|
|
 Rentals |
 Car Rentals |
 Adventure Tours |
 Jeep Tours |
 Scuba Tours |
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
Back
to Home Site Index
*Online
Specials* *Discussion Boards Travelers Info
Cozumel Island
Island Guides
Mayan Ruins
Ecological Parks |
Cozumel Trip Report trip report (long) On December 18th (Monday) my husband and I piled into the car with our luggage off to Cozumel via Champion Air Dallas. The flight was very uneventful. We got the green light through customs and proceded to the line of Suburbans that were waiting to whisk us away to our various hotels. Unfortunately ours didn't whisk for about 20 minutes while we sat in the unconditioned suburban. Finally our driver comes ambling along and ZOOM off we go to Park Royal (Crown Paradise, Sol Caribe, etc, etc) This was our first experience with Mexican taxi drivers and we learned quickly that not all rules are created equal. But we did arrive safely at about 11:00AM. We had our first dive set up with Papa Hogs at 1:00pm so we wolfed down some buffet lunch, grabbed our stuff and were on our way. Now my husband is an assistant scuba instructor at the Air Force Academy and is very competent at this whole scuba thing. I had finished the pool and class stuff and had picked Papa Hogs for my referral. Once we got there we got the gear together and headed out for our first shore dive with owner Michael. The weather was perfect with light wave action and visibility was great. As we started out on this dive we saw a woman struggling to get in a bouncing boat and her two sons going out for a reef dive. Now I must pause here and mention that I did a lot of research about Cozumel and picked as my holy grail, the Splendid Toadfish. This was the one thing that I really wanted to see and we had until Thursday night to find it. Anyway, Monday at 1pm we went under and saw all kinds of neat stuff including a spotted moray eel and a nice size flounder. Of course I wasn't enjoying this a whole lot because I was too busy trying to clear my mask, practicing removing my tank, etc, etc. By the time we got out I was pretty pooped and still had another dive to do. After about 25 minutes we hopped back in the water and started all over again. This time instead of wading in we did a stride entry. Let me tell you, that was fun. A whole lot different than doing stride entry into a swimming pool. It was about a 3 to 4 foot drop into the water depending on the wave and of course I wasn't holding on good to my mask...well as you can imagine I got to practice clearing the mask yet again. This time I was a lot more relaxed and we spent a nice half hour checking out stuff. Then it was time to go in. And thats when Michael got the bad news. One of the guys on shore yelled something to him and he told us to help each other out and he was off. We found out after we got out that the woman we had seen leaving earlier with the two boys had been killed on the dive. The boys were sitting at an umbrella table in a state of shock. Everyone was in a state of shock. Now I was even thinking second thoughts about diving. We went back to the hotel and then out to town for a walkabout. We were pretty bummed but still enjoyed the walk. Except for all the hawkers. (Hey lady get your hair braided, Hey Man get a cigar here, etc, etc) That kinda bugged us but we shrugged it off as a totally different culture. We did get to try on a $280,000 ring at one of the jewelry places. That was kinda cool. Then it was back to the hotel as we had an 8am dive the next morning.Well, tuesday morning and the wind is blowing gales. Whitecaps all over the place and four new cruise ships in the harbor. Off to Papa Hogs only to find out that the harbor master is not letting any boats out. Same thing that afternoon. Bummer. Well we go back to the hotel and my husband siestas the afternoon away. I watch a little Simpsons in Spanish and then succomb to sleep. Wednesday we wake up and......windy. Off to PapaHogs and no go. Michael says to come back at one. If it is still too windy to go out in the boat then we will finish the dive out from shore. Sure enough it was windy so we decided to go ahead with the shore dive. Another stride entry--wheeeeee--and off we go. The current is pretty strong so we swim into it for a while and then float along backdown it. No splendid toadfish...We did see a nice starfish and of course the moray eel. Justin saw a nice barracuda he said but I never saw it. Finally we swam in and kicked back with a coke during our rest period. Soon enough it was time to go back in and this time Terry (sp?) went with us instead of Michael. This was a really nice kid from Holland who comes down to work over Christmas break and summers. This time I tried a new regulator too since my pressure gauge didn't have a depth gauge. Everything was fine for the first few minutes and then I kind of noticed that I didn't really need to suck air in cause any time I parted my tongue from the mouthpiece air flowed in. Not strong like when we practised free air but enough to distract me. Soom enough I was focusing all my attention on this and not my surroundings. I pulled my upper lip away from the mouthpiece and bubbles flowed out. I decided this was really irregular and checked my depth gauge--15 feet, no problem. I looked ahead and terry was swimming straight, I looked back at my husband and he was looking down and to the side. I thought, calmly, that I would just reach around and grab my octopus and switch out and then notify them. My mouth was really dry at that point and as I closed my hand on the octupus all hell broke loose. My regular mouthpiece went total free air and I dropped the octupus. The free air was enough to dislodge my mask and partially flood it and I sucked in half a lung of salt water. As I looked for Terry and Justin they were totally oblivious to my problem and I decided screw it and went to the surface doing a nice semicalm emergency ascent. I did watch the bubbles and made sure not to beat them to the surface. A few seconds later they appeared wondering what happened and when I told them , Terry checked out the regulator. He said it was Ok to use that it was just set super sensitive. Ok sure. Luckily that happened in 15 foot of water. If we had been deeper I would have made sure Justin was there when I changed out to my octopus. That was just a little too scary. Michael of course gave me s real strict lecture for "blowing" to the surface and I was dutifully chastized. We did continue the dive and I saw a real nice scorpion fish and was stung by maybe