Cozumel, Mexico - December 19, 2006

My first day of diving on the cruize was in Cozumel, Mexico.  Long known as one of the best dive destinations in the world, Cozumel was battered by Hurricanes Emily and Wilma in 2005.  I was amazed at how much life was there, but the local divers, and other vacation divers that had been to Cozumel before, all indicated that the reefs used to be a lot healthier and covered in life.  It was certainly obvious that many of the reefs were still covered in sand.  Some spots had started to grow back, but it will be a while before things are "back to normal."  But, that said, I still thought the diving was great!

We dove with Aviomar in Cozumel.  It was a good operation, with friendly folks on deck to help, and knowledgeable and competent dive masters.  Cozumel has an incredible number of dive ops, so I'm sure there are lots of "levels" of service and equipment.  The boat might not have been the newest, or the biggest, but the crew was fantastic.  Our first dive was Tormentos Reef, followed by Paradise Reef.  Both dives were essentially "drift" dives, with the current taking us by the reef as we observed all the life around us.  The current wasn't unmanageable, just very noticeable.  It was kind of nice to just drift along, without having to work hard to see the reef.  One of the coolest things about this diving was an experience I had on the second dive.  I heard a loud crunching sound, so I looked over at the reef and saw a parrotfish chomping on pieces of coral reef.  It sounded like somebody eating some crunchy potato chips right next to my ear.  Very cool to experience life on the reef in this way!

Click on the pictures below to see the larger image. (Note:  These were my first pictures with my camera in warm water...which is incredibly different than taking pictures in cold, murky Puget Sound.  So...I don't think they turned out all that great...but I wanted to share them anyway.)

Dive 1 - Tormentos Reef

Dive 2 - Paradise Reef