Great Ulua dives today

[adjuster-jd]

Did two dives at Ulua today - first one with my daughter - so no camera. As we got out on the second reef we spotted a Manta Ray !!! It was close enough to get a good look but it didnt stay around.. I was in awe as was my daughter. Lots of turtles at what I am guessing is the cleaning station (left side of the reef). On the way back we saw a spotted eagle ray. Unfortunately at that point my daughter was having some mask leakage problems and didnt see the eagle ray.

I took her back to shore, changed out tanks and went back out with my camera. Saw the eagle ray on the second reef and did a couple still shots and then some video (with my still camera, so nothing fancy). Followed the eagle around for a while and it let me back over to the turtle cleaning station. Only one turtle there at that time. Hung around and took some pics of the turtle.

The eagle ray appeared again on my way back and I got pretty close. Having only seen an eagle ray on a dive once before, I was captivated....

Two great dives..

 

[justleesa]

Sounds like you had a great time ....where are the pics?

 

[adjuster-jd]

I haven't done a great job of sorting them out but I have posted some to my gallery
at http://www.teleis.com/gallery
Enjoy

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

I was there last night. I was preparing some plankton/shrimp stew but the Manta didn't show up! I'll post my pics later! Glad you're having a good time!

Sean

 

[adjuster-jd]

Sorry I couldnt join you last night - I was booked on the MDS boat for the Carthaginian and night dive..
Carthaginian was a neat wreck (I'm not accustomed to diving wrecks in vis where you can see them from the surface)... Couple nice frog fish there.
Night dive was pretty much uneventful at Pali Drift.

 

[KrisB]

Sorry I couldnt join you last night - I was booked on the MDS boat for the Carthaginian and night dive..
Carthaginian was a neat wreck (I'm not accustomed to diving wrecks in vis where you can see them from the surface)... Couple nice frog fish there.
Night dive was pretty much uneventful at Pali Drift.

They took you on a live drift at night? EEK!

Good to hear you had a couple good dives. I suspect you indeed found the cleaning station -- typically there are fewer turtles there around lunch time and early afternoon... not sure why. Maybe the sharks think it's lunch time, too... or maybe the turtles do so they're looking for a nice salad bar.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Sorry I couldnt join you last night - I was booked on the MDS boat for the Carthaginian and night dive..

I'll be heading up to either Airport or the Mala Pier on Saturday... If you're still in the area and intersted, let me know!

Sean

 

[adjuster-jd]

Kris,
The night dive at Pali Drift didnt have any noticeable current to me. I don't think the boat anchored but there was no problem staying nearby. Drift, maybe, but not much of one.

 

[KrisB]

Kris,
The night dive at Pali Drift didnt have any noticeable current to me. I don't think the boat anchored but there was no problem staying nearby. Drift, maybe, but not much of one.

Yeah, maybe it's just me, but I like the boat to be where I left it (and, in the case of boat crew, the divers to be where I left them) when doing night dives.

I guess it doesn't help that I would call that particular site the "lazy" site for them -- it's just around the corner from the harbour, and there really isn't anything terribly incredible about it.

 

[howard4113]

Night drift dives in Cozumel are the norm. The water's clear enough that the boat just follows the lights. We went on one dive where our extra buddy bailed about halfway thru. He and his wife (who doesn't dive but was on the boat) said our light cannons lit up the reef so well that they could see detailed features from the boat in 45'-60' of water.