Good plan. Let your fellow divers know about your newbieness and they will
accommodate you.

One more thing, have fun.

<snip>

In CZM (and many other locations, but not all operators), think of the
DM as a tour guide, not a DM like you had for your training.  They are
there primarily to show you the sights, not save your bacon or teach
you skills.  Going for a dive with just a DM to refresh is probably a
good idea.  Make sure your operator and DM know how raw you are.

Forget the gloves.  Most dive operations in CZM won't let you wear
them.  Go light on the wetsuits (or none at all), the water will be
warm and wonderfully clear.  Be comfortable with having most of the
divers below you on the deep dive and don't go beyond your
capabilities.

Above all, have fun and try not to dive with a hangover.

<snip>

You may want to even do a few dives on the coast. I'm not too familiar
with the beach at Tulum, but I do know that there is some pretty good
diving just a few minutes off the beach at Akumal, about 20km north.
Boats are small, there are some good DM's, and the dives are easy (35-60
ft). There is a nice calm shallow area by the dive shops where you can
walk in and get familiar with gear. Tulum might very well have a similar
setup.

You will do best focusing on the basics for the first couple of dives.
You will probably use your air up quicker than the others, but don't
fixate on that. Your consumption will drop all by itself as you become
more confident and relaxed in the water.

Have a great time

al

The best pieces of advice I got re: CZM diving were 1) avoid fighting the
current, just go along for the ride, the boat WILL pick you up and 2) if you
drift faster than the rest of your group and you want to wait for them, find
a coral head and duck behind it low to get out of the current (but stay off
the bottom) and kick against the current.

Have fun, the drift diving is so relaxing if you just "let it ride".

Jo

Does this mean that I cannot call you an idiot or clueless newbie?
Nevermind, that is someone else who does that.

Here is a link where you can get lots of info about Cozumel:

http://www.travelnotes.cc/tchatters/viewforum.php?f=1

Also, the Cozumel map from www.cancunmap.com is very useful.

I recommend a wetsuit (3 mil max).  The diving in Cozumel is drift
diving.  It is fun and effortless.  Do not try to fight the current.
If you get ahead of your group, relax.   Find a coral head or similar
that you can duck behind and wait for the others to catch up (like
getting behind a tree to stay out of the wind).

Drink lots of water.  Use sunscreen.  Take mosquito repellent just in
case.  Get out and explore the island but do not rent mopeds.

Ron Lee

Many of the dive sites in Cozumel are over very deep water, off vertical
walls, in very clear water.  It is exceptionally easy to fail to notice your
depth and to get deeper than you would normally consider appropriate both
because of the lack of a horizontal visual reference and because light,
which is a key element in most people's awareness of depth, does not drop
off as quickly in water that clear.  The deeper you are, the faster your air
supply will be exhausted.  Be clear with your DM about what depths you are
comfortable with.  Don't be pressured to overdue by the many wonders found
in deeper portions of the reef.  There's plenty to see and do at moderate
depths.  Do watch your depth and gas consumption closely.

Cozumel diving is, for the most part, drift diving.  Currents are sometimes
mild and sometimes strong.  Keep an eye on your DM and don't let him get out
of sight.  The pickup boat will find him.  You want to be sure it finds you
too.

One of the attractions in Cozumel is the many swim throughs.  All swim
throughs are an overhead environment.  Some are relatively safe, others,
that are longer and/or narrower, are more dangerous.  Consider whether you
want to do any of them at this stage of your diving experience.  Consider
very carefully, whether you want to do any that are particularly deep, long
and/or narrow.

If you chose to do any shore diving, be careful.  The same currents that
make diving off the wall so exciting, often exist near shore.  On a shore
dive, there's no boat to come and get you if you get carried away by the
currents.

Have a great time.  Cozumel diving is pretty spectacular.  Make sure you
survive it to come back again.

Lee

Coming from Washington, you'll find the diving there refreshingly easy
in comparison.  Less lead, less wetsuit, much more light (like some!),
and of course the pleasant temp and high viz without needing a light.

