Diving Jan/Feb 2023 Cozumel, Mexico
We had friends come into Cozumel the end of January and the last left the beginning of February. I got in 9 days of diving. One dived 11 days. Some in the group got in a couple of night dives in addition to a couple of 4 tank days with twilight 2 tank dives.
We dove with Raul and Bottom Time divers again and he had many divers so he put out a second boat for the first week.
Weather was cool and partly cloudy with some rain. A few days of good sunshine over the two weeks. One day of thunderstorms left the streets flooded in town to the point where a couple of spots it was over the bottom of the doors on my vehicle but the seals good and no water got in. Everyone was driving very slowly.
Water temps were not too bad. On the boat was colder especially on days with wind. Quite a few sites had fresh water coming in so the temps dropped in those spots. We did not lose any days to nortes.
Visibility was down much of the trip though we had some sites with good vis. Due to the rains on some days we avoided Palancar Gardens and Horseshoe. Bricks and Caves on those days had better vis. Most dives were generally darker with lots of particulates in the water.
The current was generally mild all over. We did do the first half of Dalila backwards and then reversed. Very mild current though. Alot of fresh water coming into Dalila, more than I have seen there. Cedral pass, Tunich, Yucab and Tormentos were generally slow(er). However, we did have fast currents on Cedral wall and one on Tormentos a different day.
Parking at the Fonatur marina is still a pain but at least they got the other side of the street going north available for parking.
The furthest south we went were the Palancars and managed to get a trip north but not as far as San Juan or Barracuda. I did see a school of reef squid but did not get a good photo. We repeated some sites and did quite a few walls. We did mix it up a bit by doing half of one site and finishing on the next. There were alot of boats out.
There were many eagle rays, green moray eels, turtles, lot's of juvenile drums, and seahorses. Not many lionfish but did see larger ones on shallower reefs. I got a photo of a brown large eye toadfish. My friend just bought a new camera and he got the photo of what is most likely a pelagic tunicate/pyrosome. I posted on SB’s Name that Critter. I have seen them here before but not with the white dots in them.
One day I did not dive, though I wished I had, there was a great hammerhead on one of the Palancars. Raul (owner/DM) said it was not a scalloped hammerhead. That day my friend did not bring his camera. Figures.
I got a couple of jellyfish stings on the surface but not bad in general.
Generally, the tanks were good but we did have a couple of days with short tanks for some divers - 1500 to 2500 psi. In general, they were decent fills.
Balloonfish
Banded Clinging Crab
Black Lined Sole
Blenny. Pike I believe. I didn't get a photo from another angle.
Burrfish on the north end
Christmas Tree worm
This fish caught my eye and I only got a passing photo with the wrong settings. I think this is a Doctorfish but the partial white markings are unusual.
Fireworm
French Grunts. I include this as me getting decent photos of fish schools is tough as the close in fish generally get blown out in the photo from reflective light. I think I am trying too hard to get all fish in the school lit up.
More French Grunts. This one was not terribly exciting until I took out contrast and clarity in editing. Interesting for just me maybe.
We had friends come into Cozumel the end of January and the last left the beginning of February. I got in 9 days of diving. One dived 11 days. Some in the group got in a couple of night dives in addition to a couple of 4 tank days with twilight 2 tank dives.
We dove with Raul and Bottom Time divers again and he had many divers so he put out a second boat for the first week.
Weather was cool and partly cloudy with some rain. A few days of good sunshine over the two weeks. One day of thunderstorms left the streets flooded in town to the point where a couple of spots it was over the bottom of the doors on my vehicle but the seals good and no water got in. Everyone was driving very slowly.
Water temps were not too bad. On the boat was colder especially on days with wind. Quite a few sites had fresh water coming in so the temps dropped in those spots. We did not lose any days to nortes.
Visibility was down much of the trip though we had some sites with good vis. Due to the rains on some days we avoided Palancar Gardens and Horseshoe. Bricks and Caves on those days had better vis. Most dives were generally darker with lots of particulates in the water.
The current was generally mild all over. We did do the first half of Dalila backwards and then reversed. Very mild current though. Alot of fresh water coming into Dalila, more than I have seen there. Cedral pass, Tunich, Yucab and Tormentos were generally slow(er). However, we did have fast currents on Cedral wall and one on Tormentos a different day.
Parking at the Fonatur marina is still a pain but at least they got the other side of the street going north available for parking.
The furthest south we went were the Palancars and managed to get a trip north but not as far as San Juan or Barracuda. I did see a school of reef squid but did not get a good photo. We repeated some sites and did quite a few walls. We did mix it up a bit by doing half of one site and finishing on the next. There were alot of boats out.
There were many eagle rays, green moray eels, turtles, lot's of juvenile drums, and seahorses. Not many lionfish but did see larger ones on shallower reefs. I got a photo of a brown large eye toadfish. My friend just bought a new camera and he got the photo of what is most likely a pelagic tunicate/pyrosome. I posted on SB’s Name that Critter. I have seen them here before but not with the white dots in them.
One day I did not dive, though I wished I had, there was a great hammerhead on one of the Palancars. Raul (owner/DM) said it was not a scalloped hammerhead. That day my friend did not bring his camera. Figures.
I got a couple of jellyfish stings on the surface but not bad in general.
Generally, the tanks were good but we did have a couple of days with short tanks for some divers - 1500 to 2500 psi. In general, they were decent fills.
Balloonfish
Banded Clinging Crab
Black Lined Sole
Blenny. Pike I believe. I didn't get a photo from another angle.
Burrfish on the north end
Christmas Tree worm
This fish caught my eye and I only got a passing photo with the wrong settings. I think this is a Doctorfish but the partial white markings are unusual.
Fireworm
French Grunts. I include this as me getting decent photos of fish schools is tough as the close in fish generally get blown out in the photo from reflective light. I think I am trying too hard to get all fish in the school lit up.
More French Grunts. This one was not terribly exciting until I took out contrast and clarity in editing. Interesting for just me maybe.
