pics from cozumel ...

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:53 pm

Here's a photoshow from some of my Coz pics ...

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/xV7Ng4Hc

... and here's a short video of some of the cenotes diving we did on our final day there ...

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:08 pm

So...MANY....colors! I think it burned my NW winter eyes! I need to go stare at the soothing grey, green, blue monotony outside the window for a while! Very nice pics, as usual, Bob!

backwash · Post by **backwash** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:09 pm

those are some sic photos. good to see that they had some aquatic life waiting around for you when you got there

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:19 pm

the cenotes video is really cool. (btw, i don't know how you manage to stretch your exhales out so long!!!)

going on to the photoshow next ...

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:25 pm

wow, bob! those are fantastic. i especially liked the frogfish (lucky you!), the nurse shark, the tortugas, the christmas trees, the spotted fish in the barrel sponge, and the jelly. i'm sure i forgot another thing or two - i'll have to watch it again. those are really nice photos! (as always.) i sure miss cozumel ...

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:58 pm

I was hoping you were going to post some pictures. Thanks, now I know what I have to look forward to. What was you opinion of the area now as it pertains to before and after the storm?

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:22 am

You can pretty clearly see the damage from the storms in the shallow reefs. The deeper areas seemed pretty intact, although I don't know what they looked like before. But the shallow areas have extensive patches of broken coral, and sections dusted or covered with sand. We saw very few small things -- almost no nudibranchs, for example -- but a lot of larger fish, who apparently are thriving because their small prey don't have good hiding places any more. It's still pretty good diving, and the night dives were superb.

But nothing on the reefs compares with the cenotes.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:28 am

Thanks Bob! That was awsome!

Penopolypants · Post by **Penopolypants** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:39 am

Pretty colors!

Great photos Bob....I take it you are enjoying the new camera?

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:23 am

Wow, those were great!! I liked the jellyfish shot!! Those are tough!! Good JOB!!

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:44 am

Great pics and video Bob! On the pics, I had a difficult time convincing BbleMkr some of those were from swim thrus, not the cenotes, but then she saw your video... She, along Diver-G and I, will see all of that next week. Ooh, it will be so fun!

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:50 am

Who are you going cenote diving with?

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:15 pm

We're not doing the cenotes this trip, so I will be 0 fer 2

(I'll get to do them some day). We're in Cozumel for just the day, however, we are doing a three dive day trip in that one day. My favorite Cozumel dives were those with swim-thrus, so if we do dives I have done before, I hope we do Columbia Deep and Santa Maria Reef.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:30 pm

Diver_C wrote:We're not doing the cenotes this trip, so I will be 0 fer 2 (I'll get to do them some day). We're in Cozumel for just the day, however, we are doing a three dive day trip in that one day. My favorite Cozumel dives were those with swim-thrus, so if we do dives I have done before, I hope we do Columbia Deep and Santa Maria Reef.

Columbia Deep had some of the coolest swim-throughs I did ... so did Palancar Caves. My favorite shallow dive was Paradise ... we did it three times, and the last two were by request ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:50 pm

Oooh yes, I forgot about Palencar Caves. That was awesome too! We did Paradise several times also. That whole area is awesome. Wish it was a little closer to us.

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:43 pm

palancar caves is very striking. highly recommended!!! columbia deep and columbia shallow are good, too. :-)

heck; i don't think there's a bad dive out there really. ;-)

TCarter · Post by **TCarter** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:55 pm

You used Aldora, right? How did you like them? Who'd you dive the cenotes with?

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:10 pm

um ... we stayed at caribe blu (fantastic location!) and used their onsite dive op - blue angel. our primary choice was for the dive op - we wanted small fast boats and the freedom to dive our own profiles, and we didn't want to have to sell off body parts to afford to do it. (we also wanted access to big tanks for my boyfriend so we could maximize our BT's.) if you want snacks and towels handed to you when you surface, lengthy surface intervals in town, and someone else rinsing your gear, they're not for you. they turned out to be a great fit for us. IMO, you can't beat being right on the water, and having the boat dock be a mere pool-length away from your patio door. the package pricing there is excellent and none of the other dive ops i was interested in could come close.

we dove the cenotes with matteo (matt), who you can book through blue angel (you just pay him separately) - great guy (expat - looks like a couch potato, sounds like a surfer, but has dove extensively in the cave systems there).

TCarter · Post by **TCarter** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:03 pm

Oops, my bad, didn't make clear who I was talking to...<smacks self on the head>...that question was for Bob, but thanks for your reply lawgoddess.

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:43 pm

ah, well ... no worries. btw, aldora was one of the small handful of dive ops i was interested in, and they came highly recommended to me by at least a couple of people (neither of whom i know personally). :-)

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:40 am

We dove with Aldora, and they did right by us. We stayed at the Villa Aldora, which was very pleasant, and gave us the convenience of being picked up right at the villa dock. For all but one day, we had an excellent guide by the name of Mateo (and he did one of our days of cenote diving, too). He's full cave and trimix, and a very skilled diver, and did an excellent job of leaving us alone to do our own dives but still help to guide us to fun swim-throughs and to point out small critters we might otherwise have missed. The boats were clean and appeared well-maintained, and I was thrilled with the polarfleece-lined windbreakers they had for us that came all the way down to my knees. I'd dive with Aldora again just for the coats!

We did three days of cenote tours, one with Aldora and two with DIR Mexico. They were absolutely the best part of the trip for me. The caves are absolutely beautiful and very magical.