Cozumel Scuba Diving

Thursday, Jan. 4^th  2007

I got a late start on 2007 at Palancar Horseshoe with Jim, Robert, Terra, Will and Joe. We swam around the mountainous reef structures. The towering formations are always impressive. We were lucky and had very little current.

Will was happy when I announced that we were going to dive Dalila. The first little turtle was not shy. The second little turtle was a tad more skittish. We saw some huge barracudas stalking a school of blue striped grunts and upsetting the creole wrasse. A black grouper sat under a coral head and a giant snapper made a distant pass. I found an old spear encrusted with algae and I brought it up. When we got back to the marina I turned it over to a marine park employee.

Friday, Jan. 5^th

I took Terra, Will, Robert and Joe on a 70 foot dive to Palancar Gardens while Cheryl, Hank and Daniela snorkeled over us. It was nice to not have a lot of current. Will commented that the visibility was a bit down and  I agreed.

Daniela and Hank joined us on the dive at Paradise. We saw a spotted moray with a banded cleaner shrimp on his head. There were several splendid toadfish and a peacock flounder. No one came over to see the lobster that I pointed out. Oh well.

Saturday, Jan. 6^th

My first tank was on Palancar Horseshoe with Hank, Daniela, Vince and Kristen. Henry snorkeled over us. When Hank rolled in he hit his head hard on something. I didn't see what happened nor did I even know that  he hit his head until I got back on the boat and he told me. I don't know  if he hit it on Daniela's tank or the bottom of the boat. But judging from  the bump I tend towards

Daniela's tank. Ouch. He still enjoyed his dive and  it wasn't a big deal, but we were very careful on the next entry at Dalila

Dalila was a great dive! As I was showing everyone a splendid toadfish I heard Kristen shouting through her regulator. When I looked up a 6-foot nurse shark was swimming by off in the distance. It was probably close enough for the divers. We saw some of the biggest groupers that I have seen in a long time. About 40 minutes into the dive a big fat green moray eel was just sitting out in the open posing for Vince's camera. That was it!    Daniela is now hooked on diving. She just loved it!

When I got back Lisa, Mark, Marcus and Ben were waiting for me and I took them on a resort course at Paradise. I asked Ben what he wanted  to see this week and he told me that he would like to see eels and stingrays. That is exactly what we saw on our dive.

We saw a full sized golden tail eel and a tiny spotted moray. Mark pointed out a couple of yellow stingrays. All of these critters were small but Ben, being the only certified diver in the group will spend the next week out on the reefs and we will see if we can find him some big eels and big stingrays.

Sunday, January 7^th

I dived at Palancar Gardens with Chad and Ali for their Open Water certification dives.  Chucho came along to dive with Ben, Kristen and Vince.  Chucho’s group saw a bunch of turtles.  All we saw were an old pair of sunglasses and lots of fish.

I worked on skills with Chad and Ali on Colombia Shallows.  Chucho’s group saw more turtles!  As I was anchoring my buoy line I disturbed a yellow stingray buried in the sand.  Chad loved seeing all of the anemones.

Monday, January 8^th

We had a great dive on Palancar Caves with Kristen, Vince, Ali, Chad, Daniela and Ben.  As we approached the reef an eagle ray appeared.  We spent several minutes with the eagle ray.  It even swam right over me.  We also saw a couple of southern stingrays and a couple of turtles too.

There were no big animals on French Reef other than a southern stingray.  It was a nice relaxing dive with light current.

That afternoon I did some beach diving with Mike and Laura for their divemaster training.  We practiced “demonstration quality skills”.  We are learning to make everything look smooth and easy. 

Tuesday, January 9^th

 I took Mike, Laura, Chad, Ali, Ben, Vince and Kristen to Colombia Deep.  We saw both of the anchors, swam through a cool cave and Mike & Laura found a turtle.  Chad chased after an eagle ray but of course could not catch it!

We had a fantastic dive on Cedral Wall!  We saw several turtles.  All were very hungry.  They were sitting on the bottom eating sponges surrounded by angelfish.  They didn’t seem to mind our presence at all.  We saw a pair of green moray eels.  One really big one was in a crevice with its tail sticking out.  Another had a black grouper sitting right up against it and we all got a good looksy at that one.  On our way up a medium sized nurse shark swam below us.

