Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a new group of Technical Divers. They were excited to expand their diving knowledge and learn some new skills at the same time. We spent the summer Side Mount diving, and learning the Principles of Technical Diving. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the lake.
When it was time to go on the deeper dives required for their Advanced Recreational Trimix Class we were scheduled to go to Lake Travis. However, they decided that it would be more fun and a better experience if we went diving in clear water. Now, for people who know me, I don’t particularly like teaching technical diving in Lake Travis because the reduced visibility limits the swim distances and the entire diving experience is shackled. So, when they decided that they would like a better experience, I immediately began putting something together for Cozumel.
Cozumel is an ideal choice because you can get there easily with almost daily flights direct to the island from Houston and because the diving there is spectacular. Additionally, the infrastructure for technical diving is there with mixed gas, bottles and sorb readily available. Additionally, the food and lodging costs are reasonable.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and were boat-diving that afternoon – a 130’ tune-up dive. Over the next two days, we ended up doing five decompression dives to depths in excess of 145 feet and still had time to enjoy the sun and Pepe’s world famous guacamole. Our dives were joined by turtles, large groupers, moray eels, schools of snapper, huge lobster, crabs and plenty of crystal clear blue water.
I feel they are now better equipped to deal with the diving environments most technical divers will face. They have a lot of experience in low visibility locations but clear water is also important and these divers have experience in both environments.
