Cozumel May 2024
I dove 6 days at the end of May with friends from Virginia and Chicago.
The first three days I had no camera but used it for wide angle shots the last 3. I am still practicing with that and trying to get f-stop and shutter speed combos in shape. They are different than my zoom lens in a flat port.
We dove the southern sites including Colombia, Dalila wall, San Francisco and Santa Rosa walls. The day of the Colombia dive we did Colombia Shallows for the second. The second dives of the others we did Punta Tunich, Tormentos and Yucab. When Palancar Gardens opened on June 1 we dove it and La Francesa.
I dove with Bottom Time Divers (Scuba Diving Cozumel | Bottom Time Divers Cozumel) again on his boat the Julieta. We left from the Asipona marina (formerly Fonatur – old concession/management) around 8 am every day.
There is now a large dirt parking lot on the north end of the marina. If you come in and go right (north) from the first roundabout, go to the second roundabout and go left (West), the first curb cut (as I recall) to the left is a big lot to park. It is I think bigger than the old one. Then there is a bit of a hike past the first marina to get to the “usual” marina. You can still park on the street between the two roundabouts but it gets crowded and there is a guard who tries to get everyone to park on one side of the street.
Entering the marina property is the same, Name, Boat and Purpose but now they check you out with the same.
Weather was hot and has been so for about a month with very little rain.
Visibility at times was down but overall was good. Lots of backscatter on distance shots through a lot of water.
Water temps were very warm and many on the boat were diving in a nylon shirt.
Currents were slow with a few exceptions on a couple of walls and Punta Tunich one day.
I saw no Hawksbill turtles which could be seasonal. I know the Green turtles are mating now across the channel.
I finally saw the Hammerhead shark but at a distance so no photos. It was on the sand towards the island from a wall.
We saw several small reef sharks different days on the walls
We came across a very large loggerhead turtle on one dive.
We found a baitball in the coral pillars at a southern site.
We found the usual suspects: Toadfish, scorpionfish, usual fish, Yellow and Southern rays, nurse sharks, a couple of Green Moray eels, some Brown Spotted and Goldentail moray eels. A few more black groupers than March 2024. Balloon and pufferfish.
We did find one octopus in a hole but he kept covering up with shells so no photos. I did find, on a day with no camera, what is called here, a red octopus. I believe its name is white spotted octopus. It is smaller than the common octopus here.
Later in the week we came across some reef squid.
Chromis
Damselfish
Grunts
Goldentail moray eel
Bait ball
I dove 6 days at the end of May with friends from Virginia and Chicago.
The first three days I had no camera but used it for wide angle shots the last 3. I am still practicing with that and trying to get f-stop and shutter speed combos in shape. They are different than my zoom lens in a flat port.
We dove the southern sites including Colombia, Dalila wall, San Francisco and Santa Rosa walls. The day of the Colombia dive we did Colombia Shallows for the second. The second dives of the others we did Punta Tunich, Tormentos and Yucab. When Palancar Gardens opened on June 1 we dove it and La Francesa.
I dove with Bottom Time Divers (Scuba Diving Cozumel | Bottom Time Divers Cozumel) again on his boat the Julieta. We left from the Asipona marina (formerly Fonatur – old concession/management) around 8 am every day.
There is now a large dirt parking lot on the north end of the marina. If you come in and go right (north) from the first roundabout, go to the second roundabout and go left (West), the first curb cut (as I recall) to the left is a big lot to park. It is I think bigger than the old one. Then there is a bit of a hike past the first marina to get to the “usual” marina. You can still park on the street between the two roundabouts but it gets crowded and there is a guard who tries to get everyone to park on one side of the street.
Entering the marina property is the same, Name, Boat and Purpose but now they check you out with the same.
Weather was hot and has been so for about a month with very little rain.
Visibility at times was down but overall was good. Lots of backscatter on distance shots through a lot of water.
Water temps were very warm and many on the boat were diving in a nylon shirt.
Currents were slow with a few exceptions on a couple of walls and Punta Tunich one day.
I saw no Hawksbill turtles which could be seasonal. I know the Green turtles are mating now across the channel.
I finally saw the Hammerhead shark but at a distance so no photos. It was on the sand towards the island from a wall.
We saw several small reef sharks different days on the walls
We came across a very large loggerhead turtle on one dive.
We found a baitball in the coral pillars at a southern site.
We found the usual suspects: Toadfish, scorpionfish, usual fish, Yellow and Southern rays, nurse sharks, a couple of Green Moray eels, some Brown Spotted and Goldentail moray eels. A few more black groupers than March 2024. Balloon and pufferfish.
We did find one octopus in a hole but he kept covering up with shells so no photos. I did find, on a day with no camera, what is called here, a red octopus. I believe its name is white spotted octopus. It is smaller than the common octopus here.
Later in the week we came across some reef squid.
Chromis
Damselfish
Grunts
Goldentail moray eel
Bait ball
