Cozumel December 2017.
We lost a few days around Dec 11 due to a Norte however afterwards, the water was rough with winds but boats were going out. Water temps said 81F consistently but felt colder probably due to wet and windy boat rides. SI’s in the first few days were cold with scattered clouds and little rain except for a couple of days. Currents were mild. The weather became consistently better.
We saw quite a few Eagle Rays but mostly singles, lots of hawksbill turtles, green morays, less brown spotted eels and fewer golden eels. Quite a lot of porcupine fish which don’t seem as skittish as usual and a lot of balloonfish, lots of splendid toadfish and scorpionfish by usual site, and black tip reef sharks on several days around the Palancar sites but would not let us approach. I did manage to see a pair of large reef squid on one of the Palancar sites as well. I didn’t see many spotted drums. I did not find any pipefish or pipehorses but we did find a couple of seahorses. I had a few jellyfish stings at the surface but not bad in general. Visibility was down a bit due to a lot of particulates in the water but some days were better than others.
All dives sites were good but I rediscovered San Clemente. It doesn’t look like it should have much but we found it was teeming with life and Eagle rays. We also did Cedral wall a bit differently than usual and I found it very good. We usually see green Morays there and this trip had a lot of Hawksbill turtles. We spent a bit of time in the grass and sand flats looking for small things at shallower sites.
I had 16 dives but a friend knocked out 22. I had the camera only three days of diving and used a zoom lens, wide angle and fisheye for the first time. Many photos I took with wide angle and fisheye lenses were of subjects meant for other lenses but I took them as opportunities presented themselves.
We dove with Bottom Time Divers (bottomtimedivers.net) and had pretty much the same people on the boat every day. Our friends stayed at Aura Hotel and they are charging the outside boats/Dive Ops two dollars per diver per day to drop off at the pier. Guests were not allowed to purchase the tickets.
I parked at the Fonatur marina every day and had one day where the guard at the entrance told me I had to pay 50 Pesos to park. I did not pay and by report he got some other people earlier for more. There is no charge to park. We had a chat with the marina managers and I haven’t seen him since.
High season is in full swing with plenty of dive boats out, lots of groups underwater, and tons of cruise ships in town.
Photos posted here on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/144696783@N04/albums/72157690686432764
Fickr seems to be putting an ad or two in the albums now. If you have issues with the link, let me know. I will check permissions.
We lost a few days around Dec 11 due to a Norte however afterwards, the water was rough with winds but boats were going out. Water temps said 81F consistently but felt colder probably due to wet and windy boat rides. SI’s in the first few days were cold with scattered clouds and little rain except for a couple of days. Currents were mild. The weather became consistently better.
We saw quite a few Eagle Rays but mostly singles, lots of hawksbill turtles, green morays, less brown spotted eels and fewer golden eels. Quite a lot of porcupine fish which don’t seem as skittish as usual and a lot of balloonfish, lots of splendid toadfish and scorpionfish by usual site, and black tip reef sharks on several days around the Palancar sites but would not let us approach. I did manage to see a pair of large reef squid on one of the Palancar sites as well. I didn’t see many spotted drums. I did not find any pipefish or pipehorses but we did find a couple of seahorses. I had a few jellyfish stings at the surface but not bad in general. Visibility was down a bit due to a lot of particulates in the water but some days were better than others.
All dives sites were good but I rediscovered San Clemente. It doesn’t look like it should have much but we found it was teeming with life and Eagle rays. We also did Cedral wall a bit differently than usual and I found it very good. We usually see green Morays there and this trip had a lot of Hawksbill turtles. We spent a bit of time in the grass and sand flats looking for small things at shallower sites.
I had 16 dives but a friend knocked out 22. I had the camera only three days of diving and used a zoom lens, wide angle and fisheye for the first time. Many photos I took with wide angle and fisheye lenses were of subjects meant for other lenses but I took them as opportunities presented themselves.
We dove with Bottom Time Divers (bottomtimedivers.net) and had pretty much the same people on the boat every day. Our friends stayed at Aura Hotel and they are charging the outside boats/Dive Ops two dollars per diver per day to drop off at the pier. Guests were not allowed to purchase the tickets.
I parked at the Fonatur marina every day and had one day where the guard at the entrance told me I had to pay 50 Pesos to park. I did not pay and by report he got some other people earlier for more. There is no charge to park. We had a chat with the marina managers and I haven’t seen him since.
High season is in full swing with plenty of dive boats out, lots of groups underwater, and tons of cruise ships in town.
Photos posted here on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/144696783@N04/albums/72157690686432764
Fickr seems to be putting an ad or two in the albums now. If you have issues with the link, let me know. I will check permissions.
