Day 09: Spotted Eagle Rays and Turtles

We all sucked serious air chasing down 3 different Eagle Rays and managed to capture some great video and a couple of nice photos after the third chase back down to 80 feet. Vicky got her first picture of an arrow crab. A few turtles, great abundance of all the usual critteres in the shallows spending the last part dive under 20 ft with the sun shining through.
Another great afternoon on the beach. Noha and Gary out for an afternoon snorkel with a peacock flounder, Disco fish and the longest Blue Tang Highway yet. Back to the Condo for a rum and then out for dinner where we ran across the Hermit Crab stadium where the stakes where high in the 3 race event. Five bucks got you a hermit crab for the race with the grand prize being a $20 bar tab with the rest of the proceeds going to the Roatan womens shelter. We were late for the entry but caught race 2 and 3. Hitting the water for one dive tomorrow and then maybe some exploring on the terrestrial side.

Day 08: Hammerhead and the Hitchhiker

Woke to a SUNNY day! Noha decided to join us on the boat for some snorkelling and to soak up some sun. Dive started out shallow and while swimming out towards the wall a Hammerhead decided to cross our path again! Snapped a few photos but unfortunatley Gary was a little behind taking some macro shots and was unable to catch up and get a video.

Second dive, Andy picked up a hitchhiker, a small sucker fish that we typically see trailing the turtles, decided he liked the shiny tank better. The little guy was with us till the end of the dive and when we shooed him off he found a temporary home on Gary's fin. We took full advantage of the sunny day and had lunch and an afternoon relax on the beach. Andy and Gary headed out for a night shore dive in front of the resort. Another great dinner with fresh grouper topped with curryed apple salsa completmented with a side of cocunut baked rice and of course a fresh salad to top it off.

Day 07: Single Dive and West End

One early dive this morning. Saw many lobster hiding in the coral, a very large crab and a small sea pearl which we never would have noticed had it not been for the keen eye of our dive guide. In the afternoon we took the water taxi back to West End, walked the muddy streets, wandered the beach watching a group of local kids playing and enjoyed a Coke with a view.

 

Day 06: Turtles and Wrecks

Started the day at El Aguila wreck, a 230 foot cargo ship that was salvaged from Utila and sunk in 1997 to form an artificial reef. Mother nature added its influence in the fall of 1998 with Hurricane Mitch that tore the ship into three pieces. Now it has settled and is protected by Lucy the resident Grouper and a large un-named Green Moray eel. We finished the dive off with a cool cave swim through. The second dive took us to Turtle Alley where we hung out with 'Crush' and several of his friends (aka: 4-5 Turtles for those that don't watch Cartoons).

Great dive in the shallow with multitudes of reef fish, juvenile and adult Spotted Drum fish and an amazing crustacean that looked like a piece of seaweed stuck to the coral.  Andy and Gary finished the afternoon off with a guided shore dive in front of Infinity Bay. We want to do some self guided night diving from shore, but there is only a narrow 3m passage through the reef to the outer wall, so you need to hire the local dive master for one dive to get the lay of the land. Looking forward to the night dive, after a family of lobsters and a Green Moray greeted us as we existed the passage. Back on land we had a lazy afternoon, but Noha managed to sneak in a few laps in the pool between afternoon showers.
We ended the evening with a great dinner at 'Bite on the Beach'.



 

Day 05: Hammerhead Shark!

Sunny start to the day. Highlights included Vicky being toasty warm in her new suit and a fleeting glimpse of a 9 foot Hammerhead shark on the first dive. Andy managed to spot, call Vicky and Gary and snap off a quick photo as the shark passed between us and the group in front. Andy and Gary bolted ahead over a small coral head with their computers beeping at them, to see nothing but open ocean. As fast as the shark appeared, it was gone but still an amazing site. We completed dive 2 with all the usual suspects, another great day of diving.

Back to the condo for an afternoon around the pool and a scrumptious lobster dinner by the in house chef. Another two dive morning planned for tomorrow.

 

Day 04: The Fish Truck Found Us

Wow did it rain today! Fortunately you can always find a calm area to dive. We were not feeling too inspired this morning as it continued to rain with no blue sky in sight. A good day to be underwater. Gary and Andy got some great photos and video. We saw a turtle on both dives, loads of garden eels on the second dive, but no rays which would have been nice...maybe tomorrow (we signed up for the 8:30 and 10:30 again). Vicky learned a little trick today after coming up with a mask dent in her forehead from tightening it too tight because it was leaking, Andy shared the 'Ramlo spit and seal' trick he uses. So it's kinda gross, but if wiping spit around you face under your mask makes it seal better, so be it (no issue second dive).
This afternoon the sun continued to be elusive so we decided a trip to West End was in order. We jumped in a water taxi and arrived after a scenic 10 min boat ride. The West End has a few more amenities as we discovered wandering about the muddy street checking out several stores, enjoying a smoothie and cookie during the rain storm then the dive store...Ouch....Turned out to be a pretty expensive afternoon. After being cold on both morning dives, Vicky decided a warmer suit might be a good idea (not actually thinking there would be a place to buy one) but there was, so Gary will need to get creative with the packing to get us back to 50lbs per bag.
Before getting back on the taxi boat we decided to pick up some more fruit from the fruit truck and inquired about where we might find the fish truck.....We were told to look for a red truck down the way.

