July 6, 2002: Cozumel, Mexico

A Coz 2002 dive

"Columbia Pillars" - "Tormentos"

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 a few more clouds than usual
  
  
• Personal Notes: Our diving number was also cut by my sister having some painful ear problems; she snorkeled on the first dive and we could see her, even at depth.
  
  Considering that we had done a lot of diving, with no breaks, I wanted to make sure I had the full 24 hours of the diving "No Fly" rule. We tried to get out to the shop early and get going, but we ended up having to wait for a couple of people to fill in our number of divers (which had, even with my sister, dwindled to four).
  
  We dove "Columbia Pillars" again, which was still a very cool dive, and finally got to "Tormentos."

Columbia Pillars
Something I think I should take photos of a little more often, if only to give my visitors an idea of where I'm at when I'm diving: my Cobra dive computer. It shows that I'm at 86 feet, having been to 99 feet at the time; we've been down for 4 minutes, and, if I stayed at this depth, I'd be in "deco" in 28 minutes. My air consumption has yet to be calculated (or is significantly beyond my no-deco time), so it shows my Nitrox percentage at 32%. The air in my tank is exherting 2661 Pounds per Square Inch of pressure on the inside of the tank; that means (if my math is right) there's about 70 cubic feet of air still in the tank.
Another one of those large Black Grouper that I'm surprised I didn't get more photos of.
No sun, but here's a shot pretty much straight up from beside one of the pillars.
Another without the sun, but pretty much straight up.
My sister's snorkeling at the surface ... she's probably at least 60 feet up from me. Ya know, someone should market a camera/housing combo that gives you at least depth data in the corner of the frame.
This wierd coral formation was sticking out from the side of a pillar. We're getting closer to the "shallow" sections of "Columbia Pillars," as you might be able to tell from the slope of the ground in the background (no, I'm not crooked, the ocean floor is at this point).
Tormentos
A Blue Chromis hanging out over a Giant Anemonie.
This could be a Bluestriped Lizard fish, but I'm going with Sand Diver for an official ID, as I can't make out any lines/markings that differentiate the two.
Same guy, different angle.
Again, another attempt to get a really good photo of him.
My favorite crab (well, not for eating): An Arrow Crab. This guy's hiding out eating lunch.
Here's that Arrow Crab taking a bite of something (which you can only tell by how he's holding his blue claw, since you can't make out his mouth).
This should be the second image from Tormentos ... I forgot to put in this Split Crown Featherduster.