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{Mexico} Exploring the Underwater World of Cozumel, a Top Scuba Diving Destination

The phone rang at 6am. It was our wakeup call.

Groggily and with half opened eyes, we somehow managed to freshen up, eat breakfast, grab our gear, find our way to the exit of the Princess cruiseship and board the boat that was to take us out scuba diving at Cozumel.

The breeze blowing at our faces as we ride out towards our scuba dive site never fails to wake us up and put a “I’m so glad I woke up for this” smile on our faces!

We dove at two sites in cozumel: Delilah Reef and Chankanaab. The following are just a small sampling of the amazing underwater life that we saw while diving!

Mesmerized by Scrawled Filefish

Swimming along with a sea turtle

Admiring the corals

Intrigued by brain corals

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Wowed by Squirrel Fish

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Spying on a Barracuda

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Spying on a Barracuda

Swimming alongside French Angelfish

French Angelfish. Beautiful, aren’t they?

Thanks to “Sgwd”, we learned that this is a Whitespotted Filefish! Thanks for helping us with the identification!

Nurse Sharks spend most of their time rifling through the bottom sediments in search of food. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans, molluscs, tunicates, sea snakes, and other fish, particularly stingrays.

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Jeremy trying to get close to the Nurse Shark

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Scuba divers looking like fish from far

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CRUISES ARE PERFECT FOR SAMPLING SCUBA DIVE DESTINATIONS

We first discovered scuba diving on our trip to Maui several years ago. We then gave Discovery Diving another go when we were at Redang Island last year. We were sold. We got certified in 2010 and have been scuba diving every chance we get.

We went on this cruise to the Caribbean because the ports the ship stopped at were all top scuba diving destinations: Cayman, Cozumel, Honduras and Belize!

 

DRIFT DIVING AT COZUMEL

Cozumel is considered one of the top scuba diving destinations because it is fringed by a complex coral reef ecosystem. It is part of a massive chain of reef that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Honduras.

Most of the dives in Cozumel will be drift dives because of the mild currents that flow from South to North at 1 – 2 knots. A drift dive is one where you start diving at a spot, keep going, surface at another spot and wait for the boat to come pick you up.

The current at Delilah Reef was stronger than the one at Chankanaab. At Delilah Reef, it was like we were scuba diving on a conveyor belt. We were pushed along by the current. We enjoyed the dive at Chankanaab more because the current weren’t quite as strong so we had more time to explore and take our time taking pictures without having to swim against the current.

Scuba divers exploring the underwater world!

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Jeremy, floating along, pushed by the currents.

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Gene, a new friend we made on our scuba dive trip. He’s doing his decompression stop where he’s hovering at 15ft for 3 minutes before surfacing.

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Linda, another new friend we made on our scuba dive trip.

 

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TAKEAWAYS:

  1. Cozumel is known as one of the top scuba diving destination in the world.
  2. Most scuba dive trips in Cozumel will be drift dives with over 100ft of visibility. We had 160+ft visibility on our trip.
  3. Cruises are perfect for sampling dive destinations.
  4. If you’re booking your own scuba dive trip (we saved about $40 when we booked our own trip), go in the morning so that you’d have plenty of time before the cruise leaves.
  5. One of the advantages of booking a scuba dive trip through the cruise is that the cruise ship will NEVER leave without you no matter how late the tour ends
  6. Sunlight is made up of all the colors of the rainbow. When sunlight hits the water, the blue spectrum of sunlight is scattered and reflected by the water  much more so than any of the other colors. Water also absorbs the red spectrum the most so the deeper you get, the more red color you lose.
  7. The above is the reason why your underwater pictures will mostly be blue-ish.
  8. As you go deeper, the less the color red is available. You’ll need to use the channel mixer and the levels feature in Photoshop to recover the red pixels in your photos.
  9. We used our Leica D-Lux5  along with a 10Bar underwater housing to take our pictures.
  10. A comparable point & shoot to the Leica D-Lux5 is the Panasonic LX-5 and Canon S95. A comparable underwater housing is the Ikelite Housing (fits both D-Lux 5 and Panasonic LX-5).
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Have you been to Cozumel before? Did you try snorkeling or scuba diving?

If you liked this post, don’t forget to +1, Stumble, Like, Tweet and share it!