But 6 months of rust and no other experience...if you could do a pool
session or two at home, it would be helpful.  I'd stay away from the big
vertical walls initially, make sure you can control your rate of descent
as you go well beyond the typical 40ft training zones.  

As notes, gloves are frown upon or banned, but you can still carry something
in a pocket and put them on if you need to deal with a sea of jellies or
a rusty anchor line.  This isn't common in Coz, but I did get hit by a really
nasty jelly on the back of my hand.  I got my other hand trying to remove
the little bit and the welt lasted a couple weeks.  Simple latex gloves
would do the job and take up no space.  

Practice good buoyancy - listen to your DM - enjoy your trip - Coz is
some of the best diving you will ever do.
Watch your depths - great walls - great drift diving!

When are you going to be there?

A great shop for Newbies in Tulum is the Abyss. The DMs there will
make sure your skills are up to snuff before heading over.

I would suggest doing an initial shallow shore dive to get your buoyancy right. You want
to be close to neutral with no air in BC and 500PSI in tank. The water in Cozumel is said
to be more salty and requires more weight.

Adam

One more suggestion. Take a safety sausage in case you drift from the boat.

Adam

after the

I got

in the

mile

haven't

want

We were there in February.  I was a newbie (with only 8 dives).  I did 2
dives out of Playa Del Carmen, and 3 dives out of Cozumel.  Don't
completely dismis diving near Tulum/Playa... there's some neat spots to
see.  Cozumel is better, however.

where

sure

beginners

focus on

Our first dive was in Cozumel on Columbia Deep (at the southern end of
the island).  The DM gave us a pretty good prep speach.  He said don't
go below 80 feet, signal me when you get to 1000psi, and again when you
get to 750psi and then we'll head up.  He told us if we run out of air
we should go to him for air (i.e. he was going to be our buddy).  I
stuck with him like glue, and when I got a little deep (84 feet) he
motioned for me to rise a little.  He pointed out a lot of neat sealife
for us.  I signaled him when I got to 1000psi, and again at 750.  To my
surprise he didn't do anything, just drifted along at 80 feet.  I
started to get very anxious, and finally at 500psi I decided I had to go
up by myself.  I did a proper safety stop and ended at only 150psi or
so.  My buddy wasn't so fortunate, and ran out of air at the safetystop
and had to share air with another diver (the DM ignored him as well).

I guess my lesson learned was 1) Listen to, but don't completely rely on
your DM (i.e. take care of yourself) and 2) take care of your buddy,
watch his air, and stick with him.  3) Finally, communicate
contingencies with your DM and your Buddy before you go down.  Neither
of us had been that deep before, and my buddy was using rental equipment
and wasn't watching his guage.  I was watching my guage, but expected
the DM to ascend with us.  Instead he stayed with the more experienced
divers and didn't surface until about 15-20 minutes later.

As somebody said (I think it was Dillon), DM doesn't stand for Dive
Mama, and he's not going to handhold you like your instructor did.

Another bit of advice... watch your ascent rate.  On the drift dives
(without an ascent line) it's extremely easy to ascend too fast.

Penny,

Just back from Cozumel with a group.

Water was 78/79.....very cool. Air temps last week only got into the high
70's low 80's...lots of North wind.

The group was cold from the get-go. 3 mm full suits and some kind of light
weight hood makes it just right.

The thimble jellyfish are currently in Cozumel by the billions. This is
good...and bad. The thimble stays very near the surface. don't swim in the
middle of the bands of jellies. Their sting is mild but often goes
systemic....avoid them if you can. The good part about the spring jellyfish
bloom is that it brings the turtles to the island. This is prime turtle
time! We observed at least half a dozen green sea turtles on every dive.

Current was very mild....vis was near 200 feet on every dive. Some
rain...bring a poncho.

Eagle rays on Columbia deep and Palancar. Nurse sharks on Cedral, the Bricks
and Santa Rosa Wall.

Have fun.

Forest Aten