Wednesday, January 10^th

I went back to Palancar Gardens with Kristen, Vince, Chad, Ali, Mike, Laura and Ben.  We all saw one small turtle sitting on the reef taking big bites out of a sponge.

Carlos took us back to Cedral Wall again for another exciting dive.  First I saw a shark swimming off in the distance but no one else saw it.  Then we saw another small shark sleeping on the bottom.  It got up and swam away because it was pissed.  It came back and settled down in a new place.  Later we saw a green moray eel with 4 groupers hanging around it.  Later another small shark swam away.  A big lobster wiggled its antennas at us.  Mike found a huge green eel’s tail sticking out from under a coral formation.  He poked it and it turned around to bare its teeth.  Mike thought he was going to be bitten!

Thursday, January 11^th

Everyone was happy to go to Santa Rosa Wall.   Everyone was:  Mike, Laura, Chad, Ali, Tammie and Greg.  We swam through plenty of caves but we saw no big creatures on that dive.

On Tormentos a good sized shark swam past and waved hello to Ali.  We saw several splendid toadfish and a big spotted eel swam all around.

In the afternoon we practiced the “demonstration quality skills” again for Mike and Laura’s divemaster certification.  We also sat around and observed real students with their instructor.  Laura was trying to guess which was the instructor and which were the students.

Friday, January 12^th

Brad, Sonja, Pat, David and Carol did the first dive of the day with me on San Francisco Wall.  We saw a big turtle swimming below us and a spotted moray eel.

Brad and Brennan got on and we took them to Tormentos and Yucab.  There were loads of small eels and a splendid toadfish.  We also saw a huge southern stingray.

Brad and Sonja got off and we went to Las Palmas.  There were lots of big lobsters everywhere.  I could not believe how many splendid toadfish we saw.  One swallowed my lure/torture device and I felt terrible.  At the end of the dive David lost his camera.  I spent about 30 minutes searching for it.  I backtracked everywhere that we had been.  When I arrived back at the splendid toadfish that swallowed my lure I grabbed a hold of the line that was still sticking out of his mouth and tugged.  Out popped my lure.  My guilt was relieved.  Now I could sleep at night knowing that my metal lure was not in the poor fish’s belly.   Of course, there was no hook on the lure, in case you are wondering.

Saturday, January 13^th

I had an interesting morning a Punta Sur.  Some things are just not meant to be and we shouldn’t force them.   As David, Patrick, Carol, Brad and Brennan rolled in Pat came up under the boat and tried to break the hull with his skull.  I had not seen that happen.  I was oblivious to the situation...as we have to make a quick descent to the bottom in order to get in the cave.  We descended to 80 feet.  As I sat in front of the entrance to the cave system called the Devil’s Throat,  David pointed up over my head and made the shark signal.  I swam up in the direction that he pointed but never saw the shark.  As I was about to go in the cave,  Pat gave me the “go up” signal.  I passed him my slate and he wrote “dizzy” on it.  He indicated that he wanted us to go in and he would wait for us outside above the cave.  NO WAY.  I am not leaving anyone alone on Punta Sur for 10 to 15 minutes.  So I aborted the dive. 

It turned out to be a great thing because we went to Horseshoe,  which is where Brad really wanted to go and we had great dive.  As we descended we encountered a huge southern stingray and a turtle.  Later in the dive the turtle showed up again.  It was a beautiful dive. 

We did the 2^nd tank on Cedral Wall.  I saw 4 juvenile spotted drums all of them flitting around together.  There was a pair of big puffers and a green moray eel with his black grouper accompanying him.  The grand finale was a huge spotted eagle ray with a big bite out of the right rear side.

Sunday, January 14^th

I hadn’t been to Palancar Caves in a while so off I went with David, Patrick, Carol and Pete.  We swam through all of my favorite tunnels.  We saw a big southern stingray and 3 more turtles on that dive.

Pete said that he had never seen a splendid toadfish before, so I chose Dalila for the second tank.  I know where there are a few of them on that site.  I found a couple of different toadfish for Pete.  David found one as well.  A good-sized hawksbill turtle (which is all that we have seen lately) was sitting on the bottom feeding.  The turtle was surrounded by pretty angelfish.  David and Pete were wishing that they had brought their cameras with them at that moment.

Monday, January 15^th

Back to good old Palancar Gardens with Warren, Accu-Al my weather man, Pete, Hugh, Mary Beth, Claudio and Bonita.  I saw 3 different turtles.  Warren and Pete pointed out a spotted eagle ray.  We saw the same ray 2 more times at the end of the dive.  It was very easy to tell that it was the same ray because he had no tail. 

