Cozumel Diving Dec 19-22 2020

[Steelyeyes]

More Photos

Peacock Flounder

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Porcupine fish

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Scorpionfish

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Seascape with Chromis. One of the few wide angles where I managed to get the Chromis decently.

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Various fish all going after something in the coral head but don't know what.

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Seascape with Black Grouper

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I think these are Southern Sennet.

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Spotted Cleaner shrimp

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Spotted Eagle Ray (butt)

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Yellow stingray

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Yep, those are Sennet. Great job on the Black Durgeon. Getting their subtle pattern and colors is really difficult.

 

[tarponchik]

I don't see them frequently but I can say they are mostly in the flats and off reefs/pillars. Many dive shops don't want to take people only to the grass or sand flats since they may not see anything. However these are the same areas to see seahorses, flying gunards, batfish, sand divers, snake eels and chain eels (shallower sites) and other things. This electric ray was in the sand off Palancar Gardens when we were coming inshore to come up. We usually come in quite a bit towards shore.

I understand. I have a pic of electric ray from our previous trip back in 03. Saw a pair of flying gurnards this time in the sands off the dive shop. Plenty of yellow rays indeed.

 

[loudives]

Cozumel Diving Dec 19-22 2020

Four days (8 dives) of diving before Christmas and some photos.

I dove with Raul and Bottom Time Divers, dove south sites and many of the Palancars as some on the boat had not been there or much before. We dove Cedral Pass, Cedral wall, Dalila and a hybrid of the flats in front of the white house/Cedral Wall/Cedral pass - a bit of swimming.
Raul just finished painting and fixing up his boat. Looks nice. At times I didn't recognize it from below.

Currents were at times non-existent to medium on Cedral wall. Overall slow current.
Water temps were 80 to 81 F on all dives.
Visibility was decent to good.
Average dive time 67 minutes per dive.
Weather has been mostly clear with light winds some days.
There was a bit of surface chop at times due to wind but was not bad. Other times the water was flat with sun.
Parking at the marina is still a pain.
By report the new park fee kicks in next year.
A friend on vacation in PDC came over one day on the first 8 am Ultramar ferry to dive and said it was packed. We warned him to get in line early for screening and occupancy.

These dives I used wide angle two days and a normal zoom lens for two. I was hoping for eagle ray schools but no luck. Many of the shots I took of things up close were wide angle. I was trying some close focus wide angle and it did fairly well but I noticed I really had to watch strobe angle and power more.
The large dome port did affect buoyancy a bit over the flat port.

This trip I noticed as in November, many more yellow sting rays. The green eels are in the usual spots, alot of lobster (smaller in groups under ledges) and less turtles although we saw them on almost every dive and all hawksbill. Lots of fish on Palancars, Dalila and Cedral Pass. Note in one of the Green Moray Eel photos, someone tried feeding it a piece of hot dog. When there, taking the photo, I thought it was a piece of sponge in the sand - a hogfish and the eel kept going at it. I spotted it after downloading photos.

While some have seen Eagle Rays in groups, we saw 5 singles and all seemed to be going south on a mission.

Looking at my dive log, I had 76 dives in 2020 with quarantine and 4 more than last year. I expected less this year.

Barrucuda
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Black Durgon
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Channel crab
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Green Moray Eel - Before we arrived, somebody tried feeding it a hot dog.
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Green Moray
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Hawksbill turtle
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Hawksbill turtle coming back down
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Juvenile Spotted Drum
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Lesser electric ray
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Nurse shark. The free swimming eel above went in next to the shark.
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One last one

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Dale are you watching the rays from your balcony? News article here in Chicago that many ray this year at eagle ray station

 

[ColoDale]

Dale are you watching the rays from your balcony? News article here in Chicago that many ray this year at eagle ray station

Hey Lou. There seem to alot around and earlier than years past. Lorie saw one in close awhile back from our place. We did not make it up north this trip. I think some newer divers. Raul has divers in after Xmas and January and I'll see about it. During quarantine we saw dolphins in close but no more. See you in awhile.

 

[Cozdreamer]

Thank you for posting your pictures. I miss the island and water terribly.

 

[cozcharlie]

I don't see them frequently but I can say they are mostly in the flats and off reefs/pillars. Many dive shops don't want to take people only to the grass or sand flats since they may not see anything. However these are the same areas to see seahorses, flying gunards, batfish, sand divers, snake eels and chain eels (shallower sites) and other things. This electric ray was in the sand off Palancar Gardens when we were coming inshore to come up. We usually come in quite a bit towards shore.

What he said .

I used to go to 200 foot and beyond all the time , but for the past decade I have strongly preferred long shallow dives. One time the DM and I actually dropped in off Presidente and never actually even made it to Paradise in a 90 minute dive. Were just moving that slowly looking for stuff.

I understand if you only make one dive trip a year you want to spend a good amount of time on enjoying the structures at Palancar and the classic Cozumel wall dives like Santa Rosa , but if you have the time after checking off the “must see” sites try to spend some in the shallows. Nothing in life is guaranteed but these dives are often worthwhile. Just don’t give the DM/shop grief it is a bust—I think this is why they lean towards Palancar and the walls since they know the reefs/walls will be there regardless. People tend to get pissed if they spend 70 minutes in the flats/sand/sea grass and don’t see much —that is just the risk you take for trying to see different things

The other thing is that if you are with a valet/boutique op the shallower dives tend to last longer. The simple fact is that the longer you spend underwater the more marine life you tend to see. Very rarely does a shorter dive at a deeper spot yield more marine life encounters than a longer dive at a shallower spot. The scenery (walls/reefs) can be better at deeper spots , but usually not the marine life (aside from occasional random encounter on deep wall one out of every 10 or 20 dives ).

Just my two cents. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all.

PS. Sorry you didn’t see more eagle rays @ColoDale I know you posted before your dives you were hoping for those. At least you saw some (as evidenced by your photo )

 

[ColoDale]

Thanks for the comments in general. Strange that sunset got more likes than the fish/critters. Maybe it's cold and overcast in the States . All good tho.

 

[cozcharlie]

Thanks for the comments in general. Strange that sunset got more likes than the fish/critters. Maybe it's cold and overcast in the States . All good tho.

Sunset was just last photo in the set as I was scrolling through so that is what I “liked”. Closer hawksbill and spotted cleaner shrimp were my two favorite photos

Lesser electric ray probably the most interesting subject but not necessarily the most photogenic subject due to lack of color (not photographers fault ).