patowmack divers
The trips down had some minor adventures. Kris lost her dive computer when TSA did a hand inspection of her carryon luggage at Dulles. She didn't realize the problem until later. Despite calls to TSA and checking with airline lost and found, the computer has not been recovered and she rented one for the trip. Paul's luggage did not show up in Cozumel and Delta brought it to Scuba Club a little over 24 hours late. In the meantime we lent Paul most of what he needed and he rented the rest.
Diving in Cozumel was like going through the Paul Humann and Ned Delouch's books on Caribbean fish, creatures, and coral. OK, we didn't see everything, but we did see most. We only saw one lionfish, and our dive guide, Francisco, killed it we a small spear. The Mexican government is converting the reef around Cozumel into a marine preserve and the effort is paying off with lots of fish. The reef was in good condition. Visibility varied from 50 to 100 feet. The first several days were bright, sunny and air temperatures in the mid 80s. Towards the end of the week it started to rain, but only a night dive was canceled by the harbormaster. Initially we thought he was being overly cautious, but the waves and wind picked up and made it clear it was a good decision. On rainy days, the light on the reef was softer and sometimes getting back on the boat was a little tricky. Dive boats in Cozumel are either aluminum hulled with outboards or larger boats with flat bottoms. In other words, they are not designed for conditions like we find off the mid-Atlantic. The boat crew threw out a tag line for us when conditions got a little rough.
We saw some giant lobsters that probably were 5 inches across the main part of their shells. I also saw a broken lobster shell of that size so they have natural predators. We saw many lobster holes with several lobsters. One hole had six to eight lobsters; no one got a good count.
Several days we saw the Splendid Toad Fish, which are 'only' seen in the waters off Cozumel.
One morning we saw a nurse shark and two black groupers hunting, but we didn't see them get anything.
So what did we see' Rainbow runner, horse-ye jack, great barracuda, nurse shark, black grouper, grunts, margate, mutton snapper, longfin damselfish, dusky damselfish, sergeant major, blue chromis, Nassau grouper, graysby, rock hind, coney, blue parrotfish, rainbow parrotfish, stoplight parrotfish, princess parrotfish, redband parrotfish, hogfish, creole wrasse, yellowhead wrasse, squirrelfish, peacock flounder, batfish (?), splendid toadfish, spotted scorpionfish, sand diver or lizardfish, seahorse, trumpetfish, sand tilefish, striped burrfish, scrawled cowfish, honeycomb cowfish, smooth trunkfish, queen and ocean triggerfish, black durgeon, scrawled filefish, white spotted filefish (esp. orange phase), glassy sweeper, spotted drum (only one), green moray, spotted moray, goldentail moray, garden eel, guitarfish, yellow stingray, southern stingray, spotted eagle ray. Also, sea urchins and anemones. You get the idea.
Some of us did an extra afternoon dive on the C-53 (http://www.reefsofcozumel.com/pages/reefs/ShipwreckC53.html). It was originally in 100 feet of water, but Hurricane Wilma pushed it in shore and it is now about 75 feet to the sand. You can see how the sand was pushed away from the wreck. I dove the C-53 on two previous trips, but this time we did more penetration and exploration. We saw relatively little sea life, but there were a couple of parrotfish about four feet long! Other divers saw some channel crabs.
In addition to the C-53, we dove most of the usual places (http://www.reefsofcozumel.com/pages/reefmap.html): Paradiso (check out dive the first day), Palancar Caves, Yucab, Santa Rosa Wall, Chancaanab Reef, Paseo del Cedral, Villa Blanca, Columbia Bricks, Punta Tunich. We did a number of shore dives including one the first day to get wet and one to take a picture of the new dive club banner.
Scuba Club is an all-inclusive scuba resort. The rooms are typical Cozumel: cinderblock construction, cinderblock platforms with a mattress on top for a bed. There was no TV, telephone, or desk. The lack of a desk made editing pictures awkward. The Wi-Fi was good in my room, but weak in other rooms. Most rooms had a limited view of the ocean. There's a pool that I never saw anyone use. Beer, wine, and liquor were extra. Drinks with meals were extra except at breakfast when coffee, tea, and juices are available.
We went out as a group and shared our boat with another group. Most days we used the Reef Diver, but one day it had some issues and we used another boat. Francisco was our dive guide and did a great job. The standard tank is an aluminum 80 and included in the price of the stay. Nitrox is $10 (US) per tank extra and larger tanks are available for an extra fee. The rule was to start back with 700 pounds, which usually worked out to being on board with 500 pounds. Once Francisco was comfortable with our air consumption, he didn't ask us about it during a dive.
The boat crew was very helpful. They switched tanks between dives and would take your gear off the second tank. Returning to the boat we took off our gear in the water and gave it to the boat crew. Most of us decided it was easier to take off our fins and climb up the ladder with our gear.
A couple of us took the PADI rescue diver course. It seemed to stretch out longer than necessary, but part of this was because the students were told they didn't have to read the book before coming to Cozumel. They should have read it. But they both passed.
Food at Scuba Club was good and we usually ate as a group. One night five of us went into town to try something more Cozumeleño and had a nice meal.
The last day, Larry arranged for us to charter a large van to go to see the Mayan ruins at Coba. Mayan ruins are a fun bonus on dive trips to Central America. We took the first ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen where we met the van and our driver. It started pouring at the end of our tour. Somehow, Larry and Julia got separated from the rest of us, so we stood around in a large open-air restaurant at the entrance to Coba. Eventually we met up again and took our van to a small restaurant down the road for lunch.
We stopped at a cenote on the way back. You walked down some wooden stairs into a hole in the ground. Andrew and Larry went swimming there, but the rest of us passed claiming the water was too cold. Water was dripping on those of us who walked down the stairs. There were some simple lights strung up so you could see the water. Larry reports that Andrew went down to 40 feet for two minutes. They tried to charge us for everyone, even though most of us didn't even go swimming.
We wandered around Playa del Carmen for a little while and some of us went back to Cozumel. Kris, Andrew, Kate, and Eric stayed and had dinner at Casa del Agua'the fanciest meal of the trip.
I had been to Cozumel (different hotel) a couple of times over 10 years ago. It has changed a lot. There's more English spoken. More stores. Higher end stores. More cruise ships and catering to cruise ship passengers. Prices in Cozumel and Playa were in US dollars. For better or worse, this made it almost like not leaving the States.
I left thinking I need to get back to Cozumel again. It is relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to get to, and great diving. I opted out of two dinners and would have liked to have gotten a credit for that. I would have liked to have gone into town for a lunch at a 'cocina economica' or 'loncheria.' I haven't seen the Mayan ruins on the island, and I haven't seen the eastern side of the island. Maybe next time we'll rent a car for an afternoon.
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