Cozumel Recap - part 2 - Underwater Paparazzi

Cozumel, Mexico – Columbia, Delila, Paso del Cedral (wall), San Clemente (night)
Dive #507-510

Day 2 of diving! I realized I forgot to mention a few key conditions in the last post… Water temp ranged from 81-82 degrees. Air temp was in the 90’s. Surface conditions were calm. Viz was typically 100+. The worst viz we had was maybe 65 feet. Current was non existent most of the time but on a few dives could be compared to a mild day in San Diego. Now that you want to kick me, lets talk about today’s dives! 😀

Columbia – There are so many options for this dive. You can do the multiple swim throughs or cruise around colorful walls. You can make it a deeper dive if you want or keep it shallow on the top of the walls. There’s plenty of life in both options! The first image below I’m just noting I’m at 96 feet below and can still see the boat at the surface! This was also the first dive I saw a nurse shark casually swim through!

Delila – This is a healthy reef named after the Delila Ranch that you can see on the shore. It has really pretty overhangs and small caves. I should mention that the lionfish are becoming a problem in Cozumel like in other areas. Mike & Nick, who had experience hunting lionfish while in Honduras last year, got to assist the divemaster in catching them while in Cozumel. That promoted a small entourage of stalker fish who like the delicacy of pre-hunted lionfish…

Paso del Cedral (wall) – You again have the choice of the wall or the shallows at this spot depending on your dive plan. Beautiful slopping hills of sponges and coral. A few encounters of turtles munching on sea sponges, a very large and chubby green moray eel, the first sighting of the endemic Cozumel splendid toadfish, and a very pink divemaster named Paulino….. 😀

San Clemente (night) – When you read about dive sites, this one doesn’t tend to come up as exciting as others… unless you go at night!!! There are all sorts of ledges and crevices for the nocturnal creatures to come out and play, and especially, one of my all time favorite Cozumel creatures, the octopus!!