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Sunday, Dec. 10th
I went to Palancar Horseshoe with Ron, Mike, John, Good Bob and
Mary. We found a crab with giant claws in a crevice down about
70 feet. Beneath the crab...was a big lobster below.
While diving on Dalila, I drifted right over a turtle that was
feeding on a sponge. During the safety stop, we floated over a
small spotted eagle ray. The ray was looking for something to
eat in the sand. We saw a couple of big black groupers.
Paradise was the best dive of the day. I found zillions of splendid
toadfish, but only one came out of the hole for us. We saw a yellow
stingray, a spotted moray and a very, very big green moray eel.
She was under a coral head and looked sick. She may have just
been resting, however..
Monday, Dec. 11th
My first tank was on Palancar Caves with Bruce, Mary, Mike, John,
Manette and Mike. We swam around and through lots of pretty coral
formations. Bruce had a little trouble with his BCD inflating
by all by itself.
We had calm conditions on French Reef with only a small amount
of current. That was nice. The fish life on this reef is really
abundant.
That afternoon I took Eric, Jason and Mike to Palancar Gardens
and we swam under a little turtle in a cave. Since it was late
in the day we saw lots of really large crabs and lobsters.
The last tank of the day was on San Francisco Wall, where we
saw many more crabs and lobsters. We also saw a spotted moray.
It was kind of eerie being down there on the wall as the sun went
down and it started to get dark. It began to wonder what is out
there in that deep blue water. You know, that old, "What comes
out at night?" feeling.
Tuesday, Dec. 12th
At Dalila Eric showed us a turtle. Next, he pointed out a small
nurse shark. As he was checking out a big black grouper, Mike
discovered a 5-foot green moray eel behind the grouper. Manette
didn't want to go into the hold to get a picture of the eel, so
I stole her camera and went in by myself.
Eric, Jason, Mike, Manette and John came with me to Santa Rosa
Wall. Eric found all of the good stuff. When he found the second
turtle, we spent quite a long time visiting. Manette took pictures
of the turtle when it settled down into a cubby-hole behind an
orange rope sponge. Eric also pointed out the spotted eagle ray.
We also saw more crabs and lobsters
Tank three that day was on Cedral Wall with Eric, Jason, Mary,
Bob, Ken, Mary, Bruce and Mike. This one was an impressive dive!
First a big nurse shark was lying on the bottom next to a big
green moray eel. It took off when we approached. Then the nurse
shark swam back again.
We saw a second big nurse shark go by later in the dive. Next,
we drifted over the top of a turtle. We saw a bunch of crabs and
lobsters. At the end of the dive we saw another solitary nurse
shark...but the grand finale was a pair of sharks sitting in the
sand together at the end of the dive.
We did a night dive on Paradise. I am not going to forget this
dive for a long time. Aside from the usual crabs, lobsters and
eels that we see, the excitement began when Chucho brought Mary
up to the surface. As she was taking off her BCD she dropped it
and Carlos couldn't grab it in time. It had all of the weights
integrated and no air in it. It dropped to the bottom of the black
night sea. Carlos is one smart son of a gun. He quickly found
a long rope and tied a fender buoy to one end and 50-pound weight
belt to the other end and dropped the weights where he thought
that the BCD went down. I was still diving when I heard the emergency
recall signal. I had no idea what had happened topside so I went
up and skipped my safety stop. Chucho stayed and did a safety
stop with the other divers. When I got to the surface Carlos explained
what had happened. Chucho and I did a search. Carlos dropped me
off near where he thought the scuba gear was located. By the time
he threw the buoy/anchor combo overboard the boat had drifted
a bit. I swam slowly against the current making long, slow sweeps
with my flashlight over the bottom. It only took me about 10 minutes
to find the lost equipment. It looked like a big lump from far
away but the irregular shape of it gave it away. That was a relief.
We were lucky in that it had landed in the sand... making it somewhat
easier to locate..
Wednesday, Dec. 13th
For a change of pace we went to Colombia Deep with Bob, Mary,
Mike, Mike, Mike, Manette and Carmen. If you forgot some one's
name that day you just said, "Mike" and one was bound to answer.We
swam under two different turtles and saw a spotted eagle ray way
below us as we made our safety stop. I showed everyone both of
the anchors.