Taking the advice we continued back along the muddy street for another 5 min with no red truck in sight. After inquiring with some locals who told us that the road conditions would likely keep the fish truck away, we decided to turn around and head back to the taxi wharf leaving fish to find for another day. Then we all looked up...could that be the red truck coming our way? Sure enough, he heard from the fruit guys that there were 3 ladies and 2 men looking for him (Noha being x 2 (pregnant). He stopped right in front of us, some negotiating and we ended up with 7.5 lbs of fish and two nice lobster tails for $42. Mmmmmm dinner (for a few nights).

Day 03: Lazy Day

Slept in this morning, couple cups of coffee, late breakfast and some sun by the pool.  Went back to the local store hoping to catch the veggie truck and fish truck and we came back with a pineapple and bananas. Rain again today - seems to be sunny until noon, cloud and rain for a couple hours then sunny again. We're diving tomorrow, decided to try the onsite dive shop.  They offer a valet service where our gear is stored in a locker and we basically don't need to deal with it unless we choose to do so.  It will be on the boat when we arrive, they remove when we're done, rinse and make ready for the next day - sounds good to us. Found we are staying on the best reef on the island and have free shore diving when we book a multi-dive package so you can look forward to many more pictures and busier days ahead!

Day 01-02: Flights / Lay of the Land

17.5 hrs travel time with flights and layovers(layovers were greater than actual flight time). Arrival put us in 30 minutes after A and N when we should have been in an hour before.

The hotel had arranged separate pickup for us, so we were surprised to see them as we hopped into the van. We then learnt that there is only one van for three flights and they wait to 'pack' us all on for one trip. Slight re-shuffle of some precariously stacked bags and we ready to depart. After a short 20 minute ride, We arrived to a rum punch reception and were quickly checked into our condo. A little relax by the pool, great dinner out and much needed sleep, rounded out Day 01.

Out for breakfast this morning as we didn't feel like grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. The restaurant is right on the beach so we lounged a little longer then we would have normally. After breakfast we ventured out to the local store to pick up a few things only to find it closed on Sunday. On the way back we got our exercise running through a very short but intense downpour. A quick change of clothes and we caught a cab to the main center to do our shopping for the next week. Enjoyed the sun and a short snorkel when we got back, dinner in, and a movie with popcorn before bed.

Getting Ready for Honduras - Coco View Web Cam

Cozumel 2011 Spotted Eagle Ray

We were lucky enough to see a Spotted Eagle Ray 4 out of 5 days that we were diving. I managed to capture 3 Videos of the amazing majestic creature. The forth one was another loss to the No! battery in the Camera Day...Argh!

Click to check out all of our Video's.

Cozumel 2011 Spotted Moray Stand-off

An amazing encounter with a Spotted Moray Eel. The Eel ran into me while taking a picture. Vicky had to wrap me on the head to move before it hit the camera. I started back peddling with the current and to our amazement the Eel just kept following me. Enjoy!

Click to check out all of our Video's.

Day 14: Last Day to Relax

We found a couple books at the hotel's activity center and read by the pool for the afternoon. More chips, guac and salsa.....

Day 13: Counting Down the Days

The isolated showers that have been in the forcast have arrived (downpour right now). Last night we cleared the deck around midnight because of the howling wind and this morning we woke to find one of Gary's dive boot in a pool of water below. After drying off the rental car we headed to town and did a little shopping. The day was overcast and humid, we both finished our books this afternoon and are hoping that Chedraui (local Walmart like store) has some english books or magazines for tomorrow and the trip home.

Day 12: Mexican Ferrari SGT

Today we had the luxury of renting a Mexican Ferrari and enjoyed our Self guided tour (SGT) of the island.

Andyman, I brought the pliers and zapstraps with me this time. Funny enough, we had an Ambulance following us just in case :). For those that are wondering, last time we were in Cozumel with A&N, our Mexican Ferrari broke down, an ambulance happened to be following us and the two paramedics stopped and provided us with the needed supplies to repair the throttle cable.

