Cozumel Trip report February 17-28, 2014
Travel, arrival and misc.
The flights and weather cooperated for our trip to Cozumel from Denver on AA via Dallas. No delays except in Dallas on the way back to Denver due to the plane we were to leave on arrived with a plugged toilet that took about 30 minutes to fix.
Immigration and Customs in Cozumel were very quick and we got our Customs green light I push the button because half the time my wife gets red. After leaving we stopped at Mega grocery store to pick up some extra water, supplies, munchies, etc and then proceeded to the old Reef Regency (now Sunscapes). No issues checking in.
My wife left a favorite white shirt on the bed one day and apparently the maid took it out with the sheets, not seeing it. Never got it back its in laundry heaven with a bunch of single socks.
We went into town a couple of times for dinner Guidos and Primas. I guess we like Italian.
Weather and diving
We had good weather all week. Warm topside with light wind but not hot I think low to mid 80s F and seemed to me, lower humidity. Almost no rain and what we did get, was mostly at night and brief. Very few mosquitos and sandfleas. The bit of wind we had caused some surface waves further south but was not bad at all for the 6-pack boat.
It was mostly partly cloudy which kept the heat down a bit and made SIs comfortable. The downside was lighting underwater. The switches between very bright and dark made lighting a challenge and ruined a couple of turtle silhouette shots.
Water temps were showing on my computer to be between 78 and 81degrees F but there were some spots that were definitely colder. This time of year I expect 74-78 F. We dove with Raul Platas of Bottom Time Divers (Cozumel Scuba Diving | Go diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator). Its hard to believe we have known him for about 15 years. On a few days, we had some new(er) divers Lenny, whose father Dan got the eagle ray video, and Mary Beth, who had her first ocean dives. Raul mostly stayed with them and we did our thing. I recall Mary Beth saying Loudives from SB referred Mary Beth to Raul. She did very well and I think Lenny got his weighting more under control. We met John again who we had met a year or two previously while diving. Unfortunately his battery compartment flooded in his camera.
All my dives were a minimum of 60 minutes to a maximum of around 75 minutes. We were generally cold at the end of the second dive due to the breeze but warmed up quickly. We dove on southern sites from Colombia to Cedral pass. We did not dive Punta Sur this time and unfortunately the eagle rays did not show up in force on the northern sites so we did not go there. In February 2013 they were there in several large groups and I got some great shots.
We did not get in any night dive this trip and its been awhile so maybe next trip.
I took my camera every day except one. And of course that one day, we get an eagle ray on our safety stop at our depth. He circled closely and approached my wife very closely. He apparently had a shark sucker or remora near his eye so we think maybe he was trying to get rid of it on us. But with no luck with that, he did a quick short dive and accelerated towards the surface and breached. One of the other divers had his video camera rolling so we are expecting the video from him (hint Dan).
We had another large eagle ray at depth that day which did not stick around long. After each eagle ray, Raul would turn to me and make camera shutter release motions. Just hilarious.
This trip we hoped to see more eagle rays but there were many turtles, mostly Hawksbill and we did see one massive Loggerhead. There were many large lobsters out jousting each other, quite a few Green Moray eels, a few larger Goldentail eels and hardly any brown spotted eels, many Spotted Drums, lots of Splendid Toadfish and nurse sharks. No reef sharks this time.
We left right before Carnival but thats ok. I was ready to come back and sleep in my own bed.
A few photos. I have been told that at times the photos here might be dark due to my monitor settings. If so let me know - new monitor as well and not calibrated.
Lots of hermit crabs that did not retreat as they usually do including the Giant Hermit a few photos further down below this one.
Whats for lunch?
This guy was pounding the sand and he left as soon as I got close. I thought when I took the photo that all I had was another fish butt photo but it turned out real well.
When I first spotted this I thought it was a piece of plastic but the color was vibrant. First Pederson cleaner shrimp Ive found.
Travel, arrival and misc.
The flights and weather cooperated for our trip to Cozumel from Denver on AA via Dallas. No delays except in Dallas on the way back to Denver due to the plane we were to leave on arrived with a plugged toilet that took about 30 minutes to fix.
Immigration and Customs in Cozumel were very quick and we got our Customs green light I push the button because half the time my wife gets red. After leaving we stopped at Mega grocery store to pick up some extra water, supplies, munchies, etc and then proceeded to the old Reef Regency (now Sunscapes). No issues checking in.
My wife left a favorite white shirt on the bed one day and apparently the maid took it out with the sheets, not seeing it. Never got it back its in laundry heaven with a bunch of single socks.
We went into town a couple of times for dinner Guidos and Primas. I guess we like Italian.
Weather and diving
We had good weather all week. Warm topside with light wind but not hot I think low to mid 80s F and seemed to me, lower humidity. Almost no rain and what we did get, was mostly at night and brief. Very few mosquitos and sandfleas. The bit of wind we had caused some surface waves further south but was not bad at all for the 6-pack boat.
It was mostly partly cloudy which kept the heat down a bit and made SIs comfortable. The downside was lighting underwater. The switches between very bright and dark made lighting a challenge and ruined a couple of turtle silhouette shots.
Water temps were showing on my computer to be between 78 and 81degrees F but there were some spots that were definitely colder. This time of year I expect 74-78 F. We dove with Raul Platas of Bottom Time Divers (Cozumel Scuba Diving | Go diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator). Its hard to believe we have known him for about 15 years. On a few days, we had some new(er) divers Lenny, whose father Dan got the eagle ray video, and Mary Beth, who had her first ocean dives. Raul mostly stayed with them and we did our thing. I recall Mary Beth saying Loudives from SB referred Mary Beth to Raul. She did very well and I think Lenny got his weighting more under control. We met John again who we had met a year or two previously while diving. Unfortunately his battery compartment flooded in his camera.
All my dives were a minimum of 60 minutes to a maximum of around 75 minutes. We were generally cold at the end of the second dive due to the breeze but warmed up quickly. We dove on southern sites from Colombia to Cedral pass. We did not dive Punta Sur this time and unfortunately the eagle rays did not show up in force on the northern sites so we did not go there. In February 2013 they were there in several large groups and I got some great shots.
We did not get in any night dive this trip and its been awhile so maybe next trip.
I took my camera every day except one. And of course that one day, we get an eagle ray on our safety stop at our depth. He circled closely and approached my wife very closely. He apparently had a shark sucker or remora near his eye so we think maybe he was trying to get rid of it on us. But with no luck with that, he did a quick short dive and accelerated towards the surface and breached. One of the other divers had his video camera rolling so we are expecting the video from him (hint Dan).
We had another large eagle ray at depth that day which did not stick around long. After each eagle ray, Raul would turn to me and make camera shutter release motions. Just hilarious.
This trip we hoped to see more eagle rays but there were many turtles, mostly Hawksbill and we did see one massive Loggerhead. There were many large lobsters out jousting each other, quite a few Green Moray eels, a few larger Goldentail eels and hardly any brown spotted eels, many Spotted Drums, lots of Splendid Toadfish and nurse sharks. No reef sharks this time.
We left right before Carnival but thats ok. I was ready to come back and sleep in my own bed.
A few photos. I have been told that at times the photos here might be dark due to my monitor settings. If so let me know - new monitor as well and not calibrated.
Lots of hermit crabs that did not retreat as they usually do including the Giant Hermit a few photos further down below this one.
Whats for lunch?
This guy was pounding the sand and he left as soon as I got close. I thought when I took the photo that all I had was another fish butt photo but it turned out real well.
When I first spotted this I thought it was a piece of plastic but the color was vibrant. First Pederson cleaner shrimp Ive found.
