The Devil's Throat (Spanish: La Garganta del Diablo)Greg Benchwick: Cancun and the Yucatan. Lonely Planet, 2010,
p.81
/ref> is an underwater cave formation near the island of

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucat� ...

, Mexico, at Punta Sur in the

Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park The Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park is off the coast of the island of Cozumel in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The Cozumel reef system is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second largest coral reef system in the world. Eve ...

; it starts at approximately of depth and opens up at approximately - right at the edge of recreational dive limits.

Overview

The Devil's Throat is considered a "must dive" experience by

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

visiting Cozumel. Yet, due to the depth and the fact that it is a cave, it is considered an advanced dive and can be dangerous to inexperienced divers as decompression stops may be necessary if progress through the cave is slow. If divers keep moving and do not stop during the dive, decompression stops are not normally needed; standard ascent rates and safety stops are sufficient for a safe ascent. The name "Devil's Throat" specifically refers to a narrow tunnel dropping through the

red coral Precious coral, or red coral, is the common name given to a genus of marine corals, ''Corallium''. The distinguishing characteristic of precious corals is their durable and intensely colored red or pink-orange skeleton, which is used for ma ...

reef structure at around 45 degree, from about to . However, the entire formation, part of the Punta Sur (Southern point) area, is also commonly referred to as The Devil's Throat. The formation includes an underwater cave referred to as Catedral (the Cathedral), which was known for its unusual cross-shaped

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

formation in the ceiling of the cave, with a shaft of light from one of the tunnels backlighting the sponge cross.

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was an extremely intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane which was the most intense storm of its kind and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part o ...

inflicted damage on portions of the Cozumel reef system, and the sponge was lost to that storm.

Risks

Divers who exceed the no-decompression limits may require a

decompression stop The practice of decompression by divers comprises the planning and monitoring of the profile indicated by the algorithms or tables of the chosen decompression model, to allow asymptomatic and harmless release of excess inert gases dissolved in ...

. Other risks include

nitrogen narcosis Narcosis while diving (also known as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while diving at depth. It is caused by the anesthetic effect of certain g ...

because most divers are using compressed air when diving at Cozumel and not trimix. Diving the Devil's Throat requires use of an underwater light, and it is recommended that divers not scissor kick because it stirs up sediment which heavily obscures visibility. By some definitions, the dive may be considered a "cavern" rather than a "cave", because light can be seen from most points in the dive, though the openings are generally too small for a person to traverse.

References

Sea caves Underwater diving sites in Cozumel Landforms of Quintana Roo Caves of Mexico {{Caving-stub