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Scuba Diving with Papa Hogs

 Cozumel Trip Report
Submit a Dive Trip Report

Posted by tom on 12/14/01

dive report part 1....+

I was on the pier waiting for the boat at 8:30. I could see it in the distance and was hoping one of the Palancar boats would take off to open up a space for my ride.
Sure enough one takes off as they arrive. On the boat I meet Carl. Nice to put a face to a name. There were two other couples diving with us. We leave the dock and start to gear up because it's only about a 10 min. ride.
We head to Columbia for the first dive. Enrique sets the limits fro 90ft. and at 700 psi you go up with your buddie.
Enrique tells Carl and me to go when we're ready and we do. We searched the sandy bottom and waited for the rest of the group.
With everyone down we head for the wall. Up and over and we start our decent. We drop to 90ft and drift in a mild current. There's not much life here but I enjoyed looking up the wall  and the nice coral formations.
towards the end of the dive we did a couple of swim thrus
what a nice way to start the week!
94ft for 41min

more of dive report......+

I guess I’ll have to report without pictures for now. I left you after you after the first dive on Columbia Deep. We talked it over during the surface interval and decided to do Dalilah the second dive. I stayed at the upper part doing some macro photography. I was looking Longlure Frogfish and Splendid Toads.  I had asked Enrique at the SI if he had seen any Frogfish and he said he had on Las Palmas and described it to a tee.
As I searched, I found some good subjects in Arrow Crabs and Sea Anemones. No luck for my main search. I heard Enrique bang his tank and saw the first Nurse Shark over the sand away from the reef. No chance for a pic. As I started to surface I turned around to look for Carl. He’s doing something with his camera but behind him I see an eagle ray about twenty feet in back of him. I yelled he looked up and I motion for him to turn around. He at least saw it but was long gone for a photo op.
78ft.-4343min.
The boat arrived the next day (thursday) on schedule and it was left up to the divers to choose the site. Nobody spoke up saw I picked Palancar Gardens. I love this dive and Carl and I got the Ok to backroll in. We waited on the bottom for the rest of the group. The only way I can describe this dive is it’s like diving in a canyon filled with water and the sides covered in sponges.
We came around a large coral head and Enrique stopped and went to the sand. I did the same and watched in awe at a large school of silver fish did a dance in a swim through. To top it off there were two large Grouper in the middle seemingly conducting this dance. Five or more minuets past and we just sat there. The Grouper decided to leave and we swam through the school with them giving us berth as we went through.
Later in the dive Carl’s calling me over and looks like he’s pointing at a coral head. I don’t see what he’s talking about until I see now he’s pointing at the sand. A barracuda 6ft long is sitting on the bottom. I close in for a pic and he doesn’t move.
Top that off with a couple Splendid Toads and we had a very nice dive. The first I got to photograph and got a good pic of.
78ft-44 min.
Second dive Enrique said he had a special dive. We all agree to go with his choice. It was a nice dive but nothing special to me. A lot of juveniles and Saragasum Files. I did see a nice Southern Ray buried but as I approached it took off. There was a nice current carrying us along. After surfacing I asked Enrique if it was the very end of Dalila and the wall side of Paso, surfacing at the beginning of Santa Rosa. He just smiled and said, “you know the reefs here pretty good.”
Friday I went down to the shop dock to get in some of the more northern reefs. The rental car didn’t start so I took a taxi. For anyone wanting to know it’s a $12 taxi from Allegro to the Hogs shop.
Santa Rosa Wall was the call. Waited at the sand for the group then went up and over the wall. With a nice current carrying us along, Carl and I got ahead of the group. Stopped to take a pic of a nice spotted moray Carl found. Then ducked behind a coral head out of the current to let the group catch up. Come to find out we missed an Eagle Ray by being ahead. Didn’t miss the next one though as we started to make our ascent.
99ft.-49min.
I wanted to do Las Palmas to look for Sea Horses, Splendid Toads and the allusive Frogfish. With a decent current the odds on the Sea Horses and Frogfish were cut but we did come up with about five Splendid Toads.
I saw Carl at a distance snapping away. When I got there I saw why. There was a Splendid in a hole with only one other way out. I got into position and put my framer near the exit hole. Sure enough he puts his head right on Carl’s framer. We switch positions and I get the same results. When I go to the other side again and Carl puts his framer in position it comes darting out of the hole. That’s the first Splendid I’ve seen whole. What teamwork.
When I got back to the hotel, Christa tells me I missed all the commotion. Turns out someone saw a crock by the dock. All the boats were looking for it but never saw it again.
To be continued…..
tom

