Something I haven't done in almost 2 years
John Hanson
single tank and probably no stages when I go to Coz Jan. 29-Feb. 5,
2010. I hope I can adjust. $590 + air if anyone else is interested.
1hogrider
It all "go with the flow" diving if you catch my "drift".
enjoy
Dan Bracuk
I recommend a refresher course with your local PADI dive shop before
you go. Make sure it includes pool training.
Otherwise you might die.
What resort are you going to?
Greg Mossman
If you want more air, many shops carry 100s or 120s on request (and
maybe an additional $10/tank or so). Nitrox mixes are a standard 32%
given that all the dive ops seem to get their nitrox filled at the
same place (and maybe an additional $10/tank or so). While some ops
offer tech diving and could probably rent/fill stages, that's
certainly not going to be included in your $590 package.
Personally, I like the bigger tanks, especially if I'm taking pics.
There's not much to see shallower than 50' or so in Coz, at least
where the boats are dropping off and picking up divers (though you can
see definitely interesting stuff on a shallow (20') shore dive at
night), so if you're a heavy breather like me (and I remember you were
once and maybe still are) you'll blow through an Al 80 in 30-40
minutes with an average depth of 60-80' and be kicking yourself back
on the boat for not renting a bigger tank to maximize your expensive
dive time. (Of course this is assuming a dive op that allows for hour
+ bottom times, i.e. a smaller 6-pack operation - a lot of the package
deals stick you with a cattle boat dive op that will probably limit
you to 35-40 minutes anyway.) Heck, on my last trip I was using Al
100s and was still barely able to stay down as long as far less
experienced (and smaller) divers. I'll try find an op that rents 120s
on my next trip.
Finally, while that time of year is usually pleasant in Cozumel on the
surface (i.e. not as hot as other months), you're in the season of the
northerns, wind that can blow hard enough to cause a port closure and
cancel diving for a day or two. Be prepared for late departures
(sometimes the port will open later in the day when the winds lay
down), boat switches (putting you on a cattle boat instead of six-pack
if the port only opens to boats over a certain size), or even the
disappointment of cancelation. On my last trip for instance, last
December, we were canceled on 1 of the 5 planned dive days and I sat
out another dive day because of a very late departure caused by a
morning port closure plus a boat change that would have required me to
taxi to the town pier rather than getting picked up at my resort's own
dock, too much work for my lazy vacationing ass. Alternatives to
diving include visiting some shabby ruins in the center of the island,
shopping at overpriced cruiseship-oriented jewelry and souvenir
stores, or drinking excellent margaritas until you pass out. I
recommend the latter.
Oh, one last thing, if you don't do a shore night dive, get yourself
on a boat night dive. There's some excellent night sea life that you
won't find so easily during the day (e.g. big octopi and all sorts of
"bugs"), and night diving in warm Carib waters on a warm tropical
night is always a treat, at least until those pesky worm thangs follow
your light and start crawling in your ears.
Buen viaje!
John Hanson
wrote in rec.scuba:
I guess Capt. Brian has been going there the past 7 years or so. I'm
going with http://wazeesports.com/.
John Hanson
<mos...@qnet.com> wrote in rec.scuba:
>On Nov 27, 2:34�am, John Hanson <jhan...@northernlinks.com> wrote:
>> Not only will I be diving warm ocean water, I'll be diving with a
>> single tank and probably no stages when I go to Coz Jan. 29-Feb. 5,
>> 2010. �I hope I can adjust. �$590 + air if anyone else is interested.
>
>If you want more air, many shops carry 100s or 120s on request (and
>maybe an additional $10/tank or so). Nitrox mixes are a standard 32%
>given that all the dive ops seem to get their nitrox filled at the
>same place (and maybe an additional $10/tank or so). While some ops
>offer tech diving and could probably rent/fill stages, that's
>certainly not going to be included in your $590 package.
I can't even remember the last time I dove with an AL80...sometime in
2007 at the latest I would think because I've had steel tanks since
then. Yeah, I'll probably definitely move up to a steel 120 if I can.
I prefer the buoyancy of steel.
>
>Personally, I like the bigger tanks, especially if I'm taking pics.
>There's not much to see shallower than 50' or so in Coz, at least
>where the boats are dropping off and picking up divers (though you can
>see definitely interesting stuff on a shallow (20') shore dive at
>night), so if you're a heavy breather like me (and I remember you were
>once and maybe still are) you'll blow through an Al 80 in 30-40
>minutes with an average depth of 60-80' and be kicking yourself back
>on the boat for not renting a bigger tank to maximize your expensive
>dive time. (Of course this is assuming a dive op that allows for hour
>+ bottom times, i.e. a smaller 6-pack operation - a lot of the package
>deals stick you with a cattle boat dive op that will probably limit
>you to 35-40 minutes anyway.) Heck, on my last trip I was using Al
>100s and was still barely able to stay down as long as far less
>experienced (and smaller) divers. I'll try find an op that rents 120s
>on my next trip.
