had a great time! I can't wait to do it again. Yeah, luckly no cattle boats. I did see a few while we were out. Poor people.

Yeah Pedro, my DM, was great.

And I though drifting with a car was fun, haha. It has nothing on drift diving.

Michael