Major Tips to Follow for a Drift Diving in Cozumel as a Beginner

[rohny jones]

Many of you might not know what Cozumel is all about so here we have a quick introduction about it for all the readers. Cozumel is yet the healthiest reef inside the Caribbean. It has the western shores of the Mexican island that are all washed by the steady stream of clear oceanic water opening through the colorful crop of corals and the sponges. Cozumel dive practice is also known as “live boat drift,” which is no doubt the enjoyable and easiest diving that you will experience for the first time in your life.

But as a beginner, you need to follow a few of the important tips to make your whole Cozumel diving experience worth remembering. To share a few, below we have some basic tips for the newbie out there. Let’s have a look:

Tip no 1: Stay Lightly

No matter whether you are a beginner or a professional in diving, you need to maintain a proper balance and keep yourself light while diving. All you should be aiming for is to achieve the neutral buoyancy with which you can easily glide over the major reefs without the constant up-and-down corrections. Hence, you should be carrying enough weight so that you can float very naturally and neutrally for your safety.

Tip no 2: Carry an SMB

Cozumel's dive operators are all the time providing some knowledgeable guides for leading each of the drifts and carry the marker float. You should be staying within that reasonable distance of the guide and make sure you end the dive with the rest of the group. But if you get separated from your group, you should be having your surface marker buoy (SMB). You can send it to the surface for giving an alarming alert to the diving boat or your group. Look for the marker which is having high-visibility light or color.

Tip no 3: UpFront or Out Back?

According to the veteran drift divers, Cozumel will always give you the experience to watch out for something new and interesting if you are diving into the water for the first time. Being a beginner, you should keep yourself light in comparison with the rest of the divers and make sure you scan every single object of the water to reach its potential. Upfront and outback are the two major positions and both of them are having their own merits to get during Cozumel diving.

Tip no 4: Go with the Flow

Last but not the least; you should always go with the flow! You should never swim against the current because it can be a lot tiring and is bad for air consumption. It might not be possible to fight with the flow every single time and get success in it.

The best approach would be to simply swim diagonally into the current. You can even hook ahead and anticipate any of the moves to one side or the other one. This is how you can successfully make a down-current beeline for your target without any sort of hard finning.