First trip to Coz

[BettyfromToronto]

Totally agree with Sideways - also we got eaten alive with the bugs in Roatan. We did Roatan before Cozumel and thought the reef was beautiful but were disappointed with the lack of fish. Cozumel had so much more and we like going with the current. (Unless the group includes newbies)

We won't be back to Roatan now that we live here and when I said "hey we can drive to Belize"...someone asked "but why would you when the diving is better here than Ambergis Caye".

Betty

 

[Brules]

Sorry you experienced all current all the time. There are actually a lot of sites there that have little to no current - and several that are always ripping. As ggun said, Columbia Shallows is always like glass....it is by far one of my favs for 90 minutes of smooth slow heaven!

 

[Carl_F]

A couple clarifications ...

I don't mind drift diving and have done my fair share and have the skills. I just don't care for the same thing all the time and it makes it more difficult to get the macro stuff since you're zooming by so its hard to spot the smaller stuff. I did get some on the camera when I did spot them. Just need to do some post processing on the pics. The decaying eyes also don't help spotting the small stuff when it's in front of you. Going to get prescription lenses this year. The small bifocal inserts aren't cutting it other than for effective reading of the dive computer.

The pic is of my wife who is a new diver. The pic is with her first turtle. The dangly bit is her GoPro with a handle on a retractable leash. Normally she's got it in hand.

The fixed mooring dives I've done rarely returned to the same spot. The boat would head up a few hundred yards near where we were likely to end dive so no having to return to the same spot. The only time I've returned to the same spot was on shore dives. No problems there.

I didn't notice a "lack of fish" in one place vs the other. Just different fish in different numbers as I mentioned in my post. Both places had plenty of small fish (chromis's, damsels), barracuda (singles in Roatan, singles and schooling in threes in Coz), grouper (more in Roatan vs Coz), French & gray & queen angels, etc.

Just comparing / contrasting. Like I said, great diving either way.

 

[ggunn]

... I just don't care for the same thing all the time and it makes it more difficult to get the macro stuff since you're zooming by so its hard to spot the smaller stuff. I did get some on the camera when I did spot them. Just need to do some post processing on the pics. The decaying eyes also don't help spotting the small stuff when it's in front of you. Going to get prescription lenses this year. The small bifocal inserts aren't cutting it other than for effective reading of the dive computer.

Did you make it out to Colombia Shallows? The current is usually light to nonexistent there and there is plenty of macro stuff to look at. I have an 8" magnifying glass I take with me for looking at it. I bought a cheap glass with a plastic frame, drilled a hole through the handle, ran a line through it with a carabiner on the other end, and presto! It's dive gear!

 

[Mossman]

Did you make it out to Colombia Shallows? The current is usually light to nonexistent there and there is plenty of macro stuff to look at. I have an 8" magnifying glass I take with me for looking at it. I bought a cheap glass with a plastic frame, drilled a hole through the handle, ran a line through it with a carabiner on the other end, and presto! It's dive gear!

My last dive there, the current was very palpable. I was trying to shoot macro and burned through a 120 in only 75 min.

 

[Lionfish51]

We love drift diving! the more current the better, no still shots with camera but you use less air as you are like on a subway!

 

[bhalah]

My last dive there, the current was very palpable. I was trying to shoot macro and burned through a 120 in only 75 min.

Moss, you gotta get a smaller camera.

 

[Carl_F]

Did you make it out to Colombia Shallows? The current is usually light to nonexistent there and there is plenty of macro stuff to look at. I have an 8" magnifying glass I take with me for looking at it. I bought a cheap glass with a plastic frame, drilled a hole through the handle, ran a line through it with a carabiner on the other end, and presto! It's dive gear!

No. We were outside there in Columbia Deep for at least one, maybe two dives. The dive op didn't seem to have Columbia Shallows on the menu. I'll have to ask for it if I go back that way.

I like the idea of the magnifying glass!! I'll have to try it out!

 

[ibj40]

We won't be back to Roatan now that we live here and when I said "hey we can drive to Belize"...someone asked "but why would you when the diving is better here than Ambergis Caye".

Betty

Isn't this kind of like saying "I'd never go to the United States because I hear Detroit, Michigan is in bankruptcy"? Judging diving in Belize where the only sample is Ambergris really understates the experiences available from such locations as Turneffe, Glover's, and Placencia, to name a few.

"Someone" needs to do more research.

 

[Mossman]

We love drift diving! the more current the better, no still shots with camera but you use less air as you are like on a subway!

Unless the current is totally ripping, wide angle isn't too difficult with a current. Macro can be harder, but sometimes your subject is drifting with you, other times there are coral heads to duck behind to minimize the effort to stay in place.

When there's current in the first part of the Columbia Shallows dive, however, there's nowhere to "hide". Getting shots of tiny critters can be especially frustrating. I probably burned a few hundred psi on this one shot and it still came out blurry:



On the other hand, I think it was the unusual current there that convinced this blenny to leave her hole completely, and being much larger than a painted elysia, the shot was doable: