Well, I never got around to posting about our Cozumel trip, so I am trying to get this report in asap before I forget.
Arrived in Orlando late last Wed. night. We went to Disneyland on Thursday, my husband has never been there, we had a lot of fun. Thursday night, we had a reception/social to attend. Afterwards, Simbrooks from Scubaboard met us at our hotel, where we visited a while. He and his girlfriend took us to eat, and we had a great time getting to know them. On Friday we hopped on busses to Port Canaveral to catch the Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas. We were with a large group from my husband's job.
Sat. we went to dive with Stuart Cove's dive shop. They picked up the ship's divers at our port, and took us via mini-bus to the dive shop.
This was the ship's excursion- since we've never been to the Bahamas, we felt like this would be the best option, although more costly. It turned out to be a good move.
We boarded a big dive boat, tanks in the middle of the boat with cover and benches around the tank holders. The perimeter of the boat was flat, no sides. (there's probably a name for these type of boats and I'm just ignorant about what they are.) It was great for entering the water, as all the divers could just about giant stride at the same time, there were so many points of entry. There were approximately 10 divers, counting us.
We did the DC-3 wall dive, on the Tongue of the Ocean. The DC-3 was sunk for the movie "Into the Deep." Started along the coral first, around 40', then dropped over the edge of the cliff-like wall. The wall is 6500' deep, sheer drop into the abyss. I loved that, felt like flying beside a mountain. We drifed around 80' on the wall, then eventually made our way back up to around 45'-60' and found the DC-3 plane wreck. The wreck was in pretty bad shape from the hurricanes this past fall- it was in pieces, scattered around the site.
Saw several of the typical reef fish, and had a real treat during our safety stop. While I was hanging on the line at 15', I saw a shadow moving below me in near the bottom. I couldn't believe my eyes as the shape took form, it was a HUGE eagle ray. Around 6-8' wingspan and 6-8' tail in a perfectly straight line behind it. Very regal animal. We all watched it in fascination as it took a leisurely fly-by beneath us, almost like it was showing off. It finally disappeared in the distance (around 100' vis), and we ascended at the end of our stop. Everyone was real excited, back on the boat- it had come so close that we could count the spots on it's back.
The second dive was to the James Bond wrecks. One is a "submarine" from Never Say Never Again, called "The Tears of Allah". It had a large school of beautiful snubnose blue parrotfish feeding around it. These fish were huge, from 2-3 ft each, and brilliant turqouise blue, and looked like they had LIPSTICK on. This was my first time to see this particular solid blue species. They would attack the brain coral with a hard pop, then chew whatever they could get.
The second wreck on this dive was what remained of a canvas covered frame of a Vulcan bomber that was used in James Bond's Thunderball. This particular wreck has been sunk for 30+ years. The canvas that covered the wreck has long since deteriorated and the framework is all that remains. However, sponges and corals, especially the fan corals, have made this a very cool framework, indeed. There was lots of life in this site, including two huge queen angels.
We finished our dive by exploring the nearby reef, and saw lots of small fish, including two squirrelfish and a trumpetfish. We had a very nice time, and on the second dive, we were free to explore on our own, as the divemaster told us where the sites were and let us go for it.
The water was cold, somewhere around 70-74 degrees, so we wore our 3 mm, and I was wishing I had a 5mm. But it was worth getting a little cold.
The next day, we were supposed to dive at CocoCay, the Royal Caribbean's private island. Due to high swells, the captain deemed it unsafe to tender the cruise ship passengers to the island, so... on the ship we stayed, and took a slow trek back to Port Canaveral.
Even with the CocoCay disappointment, we had a good time. But we're glad to be home too. Hope you enjoyed this report.
Foo
Arrived in Orlando late last Wed. night. We went to Disneyland on Thursday, my husband has never been there, we had a lot of fun. Thursday night, we had a reception/social to attend. Afterwards, Simbrooks from Scubaboard met us at our hotel, where we visited a while. He and his girlfriend took us to eat, and we had a great time getting to know them. On Friday we hopped on busses to Port Canaveral to catch the Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas. We were with a large group from my husband's job.
Sat. we went to dive with Stuart Cove's dive shop. They picked up the ship's divers at our port, and took us via mini-bus to the dive shop.
This was the ship's excursion- since we've never been to the Bahamas, we felt like this would be the best option, although more costly. It turned out to be a good move.
We boarded a big dive boat, tanks in the middle of the boat with cover and benches around the tank holders. The perimeter of the boat was flat, no sides. (there's probably a name for these type of boats and I'm just ignorant about what they are.) It was great for entering the water, as all the divers could just about giant stride at the same time, there were so many points of entry. There were approximately 10 divers, counting us.
We did the DC-3 wall dive, on the Tongue of the Ocean. The DC-3 was sunk for the movie "Into the Deep." Started along the coral first, around 40', then dropped over the edge of the cliff-like wall. The wall is 6500' deep, sheer drop into the abyss. I loved that, felt like flying beside a mountain. We drifed around 80' on the wall, then eventually made our way back up to around 45'-60' and found the DC-3 plane wreck. The wreck was in pretty bad shape from the hurricanes this past fall- it was in pieces, scattered around the site.
Saw several of the typical reef fish, and had a real treat during our safety stop. While I was hanging on the line at 15', I saw a shadow moving below me in near the bottom. I couldn't believe my eyes as the shape took form, it was a HUGE eagle ray. Around 6-8' wingspan and 6-8' tail in a perfectly straight line behind it. Very regal animal. We all watched it in fascination as it took a leisurely fly-by beneath us, almost like it was showing off. It finally disappeared in the distance (around 100' vis), and we ascended at the end of our stop. Everyone was real excited, back on the boat- it had come so close that we could count the spots on it's back.
The second dive was to the James Bond wrecks. One is a "submarine" from Never Say Never Again, called "The Tears of Allah". It had a large school of beautiful snubnose blue parrotfish feeding around it. These fish were huge, from 2-3 ft each, and brilliant turqouise blue, and looked like they had LIPSTICK on. This was my first time to see this particular solid blue species. They would attack the brain coral with a hard pop, then chew whatever they could get.
The second wreck on this dive was what remained of a canvas covered frame of a Vulcan bomber that was used in James Bond's Thunderball. This particular wreck has been sunk for 30+ years. The canvas that covered the wreck has long since deteriorated and the framework is all that remains. However, sponges and corals, especially the fan corals, have made this a very cool framework, indeed. There was lots of life in this site, including two huge queen angels.
We finished our dive by exploring the nearby reef, and saw lots of small fish, including two squirrelfish and a trumpetfish. We had a very nice time, and on the second dive, we were free to explore on our own, as the divemaster told us where the sites were and let us go for it.
The water was cold, somewhere around 70-74 degrees, so we wore our 3 mm, and I was wishing I had a 5mm. But it was worth getting a little cold.
The next day, we were supposed to dive at CocoCay, the Royal Caribbean's private island. Due to high swells, the captain deemed it unsafe to tender the cruise ship passengers to the island, so... on the ship we stayed, and took a slow trek back to Port Canaveral.
Even with the CocoCay disappointment, we had a good time. But we're glad to be home too. Hope you enjoyed this report.
Foo
Sounds like you had fun on your weekend away - would like to do that some time! The water temps are around there in S FL too, they arent that far apart, it will heat up again soon.
