Cozumel diving May 20 -21 2025
A few photos of diving. I had planned to dive the whole week with friends that came down from the States but I was on the tale end of some crud going around so I bailed on the first part of the week. I was hoping to play it day by day but since the DM/owner, Raul, wanted to have firm commitments for days on a second boat, I told him no. Unfortunately my friends were only here for the last two days of diving and my dive op (Scuba Diving Cozumel | Bottom Time Divers Cozumel) had no more divers after that. Since Raul (Owner/DM) had so many divers, he rented the Skinny Shark from Tres Pelicanos and we dove with DM Edgar and their captain on one day and the next on Rauls boat, Julieta, with Raul the second day.
The two days I dove the current was slow both days though the second day the currents were swirling at Palancar caves. I was told the currents earlier in the week the currents reversed to the south on Punta Tunich but were slow. The last day of my dives on Palancar caves the current, as I said were slow, but went up, down, in and out from shore (no reversal) which turned us around alot and made for more finning. The visibility was bad which caused a lot of backscatter in photos.
The first day we dove the end of La Francesa and into Dalila and the top of Santa Rosa the second. The second day we dove Palancar Caves and the top of Villa Blanca wall. The second dive of the second day my camera said no card on the display after we had descended, and no matter what I did underwater, I could not recover from it and had no photos. Once back at my house, I pulled the camera, turned it on and the error did not appear. I downloaded the photos from the first dive. I have no idea why the camera did that.
One of the group lost a fin on entry on a night dive at Paradise. Two days later we went back to Paradise after the first dive and within three minutes found the fin. The captain remembered exactly where they dropped. A miracle considering the night dives and snorkelers there.
It has been hot here lately though partly cloudy with little rain.
Water temps were warm and I dived in surf shorts and nylon t-shirt.
We all dived air the first tank and nitrox the second.
Asipona marina still requires name, boat and purpose to get in. I did not have to present ID. Same to leave the marina. Parking is still a pain but there is still the dirt lot if you go to the second roundabout, go West and then left into lot. It’s a bit more of a hike.
Though I had only two days diving, I noticed lots of schoolmasters and grunts, quite a few large juvenile drums, a free swimming brown spotted moray eel (daytime but see more on night dives), lots of small fish, not many lionfish, a Loggerhead, no Hawksbills, and large black grouper.
I dived on all dives with a wide-angle lens and big dome port so all photos are WA but I am practicing close focus wide angle shots especially with a big dome. However, this is a distinct disadvantage with small drums, slugs and nudi’s, etc.
Long snout sea horse
Longfin Damselfish
Sleeping nurse shark
Coral with Damselfish
Loggerhead turtle. I caught up to this one just in time for it to go up for air so a bit of turtle butt
I thought about posting pictures of food to get more views and comments but you'll just have to deal with diving photos.
A few photos of diving. I had planned to dive the whole week with friends that came down from the States but I was on the tale end of some crud going around so I bailed on the first part of the week. I was hoping to play it day by day but since the DM/owner, Raul, wanted to have firm commitments for days on a second boat, I told him no. Unfortunately my friends were only here for the last two days of diving and my dive op (Scuba Diving Cozumel | Bottom Time Divers Cozumel) had no more divers after that. Since Raul (Owner/DM) had so many divers, he rented the Skinny Shark from Tres Pelicanos and we dove with DM Edgar and their captain on one day and the next on Rauls boat, Julieta, with Raul the second day.
The two days I dove the current was slow both days though the second day the currents were swirling at Palancar caves. I was told the currents earlier in the week the currents reversed to the south on Punta Tunich but were slow. The last day of my dives on Palancar caves the current, as I said were slow, but went up, down, in and out from shore (no reversal) which turned us around alot and made for more finning. The visibility was bad which caused a lot of backscatter in photos.
The first day we dove the end of La Francesa and into Dalila and the top of Santa Rosa the second. The second day we dove Palancar Caves and the top of Villa Blanca wall. The second dive of the second day my camera said no card on the display after we had descended, and no matter what I did underwater, I could not recover from it and had no photos. Once back at my house, I pulled the camera, turned it on and the error did not appear. I downloaded the photos from the first dive. I have no idea why the camera did that.
One of the group lost a fin on entry on a night dive at Paradise. Two days later we went back to Paradise after the first dive and within three minutes found the fin. The captain remembered exactly where they dropped. A miracle considering the night dives and snorkelers there.
It has been hot here lately though partly cloudy with little rain.
Water temps were warm and I dived in surf shorts and nylon t-shirt.
We all dived air the first tank and nitrox the second.
Asipona marina still requires name, boat and purpose to get in. I did not have to present ID. Same to leave the marina. Parking is still a pain but there is still the dirt lot if you go to the second roundabout, go West and then left into lot. It’s a bit more of a hike.
Though I had only two days diving, I noticed lots of schoolmasters and grunts, quite a few large juvenile drums, a free swimming brown spotted moray eel (daytime but see more on night dives), lots of small fish, not many lionfish, a Loggerhead, no Hawksbills, and large black grouper.
I dived on all dives with a wide-angle lens and big dome port so all photos are WA but I am practicing close focus wide angle shots especially with a big dome. However, this is a distinct disadvantage with small drums, slugs and nudi’s, etc.
Long snout sea horse
Longfin Damselfish
Sleeping nurse shark
Coral with Damselfish
Loggerhead turtle. I caught up to this one just in time for it to go up for air so a bit of turtle butt
I thought about posting pictures of food to get more views and comments but you'll just have to deal with diving photos.
