May 9, 2003: Cozumel, Mexico

A Coz 2003 dive

"Palancar Caves" - "Dalila"

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
  
  
• Personal Notes: We dove in the morning in order to relax in the afternoon - we followed through with our plan to rent scooters. The dives with Lars were great! On Dalila, I was swimming along at the back of the pack and spotted what I thought was the tail of a Scorpion Fish under a coral mound. A closer look had me convinced it was a Bat Fish! Thing is, he was very camera shy and with the growth that he had on him, it was very hard to tell that there was a fish there at all (more so than if he were a Scorpion Fish).

Palancar Caves
It was very overcast and the light wasn't being very helpful, but this Flounder came out quite clearly.
I'm not sure how I got this Christmas Tree Worm this clearly. Probably either using lights or just got lucky with the natural lighting.
Dalila
Can you spot the Scorpion Fish?
This is a Cowfish. I haven't gotten a really good shot of one of these yet.
I have no clue what this is - a quick flip through the ID book didn't show anything in particular that would match. Those that commented on the picture on the D2D board called it an egg casing, probably from a "horse conch".
I'm guessing this is a kind of Filefish.
Clearly a Triggerfish - Queen Triggerfish if I remember correctly.
A Whitespotted Filefish in Whitespotted Phase.
I can only guess that this is a Batfish. Couldn't even ID what kind - looks like he's covered in sand. But you can make out his eye.
Clearly a Barracuda, thankfully keeping his distance.