COZUMEL

2015

 

Cozumel is Mexico's largest island, nestled just 12 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Cozumel measures 28 miles long & 10 miles wide, and is world renown for it's dazzling white sandy beaches and the remarkable clarity of the multi-hued azure Caribbean ocean in which it rests. The climate is subtropical & the people native to Cozumel are of Mayan descent.
The diving there is great. Mostly drift diving due to the mild to strong currents. On the boat rides out to the reefs it is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming along beside the boat playing in the wake and looking at the people who are watching them. There are also some great restaurants on the island that we have found over the years.

This is a link to the resort I stayed at:

Hotel Cozumel and Resort

Scroll down to see pictures from our trip, my dive log or links to other dive trips.

 

Kim and I went to Cozumel again for a week of diving.

We had a great trip. Our air travel on Delta was uneventful with only an hour delay on the final leg from Atlanta to Tampa on the return trip home. Kim and I both got Global Entry certified last year. This is program by U.S. Immigrations and Customs which requires background checks and finger printing for a fee but it allows you to fast-track through Immigration and Customs on your return to the U.S. It also qualifies you for TSA-PRE which fast tracks you through TSA check point on all flights, domestic or international. It really helped on this trip. We got through Immigration, Customs and TSA in less than 20 minutes in Atlanta.

Hotel Cozumel has always been a great place to stay. This was my fourth time with them. I went on an all-inclusive program and their meals seemed to be even better this year. I heard other guests make the same comment.

The diving with dive Paradise was great. You can see my dive log and some of the pictures from our dives below. I am still editing some of the pictures so I hope to have some more and a video of the Eagle Ray soon.

Click on the thumbnails below to see an enlarged picture. Use your BACK" button on your browser to return to this page.

Sunday Report:
We headed to the airport before 4:30 AM to catch the early flight to Atlanta where we ate breakfast and caught a flight to Cozumel. The flights were on time and uneventful. Either Delta has increased the distance between seats or all the cramped flights on United has made me forget there airlines other than Southwest who give their passengers a reasonable amount of leg room.

We did a shore dive off the docks at the hotel to check out our gear before our boat dives tomorrow. Kim's inflator was leaking air into her BCD. We will need to fix that tomorrow. While Kim was using her magnifying glass to watch some of the tiny creatures on the reef a young adult French Angel Fish came over to welcome us to Cozumel.

