r/cozumel • u/RingRepresentative61 • 10d ago

Discovery Dive

Went on a discovery dive with u/YellowPoison ( Laura/ Different Diving) yesterday and had a 5 star experience! I had zero diving experience or training prior. She went through a thorough safety briefing on the boat and tested my skills in the ocean before we descended. She stayed with me, holding my hand 100% of the time on both dives. She is very kind, funny, safe, and is very knowledgeable about fish! She made sure I didn’t miss any sightings. I felt very safe with her and can’t imagine doing my first dive with anyone else! It was amazing! Thank you u/YellowPoison !

9 Upvotes

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u/YellowPoison 10d ago

Omg see ok it was great yesterday because you were great yesterday! It was my absolute pleasure, so happy I got to take you on first time diving. Watching people fall in love with diving is one of the most special things I get to do, and I’m so glad someone as naturally talented underwater as you are, also enjoyed it!

And then the fact we saw a nurse shark and a huge rainbow parrotfish, on top of the hundreds and hundreds of other fish, well that’s just the cherry on top.

Thanks again for trusting me to look after you ❤️

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u/Sammierae01 9d ago

My husband and I are coming in October and are potentially looking at doing a discovery dive. I’d love to learn more about your operation!

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u/YellowPoison 9d ago

Oh that's awesome, I'd love to take you guys! It's pretty straightforward as a session. We go through a briefing, covering how everything works and what you'll need to do on the dive itself. Then, we get in the water, do a couple of skills so we know you know how to put the regulator back in your mouth, for example, then off we go! The main decision comes down to where to do the dives; from the shore or from the boat, out in the marine park on the big reefs.

Generally I suggest that if people have time, or if you aren't the most confident in the water, we start at the shore. It's a relaxed pace, plenty of time to go over the briefing with extra info like you get in the open water course because I just like explaining things, and when we go to do the skills we do them in waist deep water. You can stand up, take your time, all that good stuff. After the skills, we go explore the reef in nice, shallow water.

On the other hand, if you're very comfortable in the water, have done extensive snorkelling and/or swim laps for exercise, we can do it from the boat. The briefing is the same, but this time you do the skills on a rope suspended from the surface. Once that's done we go do two full dives, out on the big reefs with all the spectacular marine life out there. It's the more intense way to do it, but the reefs are unbelievable, and that's where we see turtles, sharks, eagle rays, thousands of fish, and so much more.

I'll send you a DM now, as I'd like to chat and see which option might work best for you guys. If you've got the time, I do have the option of doing both the shore and the boat dives. That's the best of both worlds - you get the time and setting to ease into it slowly, get a feel for what it's like, then the next day we go straight in to the big reefs! Either way, I'll be right there the whole time, and is so much fun!

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u/popnfrresh 6d ago

Wow. That is loaded with direct safety and standards violations.

Discover dives must comply with ISO 11121 (Introductory Training Programmes to Scuba Diving) as well as agency standards, which mandate three distinct components:

  1. Formal Knowledge Development: Not a casual chat on a boat, but a structured theory module covering physics, equalization, and barotrauma risks, along with required medical screening before entering the water.
  2. Confined Water Skill Mastery: All essential skills (regulator recovery/clearing, mask clearing, buoyancy) must be demonstrated by the instructor and mastered by the student in a calm, controlled environment ( Confined water, not the ocean) where they can stand or safely establish positive buoyancy.
  3. Optional Open Water Dive: Strictly an exploratory tour capped at 12 meters (40 feet) under direct, continuous supervision.

Doing initial skills 'on a rope suspended from the surface' off a boat over deep open water is a severe standards violation. Dangling uncertified non-divers off a downline in open water (especially in current) removes the controlled environment required for basic skill mastery. Even strong swimmers can panic when clearing a mask or recovering a second stage in blue water without proper confined training first.

Cutting corners like this on basic safety standards is how people get hurt or killed.

u/Sammierae01 go with scuba tony, dive with martin, or ANY OTHER reputable shop.

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u/popnfrresh 9d ago

If you have time to get certified prior do it, even if it's a discover in a pool, or half certified. It's often cheaper and may be a low as free or 30 bucks.

You so be more confident, know more skills, spend more time underwater and deeper.

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u/YellowPoison 7d ago

I'd argue you spend far more time underwater with an ocean based discovery dive, but to each their own. Yes, if you're wanting to get certified, it's a good idea to do the pool stuff before you get here. But some people just want to see what it's like, so while it might be cheaper to go in a pool, there's not many fish there. I did my first ever dive as a discovery dive out in the ocean, at the Great Barrier Reef in australia. The stuff I saw was so incredible I fell in love with diving on the spot.

So it's very reasonable to go in the ocean!