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69 Comments

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  1. Micamyx|Senyorita December 9, 2011 Reply

    I am always in the beach and snorkel a lot, but i never tried diving 😐
    Micamyx recently posted..Banaue-Batad Trip: Commuting From Manila to BanaueMy Profile

  2. Bret @ Green Global Travel
    Twitter:
    December 8, 2011 Reply

    Never been to Cozumel, but we did some great snorkeling with sea turtles in the Riviera Maya last year. Out of curiosity, what sort of underwater camera do you use? Your pics are spectacular!
    Bret recently posted..ECO NEWS: New Legislation Threatens Increased Deforestation In Brazil’s AmazonMy Profile

  3. Annie - FootTracker December 8, 2011 Reply

    Your underwater photos are amazing. The French Angelfish is pretty =)

    How long does it take to get a Scuba Diving certificate? (Kind of itching to get one now)
    Annie – FootTracker recently posted..Tokyo Winter (4) Lesson learned @Hanasono JinjyaMy Profile

    • Author
      Jeremy & Shirlene
      Twitter:
      December 8, 2011 Reply

      Thanks Annie! Glad you like the photos! yeah, the French Angelfish is so beautiful. I kept following them and swimming alongside them because I was so intrigued by their colors! They are really fast swimmers though, so I kept losing their trail!

      The certification usually consists of coursework, 2 indoor training (e.g. in pools) and 2 actual dives. We did ours in two weekends, so 4 days total. there are many options – you can potentially do the coursework part of the certification and the pool training here in the US and then go abroad for the actual 2 dives certification (my friend went to Thailand to complete hers). You can also choose to do it slowly over the course of a week etc… It depends on what works best for you and the dive shop you’re getting your certification at. Check your local dive shop to see what they have available for you. You can sometimes even do your coursework online.

      Lots more details here: http://www.padi.com/scuba/padi-courses/diver-level-courses/view-all-padi-courses/open-water-diver/default.aspx
      Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..Passport with Purpose: Help Build Libraries in Zambia and Win Some Great Prizes!My Profile

  4. Kieu ~ GQ trippin December 8, 2011 Reply

    I’m with Lily! Let’s go diving and you can take amazing photos of us! Lol. Absolutely stunning! I really want to scuba when we’re out there but you heard Gerard, his swimming skills are a bit shotty. Haha. We will see.
    Kieu ~ GQ trippin recently posted..Checklist: 27 in 27 DaysMy Profile

  5. jenjenk
    Twitter:
    December 7, 2011 Reply

    been to cozumel but sadly never went diving. what amazing & clear pictures!!!
    jenjenk recently posted..My Travel ABC’sMy Profile

  6. John in France December 7, 2011 Reply

    Congratulations on this amazing post. What amazing photos – I can’t believe you took these yourself. Superb! I gave up diving after my scuba gear malfunctioned and suddenly ran out of air – ’twas shit experience!!
    John in France recently posted..The Louvre – Kim Kardashian creates havoc?My Profile

  7. Michael Figueiredo
    Twitter:
    December 7, 2011 Reply

    Awesome shots! I’ve been diving three times before but haven’t been in about 15 years. I definitely need to do it again.
    Michael Figueiredo recently posted..Where in the world am I? (#19)My Profile

  8. Laurel
    Twitter:
    December 6, 2011 Reply

    I LOVE diving but stupidly did my advanced certification in Playa del Carmen instead of Cozumel, something I still regret.
    Laurel recently posted..My 3 Favorite Christmas Markets in MunichMy Profile

  9. sgwd December 5, 2011 Reply

    That’s a whitespotted filefish – http://reefguide.org/carib/whitespottedfile.html. Nice critter finds!

  10. chris
    Twitter:
    December 5, 2011 Reply

    I am surpriced about the quality of your pictures wich camera are you using for diving
    saludos chris

  11. Gerard ~ GQ trippin
    Twitter:
    December 5, 2011 Reply

    OK. You guys pushed me to do some scuba. Maybe I’ll try in Thailand. There isn’t too much swimming skill involved right? My swimming skills are limited. 🙂
    Gerard ~ GQ trippin recently posted..It’s Official, Today I Quit My Job!My Profile

  12. NLM
    Twitter:
    December 5, 2011 Reply

    Wonderful! Thanks for the inspiration!
    NLM recently posted..Oh, Now I Get ItMy Profile

  13. Christy @ Technosyncratic
    Twitter:
    December 5, 2011 Reply

    These shots are phenomenal, you guys! Kali really wants to learn how to dive while we’re in Thailand and it’s super cheap, but I haven’t decided if I’d like to. These photos are really swaying me, though…..
    Christy recently posted..Photo of the Week: Artist at Chiang Mai’s Night MarketMy Profile

  14. Lily
    Twitter:
    December 4, 2011 Reply

    Wow, wow, wow! These are the most stunning, crisp and colour balanced scuba diving photos I have ever seen on a blog post. Ever. I’m a diving newbie (about 10 dives) and but if I ever meet up with you guys, we’re going to diving and you’re going to have to take a photo of me, okay?! 😀 Seriously, great photos.

    – Lily
    Lily recently posted..Top 8 Highlights from 8 Days in #JordanMy Profile

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