A juvenile Lionfish was hiding in this Purple Vessel Coral. It was only a little over an inch long. They are very graceful and pretty fish but they are not native to the Caribbean and without any natural predators, they are upsetting ecosystem here. Unfortunately, I am not certified to kill any fish in this marine sanctuary so I could only admire and take pictures.
A Spotted Flat Tail Eel was out searching for food.
When I tried to peak under slab on the ocean floor this big Spotted Moray Eel  poked his head out to warn me that he would defend his home.
Monday Report:
Today we made 3 dives. This a purple tipped anemone that we saw on our first dive,
Kim swimming through huge coral formations.
A cluster of large barrel sponges sitting atop a pillar of coral.
A large crab tries to hide in a crevice in the wall of coral but Kim found him.
A grove of fan coral grows on the edge of the wall.
Two French Angel Fish travel stealthily under a coral ledge.
A rarely seen Pipefish. This one was less than two inches long moving along the sand.
A Queen Angel Fish swims past in the current.
Another Queen Angel Fish finds something to eat on the wall.
Kim was earning her keep as scout today. She found this Nurse Shark resting deep in the coral.
This striped bearded creature is Splendid Toad Fish. They are very hard to find because they hide deep under the coral and peak out as this one is doing.
Tuesday Report:
Two 6-Banded Butterfly Fish.
A Brown Croney hangs out in this barrel sponge.
Two Flamingo Tongued Snails crawling up some stick coral.
A huge Green Parrot Fish.
Kim floating along in her yoga pose to show off her excellent buoyancy.
This picture gives you some reference so you can see how small the Swallow Tail Nudibranch in the next picture is. You can see part of the divemaster's fingernail  in the picture. The length of the nudibranch is about half the width of the fingernail.
This little guy is less than an inch long. It is a Swallow Tail Nudibranch. This is the first one I have seen. It is crawling across very fine sand that looks like gravel in this close up picture.
A Queen Trigger Fish.
Rock Beauty.
A banded Shrimp crawling across an anemone.
Found another Splendid Toad Fish today.
Very healthy thick colorful coral.
Our first dive today was at Palancar Caves. Here Kim swimming out of the exit of a cave at 90 feet under the surface.
Wednesday Report:
Today was a great day of diving. On our last dive of the day we saw this Eagle Ray. It was huge. It had two remoras following it that were nearly 3 feet long.
This is a look at the ray as it swims away. Its wing span had to be over five feet. Johnny, Linda, Wally, Robin and Beth, this was very close to the size of the eagle ray we saw here Cozumel around New Years several years ago.
We also saw two turtles today. This Hawkbill was swimming through the coral on a morning dive.
This turtle was one we spotted on our last dive of the day. It was much larger than the first one.
This tiny yellow blenny popped his head out to let us get a couple of pictures.
The huge coral formations on the first morning dive were colorful.
Two French Angel Fish.
A gray Angel Fish.
A Juvenile Drum Fish.
Thursday Report:
Another beautiful day and three more dives. We saw lots and lots of Queen Angel fish like this one today.
One of the Queen Angels liked playing with Kim's bubbles.
It ended up swimming with Kim for several minutes. I think I may have lost my dive buddy.
We were seeing so many queen Angel Fish that I decided to look at them from a different point of view.
Here is one silhouetted against a sunburst.
We saw three Splendid Toad Fish on one dive today. That is a record for me.
A pair of Butterfly Fish out looking for something to eat.
A tower of coral shooting up towards the surface taken from this perspective 90 feet below the surface.
Anyone who has been diving with Kim knows what this means. She has spotted one of the fish in the picture below.
We drifted past a few King Barracudas today. Kim is afraid of Barracudas and she knows  that they are attracted to shiny things so whenever she sees one she turns her rings around and covers her ears so that the fish are not attracted to her jewelry.
A Hermit Crab digs a hole in the sand looking for food.
Kim was tired and decided to nap during one dive today.
Lion Fish have been hard to find this year. Last year we were seeing several on each dive but we have only seen 3 in our first 13 dives this trip.
A school of white fish.
A Scrawled File Fish.
We had some beautiful swim throughs today. Here is one with the light shining in from a hole in the ceiling.
Another cave with a skylight.
We saw a couple of turtles today. This was a small one.
Friday Report:
We had three great dives today. As with other days we saw an enormous amount of Queen Angel Fish. Two are seen here.
A huge Green Moray Eel was hiding deep in the coral. This one was about as big around as Kim's waste.
Kim found this Pipe Fish. It is about 3 inches long and not as thick as shoe string.
We have seen enough lobsters this week to feed an army. We saw a few out and about today.
We saw two large turtles on our last morning dive.
Saturday Report:
Our first dive today was on the ship wreck, Felipe Xicotencati (also known as C-53 Shipwreck). Here Kim is the first to descend the mooring line on to the wreck.
Kim penetrates the wreck to check out the inside.
As usual, we saw dozens of Angel fish on our dives today. This is one of the Gray Angel Fish.
Two Hermit Crabs have a conversation.
A couple of lobster came out to see the divers.
A Puffer Fish swam past us.
A Yellow Ray tries to hide in the sand on the ocean floor.

Date Location Dive Site Maximum Depth Bottom time
4/12/2015 Cozumel Dive Paradise Reef 21 50
4/13/2015 Cozumel Palancar Gardens 84 45
4/13/2015 Cozumel Yucab Reef 52 52
4/13/2015 Cozumel Paradise Reef 44 53
4/14/2015 Cozumel Palancar Bricks 90 44
4/14/2015 Cozumel San Clamente 47 55
4/14/2015 Cozumel Paradise South Reef 40 55
4/15/2015 Cozumel Palancar Gardens 77 42
4/15/2015 Cozumel Columbia Shallows 31 64
4/15/2015 Cozumel Paradise 48 48
4/16/2015 Cozumel Palancar Caves 70 53
4/16/2015 Cozumel Las Palmas 51 53
4/16/2015 Cozumel Paradise Reef 41 57
4/17/2015 Cozumel Paso del Cedral 55 45
4/17/2015 Cozumel Yucab Reef 59 44
4/17/2015 Cozumel Paradise Reef 45 37
4/18/2015 Cozumel Felipe Xicotencati 73 47
4/18/2015 Cozumel Chankanaab Reef 61 50

 

To see pictures from other dive trips, click on the button below to go to my SCUBA page. It has links to other pages of pictures and dive reports from many different dive trips over the years. 

                         Scuba Diving Page

         

www.drizz.com

Photo Albums Where Is Mike? Interests  
 

Hit Counter