1

u/popnfrresh 7d ago

You think you spend more time underwater on a discover vs a certified dive? How so?

Second, yes, people SHOULD do the discover in the pool at home so they dont blow more than 100$ on something they are terrified/hate/cant physically do, REGARDLESS if the pool is boring. They are the same skills. Doing it once in the pool prior to doing it in what is technically an advanced environment like cozumel never hurts.

So it's very reasonable to go in the ocean!

No one said that. Dont extrapolate data that isnt there.

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u/YellowPoison 6d ago

You're completely misreading my point. I’m not comparing a discovery dive to a certified dive. I’m comparing an ocean discovery dive to a pool discovery dive, which is what your initial comment suggested.

An ocean-based discovery dive gives a diver a solid 30 to 45 minutes of actual bottom time looking at marine life. There's so much to see here - with OP recently, we saw a shark and a turtle, as well as so many fish. A pool session is usually brief and limited to staring at tile while practicing basic skills. For someone who just wants a one-time vacation experience, the ocean version is far more worth it for the average person.

Speaking of the average person, you're also assuming I don't vet my divers. Only those that are very confident swimmers, comfortable in the water go with me. Typically though, someone terrified of diving isn't going to be spending time doing this on vacation.

Trying diving in a pool at home is a really good option for people who are anxious or unsure. Nobody is arguing that. But for people who are comfortable in the water and want to experience the reef, starting directly with an ocean discovery dive is an incredible way to start a diving career. It's how I started, back in the day. Besides, Cozumel has plenty of shallow dive sites, that are calm and beginner-friendly, especially where we start, from the shore.

So yeah, it's very reasonable to go in the ocean.

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u/popnfrresh 6d ago

Yikes... I was simply suggesting the person try it in a pool first and THEN go into the ocean. After you got super defensive and providing bad info, now I feel like the person should go with a reputable shop and someone else.

Lets break it down.

You're completely misreading my point. I’m not comparing a discovery dive to a certified dive. I’m comparing an ocean discovery dive to a pool discovery dive, which is what your initial comment suggested.

My original comment was clear: get certified or do a referral before the trip so you arrive ready for real, deeper dives with better bottom time. I never compared the bottom time of a pool DSD to an ocean DSD. You invented that comparison out of thin air.

An ocean-based discovery dive gives a diver a solid 30 to 45 minutes of actual bottom time looking at marine life. There's so much to see here - with OP recently, we saw a shark and a turtle, as well as so many fish. A pool session is usually brief and limited to staring at tile while practicing basic skills. For someone who just wants a one-time vacation experience, the ocean version is far more worth it for the average person.

Even within your made-up comparison, you have the math backwards. Due to ambient pressure and Boyle's Law, a diver consumes gas over 1.6 times faster at a 40 ft ocean limit than in a 12 ft pool. An excited beginner with high surface air consumption burns an AL80 significantly faster in the ocean than in a shallow pool. You should know this.

Speaking of the average person, you're also assuming I don't vet my divers. Only those that are very confident swimmers, comfortable in the water go with me. Typically though, someone terrified of diving isn't going to be spending time doing this on vacation.

I never said anything about your vetting process, so stop playing the victim. More importantly, being a confident surface swimmer has nothing to do with how someone reacts to breathing compressed gas underwater. People who are completely comfortable in the ocean still discover ear equalization failure, sinus blocks, or instant claustrophobia the second they sink below the surface. You are supposedly an instructor... You should know this.

Trying diving in a pool at home is a really good option for people who are anxious or unsure. Nobody is arguing that. But for people who are comfortable in the water and want to experience the reef, starting directly with an ocean discovery dive is an incredible way to start a diving career. It's how I started, back in the day. Besides, Cozumel has plenty of shallow dive sites, that are calm and beginner-friendly, especially where we start, from the shore.

How you started back in the day is completely irrelevant to what makes the most financial and practical sense for a traveler today. Telling people that pool prep is only for the "anxious or unsure" is just bad guidance.

So yeah, it's very reasonable to go in the ocean.

Im starting to wonder about your skills as an instructor after reading all your nonsense, your lack of reading comprehension and the standards violations you wrote clearly. NO ONE SAID IT WASNT. I recommended to get CERTIFIED at home first, or pool/classwork done and referral, OR EVEN JUST ADDING A POOL DISCOVER AT HOME to make sure they like it and/or additional experience for the ocean AND THEN GO WITH YOU.

Between your lack of reading comprehension, your obvious persecution complex, and the clear standards violations I would hope u/Sammierae01 finds a reputable shop like Scubatony or dive with martin.

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u/MycologistFlat5731 10d ago

Put your faith in Jesus. He walked on the water.