I figure .7cf/min on the bottom and .6cf/min during deco. Most of us
that are going are advanced trimix so maybe they'll just let us do our
thing. I don't really care either way as I'm mostly going for the
weather and a break from winter. I prefer Great Lakes shipwrecks for
my serious diving.
>
>Finally, while that time of year is usually pleasant in Cozumel on the
>surface (i.e. not as hot as other months), you're in the season of the
>northerns, wind that can blow hard enough to cause a port closure and
>cancel diving for a day or two. Be prepared for late departures
>(sometimes the port will open later in the day when the winds lay
>down), boat switches (putting you on a cattle boat instead of six-pack
>if the port only opens to boats over a certain size), or even the
>disappointment of cancelation. On my last trip for instance, last
>December, we were canceled on 1 of the 5 planned dive days and I sat
>out another dive day because of a very late departure caused by a
>morning port closure plus a boat change that would have required me to
>taxi to the town pier rather than getting picked up at my resort's own
>dock, too much work for my lazy vacationing ass. Alternatives to
>diving include visiting some shabby ruins in the center of the island,
>shopping at overpriced cruiseship-oriented jewelry and souvenir
>stores, or drinking excellent margaritas until you pass out. I
>recommend the latter.
>
>Oh, one last thing, if you don't do a shore night dive, get yourself
>on a boat night dive. There's some excellent night sea life that you
>won't find so easily during the day (e.g. big octopi and all sorts of
>"bugs"), and night diving in warm Carib waters on a warm tropical
>night is always a treat, at least until those pesky worm thangs follow
>your light and start crawling in your ears.
>
>Buen viaje!
Thanks for the info! I greatly appreciate it!
Al Wells
jha...@northernlinks.com says...
> Not only will I be diving warm ocean water, I'll be diving with a
> single tank and probably no stages when I go to Coz Jan. 29-Feb. 5,
> 2010. I hope I can adjust. $590 + air if anyone else is interested.
A single tank with a streamlined rig is exhilirating after diving
doubles for a long time. In the ocean, I like an AL80 if I'm diving in a
skin and a steel tank if in a 3mm wetsuit, where I need a couple of
extra pounds. If there are no steel tanks, I like the STA with lead in
it. It puts the weight in the right place, but you have to make sure
you're not overweighted with non ditchable weight.
Dan Bracuk
jha...@northernlinks.com> wrote:
>
>http://blueangelresort.com/
>
>I guess Capt. Brian has been going there the past 7 years or so. I'm
>going with http://wazeesports.com/.
Group trips are fun. I enjoyed the ones I took and, when I see groups
at dive resorts, they always seem to be having a really good time.
Enjoy your vacation.
-hh
>
> Personally, I like the bigger tanks, especially if I'm taking pics.
> There's not much to see shallower than 50' or so in Coz, at least
> where the boats are dropping off and picking up divers (though you can
> see definitely interesting stuff on a shallow (20') shore dive at
> night), so if you're a heavy breather like me (and I remember you were
> once and maybe still are) you'll blow through an Al 80 in 30-40
> minutes with an average depth of 60-80' and be kicking yourself back
> on the boat for not renting a bigger tank to maximize your expensive
> dive time.
In general, 20min @ 100fsw, or 30-40min @ 70-80fsw is going to be
close to the no-deco limit for air for many modern dive computers, so
simply a larger tank may not necessarily afford more bottom
time...especially if you're planning a second dive within the next
hour.
> ... Heck, on my last trip I was using Al
> 100s and was still barely able to stay down as long as far less
> experienced (and smaller) divers. I'll try find an op that rents 120s
> on my next trip.
The old "tourniquet around the neck" trick to limit the airflow only
works for one dive :-).
An UW camera is an air consumption penalty, so just send me your's.
> Oh, one last thing, if you don't do a shore night dive, get yourself
> on a boat night dive. There's some excellent night sea life that you
> won't find so easily during the day (e.g. big octopi and all sorts of
> "bugs"), ...
Jan 30th is the full moon, so try to do it early in the week. With a
clear sky with a good moon, you can navigate lights-out on a Caribbean
night dive (no jokes about it probably be reminiscent of a coldwater
daytime dive :-), which is worth trying for fun....as well as:
> ... and night diving in warm Carib waters on a warm tropical
> night is always a treat, at least until those pesky worm thangs follow
> your light and start crawling in your ears.
Commonly called Blood worms, occasionally Polychaetes. Some
nights are good, some are bad - they're attracted to light, so
perhaps the phase of the moon has an effect. It can be entertaining
to feed them to coralheads (shine your light on the coral; they fly
in, bump, and get eaten). In general, a larger light tends to attract
more of them/more quickly. The easiest way to disperse a swarm is to
shut off your light, although it helps to have another light source to
draw them off. Thus, one can "donate" their swarm to another diver by
swimming over to them, turning off their dive light, then darkly swim
away...they'll mostly stay behind with their new friend.
