Ed and Beth's November 2000 Cozumel Trip
(Subtitled -- Hey! Where's the Current??)
Author: Ed C.
Author: Ed C.
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All text and images copyrighted by Ed and Beth C., as attributed. They may be borrowed for non-commercial use only, provided credit is given to us and/or this web page
For full-size pictures, click on the photo or caption.
The Exciting Events of Cozumel: |
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Travel and the Hotel - Day 1, 12:30 PM |
Well, the gang from Pisces Scuba is back to driving to DFW airport to leave for the annual Cozumel trip. Continental's departure times and dates deliver you a little too late in the day, and have you returning just a little too early that last day -- and the result is lost dives each day.
Still, Dallas is only 3 hours away, and if it means 1, 2 or even 3 additional dives... well!
Beth and I arrived as usual in the early afternoon. Customs was pretty quick -- they did a nice job with their reorganization of the airport entranceway -- and before we knew it, we were picking up our keys at the Safari Inn Hotel, above the Aqua Safari dive shop. We unpacked a bit, then hit the dive shop to get weights and do our checkout dive! (For more details about the Safari Inn, Aqua Safari, and Jeanie's Wafflehouse, check out my last year's Cozumel trip report.
Aqua Safari Pier (left side) - Day 1, Dive #1, 2:38 PM |
 Juvenile French Angels |
 Skate |
The Aqua Safari pier is always a neat place to see plenty of small and macro life, as well as a nice way to test out your buoyancy. Buoyancy was great, and we had a nice dive. Above, two Juvenile French Angels were busy chasing each other around, and didn't seem to care about us as long as we didn't get too close. |
This was my first dive with my new camera (see my camera info below), and I had some problems with strobe positioning, so you'll notice the photos tend to be a little dark. (Compare this to my Bonaire Honeymoon photos, and you'll see what I mean!) No leaks at all -- Ikelite makes a mean housing!
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Methinks this once was a styrofoam buoy... but the years haven't been too kind to it! I was really enjoying the camera, but just for safety's sake, I figured I should develop a few rolls. I did, and that helped me discover my strobe positioning was off and my photos were a bit dark. Another excellent reason to develop at least one test roll each trip! |
A Former Buoy |
Lots of the gang did the checkout dive; I took pics of Mandy, Mo, Kelly as well as Beth and myself, but strobe positioning problems relegated most of them to the trash. I'm my harshest critic, although Beth acts as a counter-agent. :)
 Beth C. |
Who says you can't have fun in a checkout dive?
In addition, we saw sand tilefish ducking in their burrows and a lovely blue-eyed pufferfish (but no film left!) |
 Ed C. at arm's length |
And one big adventure: Beth and I were tired from travelling, so we opted out of our usual shore night dive. But Hank and Rob, Pisces Divemasters and adventurers at heart, drove to the far side of the island and did a great "other side" dive, then played "free the stuck jeep" from the sand, helped by Mexican Militia carrying M-16's. Now that's excitement!
Palancar Caves - Day 2, Dive #2, 10:30 AM |
 Tube Sponge (Beth) |
 French Angelfish |
Up and at 'em the next morning, we discovered the water was too rough to use our local pier; we had to take taxis to the marina where we could board and exit in calmer water. But we were still enthusiastic: Our first destination, Palancar Caves, involves wonderful swim-throughs and some great sandy spots. |
The latter was important, since James asked me the night before to be ready with my camera, since he was going to propose to his girlfriend Melissa on the sandy flats!
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The big event! After our last swim-through, James pulled Melissa to the sandy spot, proposed and she accepted!! To my great chagrin, he was in a big hurry and while I was still struggling to position myself, he was already giving her the ring! To top it off, my camera decided to play auto-focus games with me, so I didn't get any photos I liked. But Beth was Jonny-on-the-spot, and here's her picture commemorating the event! |
 The Proposal (Beth) |
 Stoplight Parrotfish |
This was a pretty frustrating dive -- there was no current! The Divemasters had us working pretty hard to try to catch "the whole reef"... and while we appreciate the sentiment, we're really there to relax, not to lose weight. :) |
Columbia Shallows - Day 2, Dive #3, 12:11 PM |
 Trumpetfish |
We were right next to Columbia Shallows after finishing the Caves, so the Divemaster dropped us off here. Being very shallow, it's ideal if you want another quick dive without spending an hour on the surface.
While there was very little current at the Shallows, it was going the wrong way! The DMs decided it was light enough to swim, so we ended up with a long and tiring swim.
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Beth gave her camera to the Divemaster, who was the only one in position to take this awesome Nurse Shark photo. Note to self: Always bring a jacket on the boat! Wind + Wetsuit = Cold on the surface. |
 Nurse Shark (Beth) |
 The Happy Couple |
The happy couple, posing for a celebratory shot! |
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This Coney was an unwilling photographic subject, but with enough attempts, I did manage to get at least one. Meanwhile, Trumpetfish aren't the most common in Cozumel, so I was pleased to take this picture... until our trip to Bonaire where they were a dime a dozen. |
 Coney |
The waves grew fairly choppy on the way back from this dive, and Melissa and I were both seasick. (I managed to tough it out, but Melissa was not so lucky.) We had to return to the marina instead of using the pier; there were virtually no boats still tied up anywhere. In fact, the Harbormaster closed the ocean to diving, so Aqua Safari cancelled their third-boat dive and the boat night-dive.
