July 2, 2002: Cozumel, Mexico

A Coz 2002 dive

"Palancar Ladrillo" - "Punta Tunich" - "Chankanaab Reef"

Diving in the Caribbean Sea:

• Directions from Tampa: This is one of those trip things. Getting there from Tampa usually involves a plane ... though it could be a boat ... but you won't be driving there. Cozumel is "in" the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
• Conditions on the day of my visit: Sunny with just a few clouds
  
  
• Personal Notes: Day two of diving. Aside from my notes in my log book about breaking 100 feet for the first time of the trip, I'll have to look at the pictures and video before writing a better description of the day.
  
  This much I do know: Always, always, always check your dive lights for your camera for power, and leave them on for at least a minute or two, the day before a night dive. Our third dive of this day was a night dive, and I had no lights (and didn't take the camera because of that) for the dive.

Palancar Ladrillo
3.3 MB A Honeycomb Cowfish. Big but skittish fish, they tend to keep a decent distance from divers (at least those of us with big yellow camera housings).
6.9 MB The turtles we ran into (like this one) were understandably skittish about getting to close to us. Raoul was good at herding them without touching them, and only did so to make sure everyone got a good look at the turtle ... then he let it go.
3.7 MB Damselfish are funny - they can sometimes be aggressive, but to differing degrees. I've had one attack my camera housing, but usually it's a matter of them hiding (like the one with this Bicolor Coney) and then coming out and posturing as you swim away.
4.2 MB This video of this Hermit Crab is probably a little boring, since you can't tell that he's actually moving - but not really that fast.
3.3 MB Here's video of a very pretty Honeycomb Cowfish.
1.4 MB This is some video of a very sizable Snapper - you get an idea of just how large he is near the end of the video.
Punta Tunich
1.7 MB Smaller jellies tend to be hard to shoot - they play with the autofocus and there's no easy way to manually focus the camera, particularly with the jelly so close.
4.2 MB This Bandtail Pufferfish is one of the coolest things I've seen.
2.8 MB Here's a large (for an Arrow Crab) Arrow Crab hanging out in a sponge.
3.3 MB Some of the grouper we saw in Cozumel would give baby jewfish a run for their money. Here's a Black Grouper.
2.7 MB In the Triggerfish family, here's a Black Durgon, identified by the facial features and the blue stripes at the bases of the fins.
3.3 MB There were many kinds of Triggerfish in Cozumel ... here's a Sargassum Triggerfish.

Palancar Ladrillo
My sister again, near the beginning of the dive.
What can I say? Giant Anemonies are big, non-moving things that are easy to get still pictures of!
If you're a frequent visitor to my site, you know I like taking pictures of the sun while under water, particularly with a coral formation in frame.
Here's a good number of our D2D gang making their way through some of the coral formations. From left to right, I'm guessing: Angie, John, and Bernadette. At the top of the image, you can make out both my sister's and Chuck's fins. Again, these are only guesses.
Again, a big fish that I seem to be unable to resist taking pictures of: French Angel. These guys are almost always moving, though sometimes slow enough that I can take a good still picture with very little blurring.
Afraid that the first picture didn't come out as well as I would want, I took another one.
Punta Tunich
Bill seems to think he's parachuting. He'll figure it all out soon I'm sure.
Another in the series: "Strange Things Found In Bowl Coral." This is a Spotted Moray Eel.
I knew this was a puffer of some sort, but then I also knew I had never seen one, or at least, didn't have a photo of one. I took several and this is the only one that came close to being good enough to post. This is a Band Tail Pufferfish, as far as I can tell.
There are a lot of fish in the trigger family in Cozumel, and here's a really good shot of a Queen Triggerfish.
(Sponge) Brittle Star. These guys actually move quick for something that has no visible feet.
This Orange Phase Whitespotted Filefish said to me: "Make sure you get my best side."
And then politely presented his best side to me.