FWIW, something else to be aware of on night Caribbean dives are sea
wasps. They're a small stinging jellyfish that is similarly attracted
to light on night dives. In general, they tend to hang out right
under the surface and are more of a problem on moored dives, as the
work lights on the diveboat draw them in and you can get zapped on
water exit. The main technique trick here is when you've finished
your safety stop, stay "deep" while approaching your exit point (eg,
dive ladder), and then do a large air purge (eg, regulator purge
button) for 5+ seconds. The air purge draws a flow of water along
with it, and after it rises to the surface, it then has to mushroom
out - - this current pushes away the slow jelly swimmers, so this
provides 'clean' surface water at the ladder, for which you can then
promptly surface and exit (and yes, do get all the way out of the
water) before they can swim back in. Similarly, wearing a full dive
skin or wetsuit minimizes skin exposure to be stung...just do a quick
wash-down (if the boat has one) before peeling off the suit.
-hh
Greg Mossman
> In general, 20min @ 100fsw, or 30-40min @ 70-80fsw is going to be
> close to the no-deco limit for air for many modern dive computers, so
> simply a larger tank may not necessarily afford more bottom
> time...especially if you're planning a second dive within the next
> hour.
Most of the Coz deeper dives will end up in the 50-60' shallows which
should eke out a bit more time on the computer. I'll usually do
nitrox on the first dive if not both, as long as the dive op plans for
the longer BT. Many of the six-pack dive ops spend an hour on a local
beach between dives so the surface interval ends up being at least 1.5
hrs by the time they have you back at the second site and geared up.
> > ... and night diving in warm Carib waters on a warm tropical
> > night is always a treat, at least until those pesky worm thangs follow
> > your light and start crawling in your ears.
>
> Commonly called Blood worms, occasionally Polychaetes. Some
> nights are good, some are bad - they're attracted to light, so
> perhaps the phase of the moon has an effect. It can be entertaining
> to feed them to coralheads (shine your light on the coral; they fly
> in, bump, and get eaten).
Janna's favorite is feeding them to basket stars, which unfurl at
night. You can really see them eating.
> FWIW, something else to be aware of on night Caribbean dives are sea
> wasps. They're a small stinging jellyfish that is similarly attracted
> to light on night dives.
These are usually cyclical, apparently concentrating around 8-10 days
after each full moon. Try to avoid that time if you're worried about
box jellies/sea wasps (unless you're specifically going during that
time because it's also when coral spawning occurs in summer months).
My OW instructor was hit on the face/neck with one in Bonaire years
ago and the resultant swelling almost killed him by choking off his
airway - I understand the pain wasn't too pleasant either.
-hh
> -hh <recscuba_goo...@huntzinger.com> wrote:
>
> > In general, 20min @ 100fsw, or 30-40min @ 70-80fsw is going to be
> > close to the no-deco limit for air for many modern dive computers, so
> > simply a larger tank may not necessarily afford more bottom
> > time...especially if you're planning a second dive within the next
> > hour.
>
> Most of the Coz deeper dives will end up in the 50-60' shallows which
> should eke out a bit more time on the computer.
Understood, although it won't necessarily be all that much: I was
running with the assumption of an average in the 80fsw range, which
the classical square table would be 30-40 minutes ballpark. I had a
somewhat similar profile last month where the dive was 33 @ 103' max,
average 64' ... came up with 1200psi off of an AL80, as the computer
was saying ~8 minutes no-deco remaining at ~55fsw and it was still the
first dive of the day.
> I'll usually do nitrox on the first dive if not both, as long as the dive op plans for
> the longer BT...
Same here, although I had no option of Nitrox this year on Cayman
Brac, as they're still recovering from last November's Hurricane
Paloma, and there's still no nitrox available on the island. The loss
wasn't a huge deal for me, since I was diving with Reef Divers who
charges by the tank - - its really a value issue for the other dive
op, since they offer "free" Nitrox, which nominally helps to somewhat
offset their significantly more expensive 2-tank AM price ($150 vs
$85).
> > FWIW, something else to be aware of on night Caribbean dives are sea
> > wasps. They're a small stinging jellyfish that is similarly attracted
> > to light on night dives.
>
> These are usually cyclical, apparently concentrating around 8-10 days
> after each full moon. Try to avoid that time if you're worried about
> box jellies/sea wasps (unless you're specifically going during that
> time because it's also when coral spawning occurs in summer months).
> My OW instructor was hit on the face/neck with one in Bonaire years
> ago and the resultant swelling almost killed him by choking off his
> airway - I understand the pain wasn't too pleasant either.
That's the cue for Lee & I to relate our stories of "Stupid Texas PADI
Instructors" who give their students poor guidance :-)
Actually, this does remind me of one other hazard: the invasive
Pacific Lionfish which is now in the Caribbean. The treatment for its
venom is to immerse the affected area in "water as hot as you can
stand" for a period of two hours. Yes, I said TWO HOURS of heat to
break down the venom.
I'm not about to test the veracity of this myself, but a friend who
has received the special training to capture/remove in the Caymans did
get himself zinged earlier this year and he reported that there was
still plenty of zing after 1.5 hours worth of heat soak.
So if Lionfish have already made it to Coz (its really only a matter
of time), John would be wise to not poke at them.
-hh