Cozumel

[dfreeman]

Well gang I finally have found some time to get my pictures together an leave a little travelog of my most recent trip to warm climates.

Went with a good size group from DivePoint down to Cozumel. We left from Minneapolis in terrible weather and got to Cozumel in the sunshine. My son made getting out of the USA a little harder by bringing his wife's passport instead of his own. After about an hour of calling and waking people up (it was 5:00 a.m. at the time) we got a birth certificate faxed and notarized. This helped to pass the time before the flight.

We were at the Reef Club in Cozumel. This was a very nice place, all inclusive, and a lot of good liquor. Every drink was full of wholesome goodness. Here is a view from our room.

[dfreeman]

We came to dive and enjoy ourselves. Here is a view of the water. While it is not lake Wazee, it still is nice. Warm too.

[dfreeman]

We took our first dive at a site called Yucab. The diving here is all drift diving which was a lot of fun. Do not have to overwork if you do not want to. My son found this to be his preffered form of diving. All he had to do was follow me.

The reef system here is in very good condition. Here is an example.

[dfreeman]

Next up was San Clemente which was a dive site that we visited several times during the trip. Could not get enough of the place. Plenty of fish life, coral in good condition and relaxing drift dives.

Here is a local fish shoing his color.

[dfreeman]

One of the things that I like when diving in Cozumel was the nice warm conditions for changing and the beautiful conditions above the water. Here is some of the divers from our group at the end of a dive. Not quite the same as ending a ice dive.

[dfreeman]

After the dicving we had to take in the food and drink at the resort and just enjoy our first day. The major challenge was not getting sunburn. Soft living on the island. Learned that an Amaretto Sour is truly full of wholesome goodness on a hot tropical day.

The next day we were at Tormentos. Again some shallow drift diving. Lots of neat small things. Here are a couple of little guys posing near some coral.

[dfreeman]

There are a lot of angelfish in Cozumel. There was almost always a Queen Angelfish somewhere near by. The Queen Angelfish is a hard one to get a good picture of. But here is a good attempt, once again diving at San Clemente.

[dfreeman]

The next day we went to the walls of the famous Palancar reef system. The boat ride was longer but very nice. My daughter saw here future house. I hope that I do not have to pay for it.

[dfreeman]

The wall diving was very nice. It is easy to go too deep on these dives. You get distracted by the scenery and the clear water. Next thing you know you are 10-20 feet deeper than you thought. You always need to pay attention.

Here is my son playing with some fish. These fish were with the group for 10 minutes. You can tell that everyone is drift diving. Very relaxing and a lot of nice fish and coral.

Great fun.

[dfreeman]

There were a lot of good looking sponges in Cozumel. Here is a neat one from the second dive.