COZUMEL

COZUMEL 2009

Cozumel is an island in Mexico 12 miles off the coast of the Mayan Riviera.

The diving there is great. Mostly drift diving due to the mild to strong currents.

This is a link to the resort I stayed at:

Overall, I got in 17 dives. 15 hours and 56 minutes underwater. When drift diving,
you have to ascend when the groups ascends to be picked up by the boat so it limits
bottom time on some dives. Deepest dive was 105 feet at a dive site named Columbia. Saw
7 seahorses (pics of 5 can be seen below). The water was warm. Usually 84 degrees. I did not
wear a wet suit all week.

I met some really great people and formed some friendships with many people on the boats.
One lady that dove on the same boat that I did almost every day was in her 70's and made
dive number 1,500 early in the week. I only have 736 at this point so now I have a new goal.

Check back. If I can get good internet access I may be able post pictures of dives each day.

Arrived in Cozumel and decided to go for check out dive off the dock. Hotel is nice and right across the street form the dive operation. I lucked out and got the room that is closest to the docks.
Jumped in the water the first day to do a check out dive. Just a quick dive off the docks to make sure my dive gear and camera are working before I get out on the reefs. Not much coral around the docks but lots of creatures. This octopus was one of the first ones I saw.

Arrow crab

Juvenile French Angel Fish.

I think I may have found a lost Mayan village. This Mayan pyramid was less than 200 feet off the docks. I am pretty sure it dates back to before Columbus discovered the new world.

Sunday: Got in 3 dives today. The water was warm. 84 to 85 on each dive. I didn't even need a wet suit. Not easy to take pictures when you're drifting at 6 knots.

Lots of colorful coral.

Monday: I made three more dives today. Made several new friends today. Morning dives, I got on the slow boat again. We made three stops at other hotel docks to pick up more divers. We went to Columbia. Great dive site but at the far south end of the island. When you are on the slow boat, it takes almost two hours to get down there. Had lots of time to meet the others on the boat. There was a father and daughter from Argentina, a young man from Los Angeles, two couples and a family of three from Texas. With all those Longhorns fans, and I in my Ohio State dive cap, I had to discuss the Cotton Bowl three times (once with each group). One of the ladies on the boat told me she liked my pink cap. I think after 12 years, it has faded too much. It may be time to get some Rit dye or a new hat. I have had that same hat since 1997 and it has made over 700 dives with me.
OK, back to the pictures: This is a big loggerhead turtle we found at 105 feet on Columbia.

Scroll fish

Big grouper. Saw a few larger ones but I was moving too fast to get a good picture.

Queen Angel fish. These guys seem to always be in pairs on Cozumel. I saw at least 7 pair today. Most were under a shelf of coral. Without a strobe, it was too dark to get a pic. This one was swimming between coral heads. Its mate was ahead of him.

Two French Angel fish waiting for scraps from this large turtle.

Beautiful colorful coral was everywhere.

The boat ride was long today. I did not get back to the dock after two morning dives until after 2:00 in the afternoon. But there are worse places to be than stuck on a slow boat in Cozumel with beautiful blue and green waters all around.

Tuesday was another day of warm water diving. Haven't needed a wetsuit yet. Not much time for updates. I was out late at a local karaoke bar. It is kind of Cozumel's version of Whiskey Willy's. One of the divemasters took me and two other divers. It was very interesting. All the songs were in Spanish except for two that one of the other divers sang. Unfortunately they didn't have any of my songs.

Anyway, back to the pictures. Today was Sea Horse day. We found 5....count them 5! This one is just a little baby. Barely and inch tall.

This is the same small dark brown seahorse with another diver, Nina, in the background to give some scale of size.

This light orange one was also small but bigger than the one above. It was difficult to get a good picture. It is holding on to a small plant in the lower tight area of the picture.

This light brown guy was holding on to some short soft coral and you could only see his upper body.

Here is light yellow one that is pretty well out in the open.

This orange seahorse was the largest of the five we saw today. Tanya is taking a close look.

Queen angel fish (notice the blue circular crown on the head) checks me out as I drift by.

A honeycomb cow fish.

Beautiful colorful coral looks almost artificial at times.
Various types of sponges, hard and soft coral.

Several various types of coral.

More coral.

Majestic coral formations make for some dramatic swim throughs.

A turtle swims by looking for something to eat.

This big loggerhead is chowing down on some coral as Tanya swims against the current (notice her bubbles are not going up in the current) to take in the sight for a few seconds.

big lobster hiding under a shelf of coral.

A juvenile French Angel Fish.

Relaxing on the top deck of the dive boat on the way out to the morning dive sites.

Huge coral formations dwarf the divers as they move through in single file.

Is that a shark?

Oh Shit!!!! It is a 7 foot shark!!!

You have to look close. In the center of the picture is a very small (about the size of a pea) juvenile Trunk fish. He bobs in and out of the little hole in the coral that he hides in.

Gray angel fish.

This has to be the biggest midnight parrot fish I have ever seen. This guy could take you head off.

This was a first for me. A barracuda at a cleaning station. I didn't want to get too close because they are very vulnerable when they are at cleaning stations and usually spook easily if you get close. Little cleaning fish were traveling over his body removing dirt and parasites while others went inside his mouth to clean food from around his big teeth.

A pair of French Angel fish drift by.

Beautiful anemone with purple tips.

Relaxing on the boat between morning dives.

This is largest Hog Fish I have ever seen. He was almost 4 feet long.

While spotted file fish. He is hiding his white spots right now to help him blend in and be less visible to preditors.

Small fish swim above the reef.

More interesting coral.

A smaller hawksbill turtle swims right through our dive group to check us out. He came within a foot of several of the divers as he weaved between us.

Divers drift a coral formation including some lavender translucent vessel coral.

A couple of Pork fish try to blend in with a school of Lane Snappers.

This lady was always always sitting in the lobby reading. She was pretty but not real friendly. I tried talking to her a few times, usually after a few drinks but she is not much of a talker. It doesn't really matter. I can manage to keep up a conversation on my own.

This is my good buddy Senior Frog. He has a few bars on some of the islands where I like to dive.

Date	Location	Dive Site	Maximum Depth	Bottom Time
8/8/2009	Cozumel	Dive Paradise Reef	21	64
8/9/2009	Cozumel	Palancar Gardens	83	57
8/9/2009	Cozumel	Bolones of Chancanab	65	58
8/9/2009	Cozumel	Villa Blanca	65	56
8/10/2009	Cozumel	Columbia	106	50
8/10/2009	Cozumel	Tormentos Reef	78	56
8/10/2009	Cozumel	Villa Blanca	62	52
8/11/2009	Cozumel	Santa Rosa Wall	78	46
8/11/2009	Cozumel	Yucab Reef	64	63
8/11/2009	Cozumel	Paraduse Reef	52	55
8/12/2009	Cozumel	Palancar Caves	92	51
8/12/2009	Cozumel	Cedral Wall	63	61
8/12/2009	Cozumel	Villa Blanca	63	54
8/13/2009	Cozumel	Palancar Bricks	88	62
8/13/2009	Cozumel	Yucab Reef	49	61
8/14/2009	Cozumel	Palancar Gardens	87	49
8/14/2009	Cozumel	Delilah	65	61

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.

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