rest of report...+

I tried uploading pics to the other site but had problems. Anyone else?
Anyway
I went back down to the shop one more time and was put on a boat with a couple from Canada we dove with a few times and another couple diving with us the first time.
I picked Santa Rosa and nobody had a probem with that. Enrique gave the pre dive and set depth at 80ft, air at 700psi then for the first time set a 35 min. time limit. hmmm.
I got the OK as soon as I was ready to go down. I hung out at the sand waiting for the rest of the group. I saw what looked like Ocean Triggers hanging out at the wall drop off. By the time the rest of the group made it down they were gone.
Over the wall and we drifted with a slow current. Found a nice Splendid and changed to macro for a pic. Two minuets later Enrique's giving the moray sign. I'm thinking what else, it's in a hole and I'll try a macro shot. Wrong! This baby is out and swimming. He passes within arms reach and swims by. He ducks into an opening and I see a hole where I'm thinking he's going to stick his head out. As I take the macro off Enrique points and it's too far to go after against the current. Nice dive.
We stopped at the Reef Club for the SI. I asked Enrique about the 35 min. limit. He kind of skirted the issue but did say "you can stay longer if you got the air".
The couple we dove with before asked what to do next dive. The current looked good for a ride on Termentos. That was my vote. Problem was the new couple did that the other day and wanted to do something differant. I explained that this was my last chance to dive it because the last two days they were picking me up at the Allegro. That fell on deaf ears.
Las Palmas then and look for Sea Horses that we didn't find last time? The dive started out nice. A Jeuvinile Smooth Trunkfish hidden in a coral formation. A few friendly Trunkfish.
All of a sudden the current changes. We're now fighting the current to get to the seahorse area. We get there and start looking around. Bingo! I find the black one with the white stripes. I show Enrigue and he points it out to the rest of the group. I continued looking for more and also a Frogfish. No luck!
We head back with the current until it switches again. We're over sand and small coral formations and I signaled Enrique I'm leveling off.
The seahorse was a highlight but I would of prefered drifting with the current on Tormentos.
57ft - 47 min
Sunday I was picked up at the pier and met four new divers. When nobody spoke up when asked the dive site, I suggested Palancar. Only let's wait till we get there and pick what part after. The DM agrees and we head out.
I'm glad it's a short ride from the hotel. If I had to listen to one more story from three of these guys about the strip club they were at.
The other guy sat there quietly and when we stopped to do Horseshoe he put his gear on and says "see you later" and over he goes. Guess he had enough. Turns out that's how he dives with Papa Hogs. They know him and he dives solo.
I never did Horseshoe and was looking forward to the dive. It did not disapoint. I thought the Gardens were great but this was even better. Even more awesome walls of coral! I looked over the wall and saw the first guy out over the abyss just hanging out. Cool!
A real big Queen Trigger went about it's feeding as if we weren't there. Bam! A beauty of a Spotted Drum. Wow! This is awesome!
Then about fifteen-twenty min. into the dive the DM sees two of the others starting to lose control. He motions me to hang there and he goes up to take a look at the problem. Ones dumping air and trying to stay down. The other guy is helping, the third is watching.   They motion there going up. The DM gives the OK sign and comes back to me. He just shrugs his shoulders and motions lets go.
Looking up at the coral heads is awesome. This was by far the best dive of the trip!
95ft-35min.
By the way about 15 min later the other guy surfaces. We drop him off at the Reef Club and head to Santa Rosa for the second dive.
I didn't care because nothing was topping the first. He gave strict orders to 50-60 ft.. I hung out by myself and searched the top of the reef for critters leaving the      others on there own. We did see a couple of Nurse Sharks.
64ft-45 min.
I stopped by the shop and asked not to be on the boat with that group again and Mike obliged. He said he thought I would hook up with loner guy but I think he was into his own thing.
Last day we did Columbia Deep. I got to meet Dave and dive with the newly wed. A pretty big Spanish Hogfish at the beginning of the dive was the highlight.
101 ft-40 min
Second dive was La Francasia which I pretty much dove myself and reflected on the week. I also decided to test Enrique as far as the "stay down if you got the air".
59ft.-60min.
Overall it was a good week. I still go with the theory it's not just the dive shop but who's on the boat.
tom

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