Yet Another Cozumel Trip Report and Lots of Pictures for My Fellow Coz Junkies; Enjoy

Yet another Cozumel trip report and lots of pictures for my fellow Coz junkies; enjoy.

Queen angelfish Holacanthus ciliaris

Like swallows to Capistrano, we return every year to Cozumel. In fact, Cozumel is said to be Mayan for "Place of the Swallows;" who knew? This trip offered strange currents, old friends, nudibranchs, a frogfish, and some new critters.

Juvenile spotted drum Equtus punctatus

Adult jackknife fish Equetus lanceolatus

What is it about this magical place? I know there are some people who don't like drift diving; are put off by large numbers of divers, and don't like pod people (who does?), but you sure can't beat the bang for your buck! Of course, once you get a taste, you may find yourself hooked, like me.

Dancing stoplight parrots (initial phase) Sparisoma viride.

Eye of the scorpion Scorpaena plumieri

Late Friday night we took a cab to LAX, checked in at the Continental desk, found some of the group waiting at the gate, and boarded the red-eye flight to Houston. The plane left and arrived on time, giving us a three-hour layover at IAH - ample time for coffee/breakfast. The flight into CZM was on time, but landed the "wrong way," a harbinger of things to come. As we deplaned, we were hit with hot, humid air with a faint scent of wood smoke - Cozumel perfume. After snagging our luggage and passing through customs, we boarded a van to <a href="scubaclubcozumel.com">Scuba Club Cozumel</a>. Sofia warmly greeted us as we came through the gates with those most gracious words, "welcome home." We ate lunch, checked into our room, did a leisurely shore dive, ate dinner, and hit the sack. Tomorrow, we dive the reefs.

The gang from California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Connecticut, Florida, and England.

Spotted moray eel - "Where's everyone going?" Gymnothorax moringa

Sunday, two dives on the Reef Star with: our favorite Dive Master Jesus, Jana, Mike, Lyle, James, Tom, George, Mike and Sue. The other group on our boat, with DM Miguel, were: Scott, Margaret, Roger, Judy, Mark, Debra, Jeanette and Kathi. The rest of the group was on the Dive Cat. Palancar Gardens was our first dive spot and is the prototypical Cozumel dive, with large coral heads, swim throughs, schools of fish, turtles, etc.

Squirrelfish Holocentrus adscensionis

Spinyhead blenny Acanthemblemaria spinosa

We moved on to Paradise Reef for our second, shallower dive. Jesus led us to a black FROGFISH, with white toenails! It's hard to take a picture of something black on a white sand background; you need lots of strobe or the fish looks like a black blob. On the other hand, if you use lots of strobe you wash out the white background. We have looked for frogfish here for years but have only seen three of them. While common in many other areas of the Caribbean, Cozumel frogfish are either very rare or so well camouflaged that divers don't see them. In this case, I don't know how anyone ever found this one. He is hard to see even when you know what you are looking at. In the close-up, you can see his lure with its white tip and red striped wand.

Longlure frogfish Antennarius multiocellatus

Up close, showing his lure.

My camera mentor, Roger suggests that digital photographers set up their shots by taking pictures of a rock before moving into to take he real picture. That way the creature isn't overly stressed, other photographers get the chance to take a picture, and you get better images. I think I will call this Roger's Rule = Take a picture of a rock. If you can't take a picture of a rock, you shouldn't be stressing the wildlife . The downside is that you will have a bunch of "Where's Waldo?" pictures to delete. Of course if you wait to do all your camera fiddling on the subject, you will have a bunch of images to delete anyway...so no downside?

Shortfin pipefish Cosmocampus elucens

Netted Olive snail, can you see its eyes? Oliva reticularis

A shore dive in the afternoon dive for more than two-hours, satiated our nitrogen cravings.

Sponge with brittle stars.

Magnificent urchin Astropyga magnifica

Monday, we did boat dives to Palancar Caves & Tormentos. The normal currents, from South to North, are all screwed up. The current was going South on Palancar and we started the dive into the flow before turning and riding down the reef. The same situation was with the current on Tormentos, which allowed us to do a leisurely swim up the reef. I found a baby flamingo tongue, smaller and more slender than the adults, and there was a big green moray lying on his back under a ledge. He was alive and healthy, but for some reason was resting upside down.

Baby flamingo tongue Cyphoma gibbosum

Adult flamingo tongues (X-rated?)

We finished the day with a night dive out front. I went out in the turtle grass with George and found a rose coral out feeding. At first, I couldn't figure out what I was looking at. During the day, the corals look like rocks; the polyps only come out in the dark. I took a picture of one with the polyps retracted, next to one that was actively feeding.

Rose coral Manicina areolata

Caribbean reef octopus hunting, making a balloon and scaring little fish out from under rocks to become dinner. Octopus briareus

A pair of "what the heck?" shots.

1. What looks like a hose from a clothes drier is actually the egg case of the West Indian Chank (a large conch-like mollusk).

2. The egg case of the moon snail.

Tuesday, Colombia Deep: the currents are going south again, but not very strong, great visibility and a couple of turtles.

"Chocolate chip" sea cucumber aka three-rowed sea cucumber Isostichopus badionotus

Punta Tunich, aka poor man's Barracuda, is normally an E-ticket ride, but today the current was very mild. We found lots of lobsters. My daughter Libby had arrived from London and was waiting for us when we got back to the pier.

Jesus with lobsters.

Margaret taking a picture of a barracuda.

