Diving off Cozumel

I had never SCUBA dived outside The States. Even in the US I've been careful about where I dive and with who. If I was in Hawaii or Florida I wanted a well-established dive shop who appeared to know what they're talking about in casual conversation.

What you may not know about SCUBA is that there are risks associated with it. Even if you follow all the rules, you can die. Most divers never get anything worse than sinus squeeze. I once scraped my shoulder on coral in Hawaii, but nothing worse. Most divers are very aware of the safety rules and stick to them. When you learn that a diver regularly strays from these rules, you just decide to never dive with them. We all have our comfort zones. I took what I felt was an additional risk for one reason. The diving in Cozumel is world famous, and should not be missed.

I packed myself into a very crowded van of fellow divers. We drove south to Palaya de Carmen where we were to catch the boat to Cozumel. Along the way, we were all required to fill out a piece of paper explaining our experience. I've been a certified diver since 1974. I just don't dive very often. When the driver learned I hadn't dove in over a year, he was a little worried. Some of the rules have changed since when I was certified. Most places want your last dive to have been within the past 12 months. I was asked if I wouldn't mind filling out my form again, but could I please alter the date? I agreed to, but was never given the form.

In diving we use a buddy system. When you dive with strangers you start asking them questions about where they've been. From this conversation, you figure out if you're willing to dive with this person. If you get into trouble, you may need your buddy to save your life. These are casual conversations we have, but we're all sizing each other up.

On the boat to the dive site I learned I was in a very experienced group. We had two dive instructors from the UK who were diving their way around the world. We also had a guy from Louisiana who hunted alligator using SCUBA. The boat supplied two dive masters who would lead us on drift dives. I was feeling very good about the people I was with. But then there was a little argument between the dive master and a married couple. Soon the boat pulled over to the shore, and the couple got off.

Back under way, the dive master said every night he worked on the equipment we were going to use. If anyone had a problem with the equipment, he'd swap it out for other equipment. But he wasn't going to be insulted by tourists. I hadn't heard the argument he had with the couple, but the equipment I was given looked perfectly good. It wasn't brand new, but it was in proper order. On the other hand, a diver should never use equipment they are not comfortable with. This is a sport where the name of the game is minimize risk.

I had never done a drift dive. The idea is to submerge into a current and let the water take you past the sights. Since you are kicking a lot less, your air consumption should be less. It's a little harder than it sounds. Since you aren't kicking, you are not stable. The tank on your back wants to be below you. You end up having to work to balance it above you. It's not exactly effortless.

The big surprise were the fish we saw which shouldn't have been in this ocean. The lion fish is one of the most deadly on Earth. But it should only be in the Indian Ocean, not here hiding under a rock. This happens when ships take on ballast water in one ocean and dump it in another. Plants and critters get free trips around the world, and it's really becoming quite a problem. Blue Crab from Asia are destroyed on sight in the San Francisco Bay area. They out-compete many local species. Amongst the creatures who are supposed to be here, I saw the largest hermit crab in my experience, and the many empty conch shells tell us there are octopus in these waters.

We did two dives, one at 85 feet, the second at 35. One usually does the deepest dive first, then calculates their nitrogen build up, and does a shallower dive after a break to help purge the nitrogen that builds up in the body when breathing compressed air below 33 feet. Cozumel diving rivaled what I found off of Maui. The visibility was great, the drift dive was fun, and I was surprised by the fish I saw.

What I hadn't done yet today was eat. I learned during an underwater photography class in the 80's not to eat before diving. You're underwater, sometimes inverted, and small pockets of air end up compressed at the bottom of the stomach. Then when you surface, it expands and wants to escape. It's good not to have food in the way. I usually just drink some juice in the morning. I was very hungry as we headed into port. Included in the cost of the trip was lunch at a traditional Mexican restaurant. People were well advised to keep their fingers away from my plate, as I vacuumed up lunch.

On the long drive back, some people swapped more stories of places they had dove. Others had their siesta. And many comments were made as we were passed by black SUVs trailed by a troop truck with two soldiers sporting M16s hanging on the back. Did I mention there were drug wars in Mexico?