Photos and report for Cozumel April 2018. The usual suspects.
We dove south for the first 3 days and north for two days. We did go to Colombia Deep and had wanted to get to Punta Sur Sur but that one fell through. Northern sites were San Juan, Eagle Ray Station knowing the season had ended for Eagle Rays but did see one that did not linger. We did find a large Green Moray Eel that tried disappearing in the wall at 94 feet. We stayed a bit too long and had to watch NDL time the rest of the dive. We dove more towards the shore for two other dives. One we flippantly named Sponge Bob Reef Pants since other than small fish it consisted mostly of barrel sponges and sea fans. We did not do that one again.
We used the stone Palancar pier on some days and others not. We were not asked to pay anything at the pier when there and our dive op did not ask for anything either. Other days we used different piers or could have beached if we wanted.
I used Bottom Time Divers as usual and was driving to the Fonatur marina to get on the boat. Raul had a large plastic bin for our cameras.
The Fonatur marina now has a guard that writes down the license plate and asks what we will be doing there. Increased security is not a bad thing. Before we always just drove through except the one time the guard solicited a bribe to get in. He was released very shortly thereafter.
We had a few other divers with the two of us on and off but for the most part the boat was not crowded.
We picked up and dropped off divers at Secrets and no guard approached for any kind of ticket/pass check. I cannot tell if the fee policy was not in effect or just not enforced those days.
Weather was good all week and we were diving just past the late Norte a few days before. Water temps were around 82 F with good visibility. Currents at southern sites were very mild and though faster at northern sites, were still very manageable. There is a bit more sargasso and a hint more jelly fish and we did not see any thimble jellyfish. The northern sites had alot more sargasso.
We did dive Santa Rosa wall early on and just could not move much due to all the multiple large groups passing by. After that we requested to dive anywhere there were no boats or none nearby that had recently dropped divers.
High season is winding down so less traffic in town, less cruise ships and less dive boats at dive sites again depending on which one.
We made a trip for three of us to El Cielo down south. We stopped a bit north of it to snorkel in about 7-8 feet of water for about 1.5 hours then tied off to a buoy well away from the boats near the beach. Starfish are the main attraction and we did find a six leg starfish. Other than a few southern stingrays and fish there is not alot to see. I used a fisheye which worked reasonably well for over/under photos, it does not work well for the starfish but does produce some interesting curvature shots - starfish on the moon.
Ricardo Garcia organized the trip and rented a boat from another dive op. The captain, Felix, was good. Ricardo normally works with Dive Choice Mexico. We had water, arranged choice of soft drinks, pineapple and mango, and Ricardo made guacamole and Pico on the boat.
I am not a snorkeler and my snorkel is my emergency rollup silicone snorkel which was not exactly the best but worked. Since my wife likes El Cielo I may have to invest in a better snorkel. We all got sunburned while snorkeling. One more reason to dive.
Photos posted here on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/144696783@N04/albums/72157690379226350
Permissions should be set to public but report in this thread if they cannot be viewed. Flickr is putting in some small ads.
We dove south for the first 3 days and north for two days. We did go to Colombia Deep and had wanted to get to Punta Sur Sur but that one fell through. Northern sites were San Juan, Eagle Ray Station knowing the season had ended for Eagle Rays but did see one that did not linger. We did find a large Green Moray Eel that tried disappearing in the wall at 94 feet. We stayed a bit too long and had to watch NDL time the rest of the dive. We dove more towards the shore for two other dives. One we flippantly named Sponge Bob Reef Pants since other than small fish it consisted mostly of barrel sponges and sea fans. We did not do that one again.
We used the stone Palancar pier on some days and others not. We were not asked to pay anything at the pier when there and our dive op did not ask for anything either. Other days we used different piers or could have beached if we wanted.
I used Bottom Time Divers as usual and was driving to the Fonatur marina to get on the boat. Raul had a large plastic bin for our cameras.
The Fonatur marina now has a guard that writes down the license plate and asks what we will be doing there. Increased security is not a bad thing. Before we always just drove through except the one time the guard solicited a bribe to get in. He was released very shortly thereafter.
We had a few other divers with the two of us on and off but for the most part the boat was not crowded.
We picked up and dropped off divers at Secrets and no guard approached for any kind of ticket/pass check. I cannot tell if the fee policy was not in effect or just not enforced those days.
Weather was good all week and we were diving just past the late Norte a few days before. Water temps were around 82 F with good visibility. Currents at southern sites were very mild and though faster at northern sites, were still very manageable. There is a bit more sargasso and a hint more jelly fish and we did not see any thimble jellyfish. The northern sites had alot more sargasso.
We did dive Santa Rosa wall early on and just could not move much due to all the multiple large groups passing by. After that we requested to dive anywhere there were no boats or none nearby that had recently dropped divers.
High season is winding down so less traffic in town, less cruise ships and less dive boats at dive sites again depending on which one.
We made a trip for three of us to El Cielo down south. We stopped a bit north of it to snorkel in about 7-8 feet of water for about 1.5 hours then tied off to a buoy well away from the boats near the beach. Starfish are the main attraction and we did find a six leg starfish. Other than a few southern stingrays and fish there is not alot to see. I used a fisheye which worked reasonably well for over/under photos, it does not work well for the starfish but does produce some interesting curvature shots - starfish on the moon.
Ricardo Garcia organized the trip and rented a boat from another dive op. The captain, Felix, was good. Ricardo normally works with Dive Choice Mexico. We had water, arranged choice of soft drinks, pineapple and mango, and Ricardo made guacamole and Pico on the boat.
I am not a snorkeler and my snorkel is my emergency rollup silicone snorkel which was not exactly the best but worked. Since my wife likes El Cielo I may have to invest in a better snorkel. We all got sunburned while snorkeling. One more reason to dive.
Photos posted here on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/144696783@N04/albums/72157690379226350
Permissions should be set to public but report in this thread if they cannot be viewed. Flickr is putting in some small ads.