[How many people still remember where the expression "E-ticket Ride" comes from? In olden times, admission to Disneyland (there was only one then) got you into the park and a ticket book filled with A, B, C, D, and E tickets. The E tickets were good for the more exciting and popular rides, like the Matterhorn; hence the expression "E-ticket Ride." Everyone went home with books full of unused A/B tickets. I'll bet I've still got some in a drawer around here somewhere. Younger people associate E-tickets with the airlines and don't know about life before computers and cell phones, but that's another rant.]

Jesus is my dive master - Jesus Zetina.

File clam Lima scabra

Shore dive in the afternoon to shoot macro; I spent a long time trying to get a good picture of a couple of hermit crabs. Deb and Mark found a seahorse out in the turtle grass, but couldn't get my attention.

Stareye hermit crab Dardanus venosus

Old blue eyes, White speckled hermit Paguristes puniceps

Wednesday, Colombia Bricks with the current moving in the wrong direction still along the wall and in and out of the swim throughs.

The seahorses that used to be see at Las Palmas are no longer there, so we tried our luck at Villa Blanca, which is North of the International Pier. The current was really honking, the wrong way, so we did Villa Blanca drifting to the south. We found a nurse shark hiding in a hole, lots of scrawled file fish, and two seahorses at the very end...or is that the beginning of the reef? It rained in the afternoon.

Sleeping nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum

Longsnout Seahorse Hippocampus reidi

We were very excited to find nudibranchs on this trip. Judy showed me a picture on the LCD of her camera of a colorful nudibranch, but was very vague about where she had found it. I should have known something was up, but fool that I am, I swallowed the bait - hook, line and sinker. Later on in the week, she had her laptop computer out and asked me to look up the nudibranch in Paul Humann's Reef Creature Book. When I located the purple tipped sea goddess, it was the same picture that Judy had on her screen. I had been had! She had taken a picture of the image in the book and that's what she had shown me. Judy loves purple; I was scammed big time!

Banded coral shrimp Stenopus hspidus

On the afternoon shore dive, we were able to locate Deb and Mark's seahorse again and take a few pictures. We finished just in time for the weekly fiesta at Scuba Club Cozumel. Deborah and I headed for our rooms before the piÃ±ata came out; we've been there, done that.

Longsnout Seahorse Hippocampus reidi

Arrow crab Stenorhynchus seticornis

Summer in Cozumel is hot, humid and the beginning of the hurricane season in the Caribbean. In the past, it's been the off-season, but we found the island to be busy with divers this year. There were, however, fewer cruise ships regurgitating pod-people onto the sidewalks of San Miguel than there are in the Winter; which, in my opinion, is a good thing.

Pair of spotfin butterflies on the reef. Chaetodon ocellatus

Dorie? "Where's Nemo?" - Blue Tang Acanthurus coeruleus

Summer diving - water temps in the mid-eighties, great visibility, mild currents, gentle winds, flat seas (except when the hurricane blows), and a few eagle rays. Amend the above to read "screwy currents."

Thursday, Santa Rosa Wall redefined E-ticket with an extreme South to North current. We experienced the ride of our lives through a sand storm on top of the reef. Swirling sand, moving dunes, reduced visibility, and the water trying to push us off reef. It's a good thing that all divers in our group are comfortable in the water. We just relaxed, turned into the invisible, underwater wind, hugged the reef, and found still water behind the occasional coral head; an exciting ride was had by all. The other dive group was further down the wall and was able to stay out of the current and go through the swim throughs.

Yellow sting rays, menage a trios. Urolophus jamaicensis

Libby and Tom did two Nitrox dives today, completing their EANx certification. They can now breathe "geezer gas" with the rest of us!

School of gray angels Pomacanthus arcuatus

Chankanab was more of an A or B-ticket, like Mr. Toad's Ride; we found a light current going the normal way...of course, normal isn't normal at Chankanab where the current normally runs the wrong way from North to South, unless the current is not normal and then it runs the normal way...did you understand that? It makes my head swim...Chankanab, which means "little ocean" in Mayan, is one of the most beautiful low reefs of Cozumel. It's home to many thousands of grunts, lush sponge gardens, and big lobsters. Corky fingers and gorgonians are tall and lean with the current flow. Chankanab is also one of the best dive sites to see the indigenous Splendid Toadfish tucked into his burrow under a coral head. I love this place.

Splendid toadfish Sanopus splendidus

My friend, Judy (judyC) makes glass beads, many of which are of sea creatures. You can see her work on her webpage: <a href="http://www.jujeebeads.com/">http://www.jujeebeads.com/</a>. Here, is a splendid toadfish bead that she made:

Juvenile foureye butterflyfish Chaetodon capistratus

Friday the 13 th broke sunny and warm. We dove Dalila Reef in a blowing current. There were schools of boxfish hiding under the ledges. Several large groupers made close passes but weren't as friendly as they were in the old days when it was common for dive masters to feed them. Pairs of large, gray angelfish joined queen angels feeding on the coral heads in the current. While feeding in the current, the fish aren't as skittish as they normally are, and I was able to avoid the butt shots that often happen with shutter lag and digital cameras.

Queen trigger Balistes vetula

Clinging crab, under a ledge Mithrax forceps

Paradise shallows. The current was running to the north at the start of the dive, so we started our dive near the International pier. Halfway through the dive, the current switched and we finished back where we started. We revisited our friend the black frogfish and spent the remainder of the dive poking around the low coral heads and sponges looking for other interesting creatures. There are many spotted moray living here and healthy numbers of yellowtail damsels, hinds, and a huge school of horse-eyed jacks came by. The water was cooler than on the other reefs, falling to a chilly 82 degrees! It just shows how relative our concept of "cold" is. After experiencing 86-degree temperatures for several days, a two-degree drop seems cold. I don't want to think about the fifty-degree water we face when we get back home to California.