Columbia Deep - Day 3, Dive #4, 10:23 AMI didn't take many pictures (and had very few keepers from those I did take), but this was otherwise a really great dive. We saw a crab peeking from a hole, a tiny Spotted Eel, a tiny Jellyfish, and a Zebra Butterflyfish. |
 Interesting Coral |
Paso de Cedral - Day 3, Dive #5, 12:26 PM |
 Bar Jack |
 Turtle on the Surface |
Two turtles! One at the surface, one off to the side, and the second one swam so close I could have touched him! Took turtle and bristle worm pics. We had some rough waves, and this made the trip and the exit a bit rough, though nothing compared to the Flower Gardens. Still, Cozumel boats don't exactly have the ladder facilities for more than light chop. |
 Free-Swimming Turtle |
Punta Dunich (Rocky Point) - Day 3, Dive #6, 3:20 PM |
 Arrowline Crab |
 Flounder |
Finally! A light current, so we could drift! Nice to only have to work half as hard this dive. Prior to the dive, we took an hour-long break on the beach at a hotel, so we could eat and relax a bit during our surface interval. |
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Several great photo ops: Arrowline Crabs, an Octopus, the Flounder shown above, Flamingo Tongues, Triggerfish, and a pair of Cowfish. After the dive it was a little late, mostly due to our two-hour surface interval. We chose to skip the night dive and join the Pisces crew for a big meal at La Prima, the fine Italian restaurant. Yum! |
 Brittle Stars |
After the dive, Beth and I had a craving for ice cream, so we stopped by the local Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. This turned out to be a mistake -- read on...
Did our old favorite Punta Sur, replete with the Devil's Throat cave. I didn't bring my camera, since I'm always a little leery about trying to threat it through the cave and still keep myself away from the walls and coral.
I sure wish I'd had it -- and next time I will skip the cave. I did skip the "second" part of the cave and for my trouble, saw a neat cleaning station, but the current drifted me too close and I spooked the fish. But it was definately a cleaning station; Mr. Fish had wide-open gills and a goby dancing around its open mouth.
Paraiso (Paradise) - Day 4, Dive #8, 12:16 PM |
 Interesting Coral |
 More Interesting Coral |
Wow! What a terrific dive! Usually I don't look forward to Paraiso, since it is the only place dive shops will take divers for night dives, and it is frequently used for second and third dives. I know it like the back of my hand. |
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Case in point: A Gray Angelfish, obviously damaged in some kind of fight or by a propeller or other, which positively JUMPED in front of my lens! |
 Gray Angelfish |
 Queen Angelfish |
One of our divers was a woman with four-foot-long brown hair, which she would painstakingly put into ponytails before every dive. So one of our Divemasters swam up and clipped a little rubber chicken to her hair! We made "chicken" signs at each other and laughed it up. |
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A Splendid Toadfish! Believed endemic to Cozumel, this boy was hiding quietly under a reef head. The Divemaster nudged him, however, and he swam out, as a frantic Ed C. took shots as fast as he could recharge his strobe! Got some great ones, check out that yellow stripe! |
 Splendid Toadfish |
 Pisces Owner Danny |
And last but not least, the owner of the Pisces Scuba Dive Shop, Danny. Thanks to his careful yet relaxed and fun-filled trip planning, we all had a total blast! (And of course, Danny is an unparalleled diver; his air consumption rate is miniscule.) |
Important lesson to be learned -- watch out for imported ice
cream! I thought the DQ ice cream was a little "flat" the other night...
in fact, it was starting to go bad. Both Beth and I suffered a mild
case of gastrointestinal distress, she a little, me a great deal
(I had the large serving). "Serves" me right.
 Logbook Pages |
Ed's Dive LogHere are the rest of the details from my dive log. Specifics about each dive are in the write-up above, with only brief comments here for reference. |
Ed's Dive Log Dive Location Depth Time Comments Number (FSW) (min) ------------------------------------------------------- 1 Aq. Safari Pier 19 36 Fr. Angels, Skate, Beth and I 2 Palancar Caves 81 40 Stoplight Parrotfish, Proposal 3 Columbia Shallows 29 63 Nurse Shark, Trumpetfish 4 Columbia Deep 81 45 Crab, Eel, Zebra Butterflyfish 5 Paso de Cedral 54 52 Turtles 6 Punta Dunich 43 58 Flounder, Brittlestars 7 Punta Sur 130 36 Cleaning Station, Devil's Cave 8 Paraiso 45 57 French Angel, Toadfish, Chickenhair
Camera Gear |
Camera, Gear and the trip Home |
A list of the gear that we used on the dive trip. My first trip with my new Nikon N90s and Ikelite SLR housing!
We are not professional photographers and really are still newbies (although improving). If you want to see truly spectacular photos check out Dave Read's Page!
That being said, I thought these photos really turned out quite well, although I tended to depend too much on the "default" strobe arm placement. My results improved considerably once I detached the strobe and held it in my left hand. I also developed the first few rolls, allowing me to improve both strobe and image placement in later dives.
There's not much to say about our trip home, it's always the sad part of the trip. It was only marred by one unusual event -- in the Cozumel airport, a young man was having fainting and dizziness, and he passed out in the terminal, where he was assisted by family and friends who seemed unsurprised by this. Huh.
So that's the trip. But don't go away yet; at the time we write this, Beth and I have already enjoyed our Honeymoon trip to Bonaire, where our photos improved still more! Keep an eye out for that write-up, expected any time... may be there already!
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