Cozumel 2012 - Day 7

What a treat this day turned out to be!!  We woke up early and decided  to wing over to the other side of the island to see if we could catch some other birds.  Wow - Heron city!  If you want to see more - check out www.cherylawarren.com/index.htm.

Then we got quickly got ready to dive and headed to the pier.  We splashed in and started our dive....all of the sudden there was a pack of 7 - YES 7!!!!!  Black tip reef sharks.  They were swimming fast and whipping around to see us as we swam to see them.  OMG - was that exciting!!

After they took off we were just catching our breath when two eagle rays came along.  They were curious and hung out with us for about 5 minutes!  WOW!!!  That was amazing!!  And then there was a free swimming nurse shark.  That is a rare site indeed because usually they are curled up sleeping under a ledge.  He swam right between John and I.

We think it was Cozumel's way of saying - glad you came and see you next year!  Spectacular!!

black tip reef shark

Eagle Ray - see his mouth?

Nurse Shark coming!!  See Cheri in the corner?

Nurse Shark

Cozueml 2012 - Day 6

Diving.......We were treated to schools of Jacks and mantis shrimp on this day.  It's pretty rare to see one mantis shrimp yet we saw two!!

And finally - a picture of the two of us underwater!

Cozumel 2012 - Day 5

And more diving - making new friends - and learning to make guacamole!!  Pepe makes literally the best guacamole on the planet!!  And now I know how too!

After diving we drove around the back side of the island and snagged some more bird images!

Pepe and Ute

Grouper

Cozumel 2012 - Day 4

More diving - Yippee!!!!  Even though it was pouring rain - the diving was AMAZING!  We dove and dove and it felt like on every dive that nature was taking it up a notch.  We saw so many wonderful things and had such a good time with our friends!  The seahorses are back!!  The eagle rays are in!!  And life is everywhere just waiting to be seen!  Thanks to our dive guide extraordinaire - Roger - we saw all of these animals!

While it was dismal on top below the sea....yipeee!

fire worm

moray eel

scenic undersea view

Cheri Cat fish

Eagle Ray

turtle

angelfish

seahorse!!

Cozumel Mexico - November 29, 2010 - Day 1 Dive 1 - Palancar Bricks

Max depth of 77 Feet for about an hour

The light was wonderful with sun streaming down the whole dive.  Not once was it interrupted by clouds above.   We were overwhelmed by the health of the reef.  We'd been living in London for the past two years and found it too difficult to get to Mexico.  So now were were back in the US and back to Cozumel!  In the time we'd been away, the reefs had begun to flourish. 4 years ago a massive hurricane sat and spun on the island for 36 hours.  Now it is as if the hurricane had been a master gardener, pruning away the dead reef and allowing it to become way more beautiful than it had been since the early 90s.

Enjoy!

John & Cheri

Cozumel Mexico - November 29, 2010

We always start our trips with a dinner at Coconuts!

It's been six months since we sunk into the blue and as it always is when it's been a while, there is a bit of trepidation and wonder at that first leap into the deep.  Checking all the gear, getting your head in gear, thanking God for the chance to dive and to be one with nature and that Nitrox was invented!

Then Roger is saying,"ready Cheri, ready John?". And we am.  So baby steps to the edge and splash.  I'm in! 

Feeling my ears crackle and pop.  Stopping every foot to clear them.  Wishing they would clear faster so I could be down near the coral more quickly and then a few minutes have passed and i am exploring, hunting, and finding critters I've never seen before!  Yah!  This is what I am here to do.

John and I gave up diving in groups a few years ago.  When you dive in a group, it's always a kick fest where the divers think that the more reef you cover, the better!  We on the other hand think that sitting and watching is a whole lot more fun.  Nature quickly goes back to doing what it was doing before you dropped in blowing bubbles everywhere!  So for a mere $50 a day more, we can have our own dive mast and go at our own pace.  Heaven!

This trip John is diving with 2 cameras of his own; a far cry from camera caddy!  In the early days he used to carry a spare camera for me.  That was in the days of film where you had one lens on a camera per dive. Today we have moved to small, unbelievable Canon SD 780s that fit in tiny housings. 

We both carry a 'big camera'.  Those include the camera a Canon SD 780, housing a Canon WP DC31, an Inon S2000 strobe, and a video light.  John has decided yo experiment with lighting and has outfitted a second camera that is just housed with a red filter fit into the inside.  Using the cameras custom white balance feature he is trying to create the natural look in his images.  By the end of the trip he's getting some excellent shots.