a piece of fire coral. (Not really sure as there was a lot of stuff floating in the water due to the strong current and wave action) It felt alot like a jellyfish sting. No splendid toadfish. Thurday morning....This is our last day of diving as we fly out on Friday morning. We wake up and the water is calm. Yes. My first real boat dive and I'm pretty excited as we motor to Paradise Reef. We have a real nice guy with us on this trip named Ed from Austin. He's got a real nifty camera and is hoping to get some good shots. Tony is our Divemaster and is really nice. We suit up and I check to make sure I have my reef fish ID card and slate. Off we go with a fun back roll and down we descend...sort of..two or three feet down and I can't clear my ears...back to the surface (I ruptured both eardrums a few years back and getting my ears to clear is sometimes a problem) Tony comes up to check on me and says to take all the time I need. Two more tries and YEA they pop. After the first time it is no problem the rest of the way down. We descend to 40 foot and begin our drift. So much stuff to see. The current isn't too strong and the water has perfect visiblity. We immediately see a huge grouper that is easily five foot long. He just kind of hangs there checking us out. Bmoogle. Lots of pretty fish and I pull out my card to ID them. Tony picks up this neat thing and we swim over to see what it is. Amazingly enough its the hollowed out head of a lobster. And not just any lobster but a 16 inch head that leaves us wondering if the head is that big, how big was that body?!! I saw a nice sized crab hanging on to the coral and Justin spotted the first big barracuda. Ed took lots of pictures and we got some of him. Another spotted moray eel a big group of blue tangs and many many hungry parrotfish. Before long it is time to head for the surface for the SI. (No splendid Toadfish) We head out to one of the southern hotels to pick up a couple more divers. Well once we get there , no divers. We hang out about 45 minutes and then said screw it--they're no shows. Off we go again to Tormentos reef. This time we are going to 60 feet. Luckily I am using a new second stage that has a neat comfort grip mouthpiece and I am totally comfortable with it. Into the water and of course I have trouble with my ears the first couple of tries, then magically they clear and I am descending into a beautiful array of reefs. So many things to look at. It seems the current is a little faster here and as we swim across it I realize how strong it is. When we get beside the reef though it is easy going. Some huge parrot fish go by us happily munching on coral. Then a few damselfish and angelfish swirl about us darting close and then gone in a flash. One angel fish is huge about the size of my Ford explorer's tires! Some tiny fish or shrimp about the size of mosquitoes swarm in clouds. About the time we are ready to finish out our dive I notice a huge, and I mean huge, school of barracuda. We stopped at fifteen foot for our safety stop and I started counting...Fifteen that I could see but they were far away enough that they blended into the deep blue of the water. I'm sure there were much more. Still no splendid toadfish. I checked my time, depth, made sure I had my reef card and slate, looked at Justin, checked for boats and we surfaced....on the wrong side of the boat. We were on one side and Ed and Tony were on the other. They boarded first and we swam up to the boat (the waves kept trying to push us away..or were the waves pushing the boat away?) It was at this time I realized our boat didn't have a dive flag.. great..let's try to get a little closer..then boom we are on the boat. As we get our gear separated and head back to shore Its at this point that I realize my slate and card are gone. Dang it. I must have knocked it off in the swim. Well some lucky diver will find it hopefully. Other wise Elian Gonzalez may be picking it up on the Cuban shore line. We talk to Ed and decide on doing a night dive since this will be our last chance on this trip. Mike tells us to come back at 5pm. Since it's only 12:30 we decide to rent a scooter and check out the south part of the island. These scooters should have a warning label on them telling you that extended use could lead to severe butt numbing! I could feel nothing after 5 bumpy minutes on that thing. We drove down and checked out El Cedral and took a couple of pictures. Pretty neat little place. Then on to the south point near the two Jamaican places. We had enough time to take two quick pictures and then it was back on the bike to Papa Hogs. We were there at 5pm and found the boat already loaded and ready to go. Ed got a touch of Montezuma's Revenge and didn't come with us. Instead was another couple from Oklahoma and a big burly guy who didn't introduce himself with a mongo camera setup. Tony was once again our dive master and Tio was the Capitan. Off we went to Paradise pulling gear on as we went. A quick briefing and then over the edge we went. There was just enough light filtering through to see the vague shapes of reefs. Once we got to the bottom we gathered and then started off. Right away Tony starts rapping his tank and we go over to see what he's got. There underneath a reef is the head of the largest live nurse shark I have ever seen. This head was as large and as wide as a standard pillow. we couldn't see the rest of the body as it was under the reef. The thing was HUGE!! Off we go again. The guy with the camera was really starting to bug me. He kicked me in the mask once and then actually pushed me aside to get by me in what I did not consider a narrow area. And he even got in between me and my husband by shouldering us out of his way so he could get a picture of an angelfish. My husband gave the international sign of you know what to the guy's back and then signed to me that we would stay as far away from the jerk as possible. Pretty soon we heard rapping again and swam to Tony who had found our first octopus of the evening. It puffed itself up and tried to look menacing but was as cute as could be. The current pulled us away and we were drifting again . This time I looked closer at the reefs and started noticing a huge number of crabs--big BIG crabs. Also a ton Lodging Reviews
Email us to have your review listed or removed. Thanks! Don't know where to begin? Contact us for a referral. We have lots of great ideas. Say you saw it on Travel Notes! Copyright 1998-2001. Travel Notes, Canada. Disclaimer. A division of Web Presence, Internet Advertising Solutions.
|
