philmottrek99and02
Contributor
I met with PaulWall and his extended family the night before coming into the port of Cozumel to go over the dive plan for the following day. We agreed to make 2 dives at around 50 - 70 feet. We arrived in Cozumel around 8 am the following morning on the Cruise Ship Fantasy.
The next morning, we departed the port around 9 ish and caught a cab to the marina. We meet Alison and Carlos, boarded the Maximus and departed the marina. Our first stop was the French Reef. After a detailed briefing by Alison, we either rolled off or strode off the boat. Our plan was to drift along the reef and upon reaching 700 psi, Alison would send us up for a 3 min stop with a marker buoy. Carlos would then bring the boat over and pick us up.
Once in the water we descended to about 40' and did our equipment checks. The current was noticeable so we did not linger long in that area. The first dive's max depth was 61' and the water temp was 81 degrees. We enjoyed 80+ visibility on both dives. The reef was very healthy, supporting a wide variety of corals and sponges. Other than the numerous Parrot Fish, blue striped grunts and porkfish, we saw a very large Barracuda resting under a coral head, some queen angle fish, a small turtle, a small grouper and a rather shy leopard eel. We surfaced about 40 mins later and boarded the Maximus for a quick ride to shore. After about an hour SI, we departed for Yucab. This dive was very similar in plan to the early dive; drop to the reef, drift along the surface with a marker and Carlos would pick us up. Again water temp was about 81 degrees and the viz was 80' +. On this dive, in addition to the typical reef fish, we saw a large spiny urchin, spotted Chocolate chip sea cucumber and a large southern ray. We also saw what I thought was a rather large drum or grouper swimming by in the distance, but I could not confirm its identity. I hit a max depth of about 55 for a dive lasting 45 mins. PaulWall and his brother-in-law took their cameras and might possibly post some of the dive photos.
In all we had a fantastic time in Cozumel and would highly recommend Diving with Alison!
The next morning, we departed the port around 9 ish and caught a cab to the marina. We meet Alison and Carlos, boarded the Maximus and departed the marina. Our first stop was the French Reef. After a detailed briefing by Alison, we either rolled off or strode off the boat. Our plan was to drift along the reef and upon reaching 700 psi, Alison would send us up for a 3 min stop with a marker buoy. Carlos would then bring the boat over and pick us up.
Once in the water we descended to about 40' and did our equipment checks. The current was noticeable so we did not linger long in that area. The first dive's max depth was 61' and the water temp was 81 degrees. We enjoyed 80+ visibility on both dives. The reef was very healthy, supporting a wide variety of corals and sponges. Other than the numerous Parrot Fish, blue striped grunts and porkfish, we saw a very large Barracuda resting under a coral head, some queen angle fish, a small turtle, a small grouper and a rather shy leopard eel. We surfaced about 40 mins later and boarded the Maximus for a quick ride to shore. After about an hour SI, we departed for Yucab. This dive was very similar in plan to the early dive; drop to the reef, drift along the surface with a marker and Carlos would pick us up. Again water temp was about 81 degrees and the viz was 80' +. On this dive, in addition to the typical reef fish, we saw a large spiny urchin, spotted Chocolate chip sea cucumber and a large southern ray. We also saw what I thought was a rather large drum or grouper swimming by in the distance, but I could not confirm its identity. I hit a max depth of about 55 for a dive lasting 45 mins. PaulWall and his brother-in-law took their cameras and might possibly post some of the dive photos.
In all we had a fantastic time in Cozumel and would highly recommend Diving with Alison!