Manette had requested a shark and we found one small one on Paso
del Cedral. We also got to see a green moray eel and a couple
of crabs and lobsters.
Next, it was off to Las Palmas with Eric, Jason, Jesse, Mary,
Bruce and Mike. The biggest hawksbill turtle that I have seen
in years swam right up to us. We saw loads of splendid toadfish.
Mary found a pair of lobsters. Eric spotted a bunch of yellow
stingrays.
Paradise was full of the usual fish and lots of golden tail eels.
We saw tons of crabs and few lobsters. Then we had a special treat!
A huge school of big-eyed scads surrounded us and made a big wall
of fish in all directions. That was a lot of fun. It was quite
a spectacle.
Thursday, Dec. 14th
I dove on Santa Rosa Wall with Earl, Terry, Patrick, Rebecca,
Kathy, Alan and Mike. The big turtle just swam right up to us.
Alan pointed out another smaller turtle right beneath us.
Our second stop was on Tormentos where a small turtle snacked
on a sponge. The sponges on Tormentos are bright red and orange
and I think that it is now the most colorful reef in all of Cozumel.
Earl, Terry, Patrick and Rebecca got off. Mike, Manette and John
got on and we went to San Francisco Wall. There was lots of pretty
sunshine illuminating the colorful sponges and fish. We saw a
flounder and a splendid toadfish. Talk about being the right place
at the right time! As Alan was making a safety stop I turned my
head to notice the boat floating over us. Carlos had his hand
in the water with a weight in it and was using the weight to bang
on the bottom of the boat to get my attention. Then he started
making the hand signal for dolphin and then he pointed to shore.
I didn't even bother to look around, I just turned and started
kicking and pointing the direction Carlos had told me to go. It
only took a moment before they appeared. Fortunately the whole
group was paying attention and they followed me. First four large
dolphins swam past us. They were very, very close. Then a huge
pod of maybe 30 or more dolphin passed by us! I turned my head
towards the deep water and a couple of them swam right up to Alan
and I. Last of all, about 10 more came by. It was absolutely amazing.
On Chankanaab there were more crabs and lobsters than we could
count. We saw various types of sea cucumbers and a yellow stingray.
Friday, Dec. 15th
I went back to Colombia Deep with John, Mike, Mike, Manette,
Mary, Shirley and Dean. One small turtle was pointed out by Shirley.
A larger turtle swam right at us. A spotted eagle ray glided below
us on our safety stop.
Tank two was on French Reef. Another couple of turtles were hanging
out. The first one was eating a sponge and we had to swim a bit
to get close. There was another small one up on top of the reef.
Thursday, Dec. 28th
My first dive back from vacation was with Jeff, John, Jeremy,
Tracy, John, Chris, Gail and Dave on Palancar Gardens. We had
a bit of weird current, so we had to swim a little bit. I had
a new wetsuit on and I didn't have enough weight. I felt kinda
like a tourist and wore myself out on that one. We saw a small
turtle as we were finishing up our dive.
I wanted calm and relaxing conditions so I picked Chankanaab.
Several lobsters made an appearance and so did a big old crab.
A huge snapper swam by and we saw some groupers.
In the afternoon Ruth, Mark, Sarah and Dov came with me to Palancar
between Horseshoe and Gardens. We saw tons of stuff including
crabs, lobsters, a big grouper and a green moray eel down deep.
We did a night dive on Paradise where we saw another huge green
moray eel. It was probably the same one that I had seen before
my vacation that looked sickly. Now it looked just fine. Tons
of crabs and lobsters were seen but one really huge lobster came
out and pranced around for us. Sarah and I like the snake eels
that we saw. I found one splendid toadfish and one octopus.
Friday, Dec. 29th
I went to Palancar Gardens with Cynthia, David, Maddie, Stephanie,
Ruth, Mark, Dov and Sarah. There were two small hawksbill turtles
up in the shallow water. One swam out from under the reef and
appeared right beneath Maddie.
