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
Wowed by Squirrel Fish
Spying on a Barracuda
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.
Jeremy trying to get close to the Nurse Shark
Scuba divers looking like fish from far
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!
Jeremy, floating along, pushed by the currents.
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.
Linda, another new friend we made on our scuba dive trip.
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TAKEAWAYS:
- Cozumel is known as one of the top scuba diving destination in the world.
- Most scuba dive trips in Cozumel will be drift dives with over 100ft of visibility. We had 160+ft visibility on our trip.
- Cruises are perfect for sampling dive destinations.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- The above is the reason why your underwater pictures will mostly be blue-ish.
- 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.
- We used our Leica D-Lux5 along with a 10Bar underwater housing to take our pictures.
- 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).
Have you been to Cozumel before? Did you try snorkeling or scuba diving?
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69 Comments
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Wow! Awesome underwater photos and great informative post! Been to Cozumel twice, both times on cruise ships and for scuba diving. I’m in agreement that cruise ships are a great way to sample many dive destinations especially in the Caribbean. In Cozumel, we dove at the Santa Rosa Wall and the San Clemente Reef. Saw lots of coral and sealife (turtle, lobster, seahorse, giant grouper, moray eel, etc, etc) and the visibility is top notch.
Cat recently posted..Weekend Trip to Wrightsville Beach, NC
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Thanks Cat! We loved Cozumel so much I think we’ll definitely go back. Santa Rosa Wall and San Clemente Reef sounds like a great place for us to go! I heard the currents at Santa Rosa Wall was rather strong. Did you have trouble with the currents when you were there?
Happy New Year!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..Highlights of Our 2011 Travel Adventures in Photos
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No troubles at all, I was worried about it being a drift dive and having no experience with that type of situation. But, I actually loved it! It’s a little like conveyor belt diving but it’s also less effort since there’s not much kicking necessary. The current is faster than you’d think but also slower than you’d think! Going with a good divemaster may have helped too but that’s just speculation. I really think you would enjoy it.
Cat recently posted..Second Time Skydiving-
Definitely sounds like something we’d like! Can’t wait to get back!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{Spain} Best Tapas at Pinotxo Bar in La Boqueria, Barcelona
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Wow, amazing photos!
Jeremy Branham recently posted..Win 2 free nights at a Courtyard by Marriott-
Thanks Jeremy! Glad you like the photos. What you see here is just the tip of the iceberg! There were so much more we saw that we didn’t capture!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{Caribbean} Smooching Stingrays at Grand Cayman
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Love the pictures! What camera did you use? Our next stop will be Sri Lanka and we are planning to do some scuba diving as well but I’m not sure what camera to get.
For 91 Days Travel Blog recently posted..The Temple of Apollo and the Fountain of Arethusa-
Glad you like the pictures 🙂 We used our Leica D-Lux 5 point & shoot camera (comparable camera is Panasonic Lumix LX5) with a 10bar underwater housing (comparable housing would be an Ikelite). There are also special underwater cameras you can buy if that’s something you want to explore. We didn’t explore it because I already have a rather good point & shoot, so we spent money buying a good housing for it instead. Hope this helps!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..Our G+ Page is now Live & How to Create Your Own Google+ page!
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those are really wonderful pictures
Zablon Mukuba recently posted..Volunteering abroad and Universities-
Thanks Zablon. Glad you like the pictures!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..Passport with Purpose: Help Build Libraries in Zambia and Win Some Great Prizes!
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Wow! I have never scuba dived. Your pictures look amazing!
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Thanks Christina! You should give it a go! There are “Discovery Scuba” programs in most beach destination resorts. That’s how we first got started (Discovery diving in Maui). You will love it!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..Passport with Purpose: Help Build Libraries in Zambia and Win Some Great Prizes!
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Those pictures are stunning! I’m still working out my irrational fear of sharks ( snorkeling sends me into high panic mode) but I love seeing what scuba divers see in the blue world.
William recently posted..Perfect Little Buildings-
Thanks William! We’re glad you like the pictures! What you see here is just a small fraction of the incredible marine life we saw underwater! We hope you’ll continue working towards feeling comfortable underwater. There’s a whole new world waiting for you to explore!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{USA} Malasadas, a Must Eat in Honolulu, Oahu.
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Beautiful! It’s been far too long since we’ve been scuba diving and this makes me want to get back under again.
Erin recently posted..Learning to Cook Thai Food in Chiang Mai-
Thanks Erin! The underwater world is always there, waiting for you to explore at anytime. We look forward to hearing about your return to the underwater world!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{USA} Local Food, a Hidden Gem Serving the Best Kalua Pork in Maui
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Looks like the perfect place to dive! The water is so clear!! I have only tried snorkeling but I’m working up the courage to try scuba diving 😀 Great photos!
Audrey – That Backpacker recently posted..The Highest I’ve Ever Stood-
Thanks Audrey! The visibility in Cozumel was definitely incredible. You can always give Discovery Scuba a go which should help give you a great introduction to the sport. Make sure you pick destinations with 100ft+ visibility!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{USA} Surfing with Goofy Foot Surf School in Maui
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I have only been snorkeling, but diving really appeals to me. It is fascinating there is this whole world of organisms underwater. Beautiful shots of that world!
Suzy recently posted..The Tivoli Gardens of Copenhagen Wish You Were Here-
Thanks Suzy! Learning to scuba dive just opened up the world to us. We feel like we just doubled/tripled our world!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{Tips} If nothing else, take these 3 photographs on your travels
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I have never dived under water! The marine life looks so surreal, so beautiful…
Wish I could experience that sometime in my lifetime…
Thanks for sharing the pics.
Arti recently posted..Photographical Memories from the Himalayas: Roads…-
Thanks Arti! You can definitely experience it too. Give Discovery Scuba a go and you’ll definitely love it! Glad you love the photos!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{USA} Luxurious Grand Wailea in Maui-
There is no doubt I will love it!! Till then your pics satisfy me:)
Arti recently posted..Photographical Memories from the Himalayas: River Ganga…
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