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

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 2012 - Day 3

We awoke on this morning - to the sight of calmer waters and BOATS!  Yeah!!  Diving was going to be a reality on this day.  We assembled our gear - cameras included and got ready.  One thing about Mexico....the time schedule is +- 30-45 minutes from the time arranged.  The pace slows and its best not to fight it.  That said - on our first day we are on the dock ahead of the scheduled pickup and about 45 minutes later the Deep Exposure boat arrived!  It was great to see our friends - Pepe - Geovani -  Volker - and of course Roger our dive guide!!  Hugs and kisses all around.

Then it was off to the reefs.  Wow - things are even better than before.  Somehow Wilma did her worst and yet ended up pruning the reefs and revitalizing the area.  The fish life and the reefs are healthier than ever!

Enjoy!
John & Cheri

Cozumel Mexico - December 1, 2010 - Santa Rosa -Day 3 -Dive 5

Max depth of 77 Feet for about an hour

A scrawled cow fish greeted us as we descended to depth.  These are long fish with electric blue lines and black dots.  Their dorsel fins ripple as they zip along.  The stop light parrot fish of both the green as well as the red variety were abundant and eating the reef in big bites.  If you hold your breath and listen you can hear them crunching.  Mr. and Mrs White file fish were checking us out.  

And again the health and color of the reef raised a joy deep inside of us!  As we were swimming along we heard the calls of splendid toad fish - one of Cheri's favorite fish and certainly a Mexican special!  As far as we know they are mainly found in Cozumel.  With their purple and yellow they fit right in!

Cheri looked down and saw a juvenile spotted drum fish!  This was a rare find indeed and one that Cheri was thrilled with.  She even had the presence of mind to shoot images as well as video the little guy!  

You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYWzGQMfY5g. 

She looked to her left and there was a carpet anemone.  These are usually homes to all kinds of invertebrates.  This one was no exception.  There was a spotted cleaner shrimp!  These little guys have so many 'hands' that for a long time I thought he was 2 shrimp!

Today the dive masters had guaranteed me a sea horse sighting.  So for lunch there was tuna fish in the shape of a sea horse!!

Enjoy!

Cheri & John

Anemone Fish!

How many of you saw Nemo? Yep - you got it....these are Nemo and his cousin's. They come in a variety of colours and sizes and you never ever get tired of watching them and taking pictures of them. The anemone's also come in a variety of colors both on the outside and on the tips. The prettiest one I ever saw was pink tipped and very delicate. Unfortunately, I over shot the colour so you won't see it here.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Indonesia Diving - Some other great shots

Here are a few others that we entered into the weekly contest.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John