I picked up a Donkey Dung sea cucumber on Paradise that Sarah
tried to pass to Stephanie. Stephanie didn't want to touch it
and that made us giggle. As usual there were lots of splendid
toadfish. Dov and Ruth got to see why they are called "splendid"
when I coaxed it out of its den. They have a long bright yellow
ribbon like dorsal fin and two bright yellow pectoral fins which
make them quite beautiful in their entirety. One of the golden
tail morays that we observed had a nasty gash on its head. I wondered
what predator did that to him.
Saturday, Dec. 30th
We went in search of Dov's first shark on Dalila with Ruth, Dov,
Sarah, Mark, Todd, Gracie and Mike. First Gracie drifted over
a turtle that Ruth could not resist. Then Dov found his very own
little nurse shark and it was mission accomplished. Towards to
the end of the dive I spied a huge spotted eagle ray feeding in
the sand. Ruth was entranced.
As we were observing the first green moray eel on Cedral Wall,
another jumbo-sized eel swam by us. When only Dov and Ruth were
still down, we all swam over to Santa Rosa Wall and discovered
a turtle just hanging out.
Sunday, Dec. 31st I did my last dives of 2006 with Ruth, Mark,
Dov, Sarah, Will and Larry. Per Dov's request we went to Santa
Rosa Wall. The first turtle that we encountered was small and
the current was so fast that we couldn't stop. Then we drifted
over a humungous turtle on the bottom. Larry really loved swimming
through the cave. He was all smiles when he came out.
There was also a strong current on Tormentos. Sarah took lots
of photos and we saw another second turtle. We ran out of reef
before Dov and Ruth got low on air. That was kind of a bummer
that we had to go up... because the bottom dropped off to deep
water and nothing but sand.
Thursday, Jan. 4th
I got a late start on 2007 at Palancar Horseshoe with Jim, Robert,
Terra, Will and Joe. We swam around the mountainous reef structures.
The towering formations are always impressive. We were lucky and
had very little current.
Will was happy when I announced that we were going to dive Dalila.
The first little turtle was not shy. The second little turtle
was a tad more skittish. We saw some huge barracudas stalking
a school of blue striped grunts and upsetting the creole wrasse.
A black grouper sat under a coral head and a giant snapper made
a distant pass. I found an old spear encrusted with algae and
I brought it up. When we got back to the marina I turned it over
to a marine park employee.
Friday, Jan. 5th
I took Terra, Will, Robert and Joe on a 70 foot dive to Palancar
Gardens while Cheryl, Hank and Daniela snorkeled over us. It was
nice to not have a lot of current. Will commented that the visibility
was a bit down and I agreed.
Daniela and Hank joined us on the dive at Paradise. We saw a
spotted moray with a banded cleaner shrimp on his head. There
were several splendid toadfish and a peacock flounder. No one
came over to see the lobster that I pointed out. Oh well.
Saturday, Jan. 6th
My first tank was on Palancar Horseshoe with Hank, Daniela, Vince
and Kristen. Henry snorkeled over us. When Hank rolled in he hit
his head hard on something. I didn't see what happened nor did
I even know that he hit his head until I got back on the boat
and he told me. I don't know if he hit it on Daniela's tank or
the bottom of the boat. But judging from the bump I tend towards
Daniela's tank. Ouch. He still enjoyed his dive and it wasn't
a big deal, but we were very careful on the next entry at Dalila.
Dalila was a great dive! As I was showing everyone a splendid
toadfish I heard Kristen shouting through her regulator. When
I looked up a 6-foot nurse shark was swimming by off in the distance.
It was probably close enough for the divers. We saw some of the
biggest groupers that I have seen in a long time. About 40 minutes
into the dive a big fat green moray eel was just sitting out in
the open posing for Vince's camera. That was it! Daniela is now
hooked on diving. She just loved it!
When I got back Lisa, Mark, Marcus and Ben were waiting for me
and I took them on a resort course at Paradise. I asked Ben what
he wanted to see this week and he told me that he would like to
see eels and stingrays. That is exactly what we saw on our dive.
We saw a full sized golden tail eel and a tiny spotted moray.
Mark pointed out a couple of yellow stingrays. All of these critters
were small but Ben, being the only certified diver in the group
will spend the next week out on the reefs and we will see if we
can find him some big eels and big stingrays.
Back to work - more later - Alison
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