Safe place for freediving in Cozemel?

[dallasdiver]

I've been to Cozemel about eight times, mostly to scuba. Done some freediving close to shore. Mostly near the sunken airplane near the cruise ship docks, but no depth. When I was there last time diving, I thought I was going to get run over by a boat. While I was doing a safty stop, I had boats pass overhead and on the surface chop I wasn't sure weather they could see me when they passed within twenty feet and at high speed.

Another concern of mine is the strong current. I swam pretty far out on the southern end of the island looking for something interesting, but the water stayed shallow and it was just sandy bottom. On the swim back in, I had to fight a significant current to get back to shore. I had some old jet fins that worked pretty good, but when I stopped to rest I noticed that tide was taking back out pretty fast.

Are there any places to dive where there isn't so much boat traffic or current?

 

[fjohnson]

freediving in Coz can be done.. but from shore you have to fight the current either one direction or another, always be concerned about boat trafffic, and have to go quite a ways from shore in order to find some decent depths. I'd suggest getting together with one of the boat operators or dive shops, maybe one that does a snorkel/scuba combined trip, explain to them that you want to follow the scuba divers, that you do not want to spend time in 20' of water, and that you are serious about being with the scuba divers and not stuck in the shallows with the other snorkelers, They may line up a good local freediver to tag along with you, or have one of the dm's hang with you. If you're on your own, a flag is a must, and anything more visible is even better. Doesn't hurt if your shore diving before hand is near a local diveshop and they've seen you waaaaayyyy out there freediving.. they're all the more to believe your capabilities and let you tag along. Bring along some good freedive profiles you might have from the suunto.
guess there's no place to get away from boat traffic or currents...
Fred

 

[dallasdiver]

Some good advice. One thing I did to avoid being run over by a boat was that I actually took off one of my fins and held it above my head while at the surface.
Jeff, Great photo of the eagle ray. I am planning to dive the C-53, but I sure they it falls in the underwater national park area and would require one of those park wrist bands. I have done the scooter thing a few years ago, they were fun but my brother and his friend took some bad spills and kinda ruined their vacation. His friend spilled his scooter during a brief down pour and my brother got crowded off the road by a over anxious taxi that actually struck his handle bars and caused him to BIFF :waterwork really hard on the road. He spent the next few days in pain and all scabbed up on his arms, legs and backside. :crutch
I used Blue Bubble for diving, and they were really good. I may consult with them about freediving.