We headed south from our hotel to check out some of the beach clubs further south along the coast that offer free admission hoping that you'll spend the day eating and drinking. Some of them have inflatables out front that they charge to use (tampolines, climbing wall, etc.). We had seen a few of these enroute to our dive sites but today we thought we'd check one out in person. Only stopped for a brief time to take in the scene then jumped back in the Ferrari and headed to our main destination of the day, Parque Punta Sur (ecological park on the southern tip). Along the way we ran into the self-drive: jeep tour, dune buggy tour, ATV tour, Harley tour and the larger open bus tour.

We were fortunate enough to be ahead of them through most of the stops in Punta Sur. We visited the crocodile lagoon, signed the waiver form and climbed to the top of the lighthouse (hung out for awhile because the breeze and view was amazing) and carried on to the super fine sand beach. After relaxing in the seaside hammocks awhile we drove along the coastline, stopped at "Coconuts" for a beverage, then took the inland road back to the hotel. Enjoyed some nachos from the snack bar, swam in the pool to cool off then lounged around the pool and read for awhile.

Day 11: Triple Header

Our last day of boat diving today and the sunniest day so far. Two dives in the morning (Exectamente and Tormentos Reef), a quick lunch break back at the resort and then off to Paradise reef for the afternoon.

We had one request for today, a Splendid Toadfish so we could get a good picture this time (battery is in the camera), our Divemaster delivered.

No new sightings today, but all the usual suspects made an appearance. Last dive at Paradise reef definitely one of our favorites, like swimming in an aquarium.

Day 10: Nothin'

Lazy day today, spent time reading in the room then by the pool. Sun didn't come out till mid afternoon so it was a little cooler today. A whole lot of sitting and eating (unlimited tortilla chips, guacamole and fresh salsa is a bit dangerous).

Day 9: Land and Sea

Happy Birthday Dave!

Started the day with a fabulous breakfast buffet, one of the best we've ever had.

Then went for a walk south to the cruiseship pier. We walked along the ocean where we could and on the sidewalk elsewhere. There were lots of little pools to check out with small urchins, fish and colorful algae as well as fossils in the limestone. We saw a few large lizards and a group of pelicans that were sitting on pylons around the stingray encounter attraction. It was crazy hot today and on the way back we decided that we should do a shore dive to cool off.

Spent an hour underwater taking photos and swimming around. I quickly passed the camera back to Gary today when we saw the largest arrow crab yet. They remind me of spiders and there was no way I was getting that close to the biggest one ever. We had a small eel swim up on us which is pretty unusual, Gary spent some time getting video.

Day 8: Shore Dive Scuba Club

Mission accomplished - finally found the seahorses. We spent time searching for them last night with no luck and were close to giving up today when G spotted them. This was my 75th dive and I also earned my photography badge. For those that don't dive, it takes quite a few dives to get your buoyancy so that you can stay in one position to capture a good photo.

Today G handed me the camera and I knew

I was ready. I felt so proud, until I realized the housing was all fogged up. Seriously though, I did get a couple photos before it happened and realized how tricky it can be to get the shots he does. We had to check out today and chose to move across the street to Hotel Cozumel. Spent the afternoon checking the place out and reading on the beach.

Day 7: Santa Rosa Wall, Villa Blanca Wall and Night

First dive was a wall dive with many swim-throughs to explore. Saw an eagle ray just as we came out of one of the swim-throughs. The second dive at Villa Blanca was very different then any of the dives so far. There were no coral heads but more of a forest of coral coming up from the sand and we just used the light current to glide over it, near the end of the dive we saw a large turtle.

Logged another night dive, many crabs, small rays, shrimp and a couple little eels. The hightlight was a school of small squid as we were heading in. We leave Scuba Club tomorrow, it will be nice not to have jump on a boat first thing in the morning but wondering what we will do with all the free time.....

Day 6: Palancar Caves, Yucab, Twilight and Night

It was a four dive day for one of us. Don't think I'm ready to jump into the dark water yet so sat the last two out and spent the afternoon doing a little online shopping and reading. The first dive started with an eagle ray and ended with a southern stingray and the second dive started with a southern stingray and ended with an eagle ray - awesome day! Lots of swim-throughs at the first site and at the second site I couldn't help but think of Crush and Nemo riding the southern current. It's great to just cruise along and check things out.

We got to see our first Splendid toadfish today. Unfortunatley, we don't have a picture because G forgot to put the battery back in the camera. On the upside we did get to stay closer together during the dive, typically my time is spent doing a little exploring and a little searching for G who is always hunkered down somewhere trying to get the perfect photo. Next year I'll have my own underwater housing to attempt to capture the action (Happy Birthday to me).