Pete took a picture of a big crab that I discovered on French Reef.   Al showed us a big green moray eel that came out and swam around for maybe 5 minutes.  It almost seemed like it was following us around.

Tuesday, January 16^th

I did the first tank on Santa Rosa Wall with Pete, Al, Mary Beth, Hugh, Claudio, Doug and Austin.  We had an uneventful dive.  (That is a good thing considering.. )   Al commented that there is a lot of fish and that Santa Rosa is looking better now these days.  Pete was surprised to see so much sand on the reef from Wilma.  It was the first time that he had seen it since the hurricane came though in 2005. 

I did the second tank on Dalila.  I got to show Mary Beth the splendid toadfish.  Pete found the same turtle from a few days past and we saw a huge nurse shark just lying about in the open on the sandy bottom.  Al thought that I wasn’t looking so he tweeked its tail and it swam about 10 feet and settled down again.  You’re busted Al!  I was too far away to scold him.

Wednesday, January 17^th

I wanted to show Mary Beth, Hugh, Pete, Al, Claudio and Bonita that the reef has recovered best from Wilma.  We had a calm dive and we practiced buoyancy control skills as part of Claudio and Bonita’s Advanced Certification. 

We did the next one on Colombia Shallow so that Claudio and Bonita could learn navigational techniques.  Pete took pictures of yellow-headed jawfish poking their heads up out of their holes in the sand.  We saw a small turtle and a southern stingray.   Right before Al, Pete and I went up (as we had reached the time limit) we saw a rather large spotted moray.

I did a night dive on French Reef.  Only 5 minutes after arriving below,  I found a small 4 foot nurse shark and we followed it under a ledge.  We saw tons of big crabs and lots of little lobsters.  Bonita found the first octopus and it was really large.  I found the 2^nd octopus, that was normal-sized.  Bonita found a slipper lobster out walking about.

Thursday, January 18^th

Dive one was on Palancar Gardens with Rob, Matt, Al, Claudio and Bonita.  Chucho came along to help.  I took Claudio and Bonita down to 130 feet for their Advanced Certification and Chucho kept the others up in a normal range.  During the safety stop we saw a loggerhead turtle, that is really uncommon for Cozumel.

Per Al’s request we went to Cedral Wall.  We saw 2 hawksbill turtles and one was really, really large turtle.  We found that same small nurse shark that lives there and it was sleeping under a ledge.  Al decided to wake it up. The turtle turned around in its hole and faced Al.

Friday, January 19^th

Bev, Steve, Al and Ursula came diving with me on Palancar Bricks.  The current was like swimming in a washing machine.  Poor Ursula hadn’t been diving in a year and that was a hard dive to start out with.  We saw a small turtle going up for a breath of fresh air and by the time we finished the dive, the current had calmed down.

On French Reef there was almost no current.  I was very grateful.  A small hawksbill and 2 gray angels posed for Steve’s camera.  We saw a pair of lobsters either fighting or mating.  I guess no one knows exactly what they were doing except those lobsters J   One was fending off the other with its antennas.  We saw a couple of crabs as a big spotted eagle ray glided by us.

Saturday, January 20^th

Al, Ursula, Claudio and Bonita accompanied me on a dive to Colombia Deep.  Coming out of the first swim-through a small spotted eagle ray zipped past.  Later in the dive a huge eagle ray appeared right in front of us from behind a coral head.

On Dalila we found Al’s big shark again.  We even parked right next to it.

Sunday, January 21^st

I dived French reef with Patti, Andrew, Elaine, Ron and Kathy in the afternoon.  I was very happy that there was almost no current for their first dive of the vacation.  We saw splendid toadfishes, a big lobster out in the open and a crab.

We tried to do a night dive on French Reef.  The current carried us to Dalila instead of French Reef.  Oh well...we just go with the flow.  For the first 30 minutes of the dive all I saw was just one lousy lobster.  I was swimming around trying to figure out what to say to everyone when we got back on the boat.   The first 30 minutes of the dive kinda sucked.  Then I spotted the first big octopus.  FINALLY ... Patti was going to see an octopus after all these years and hundreds of dives.  We always get skunked on the night dives.  The first octopus was really large and it was a white spotted octopus.  We almost never see those in Cozumel.  The next 2 octopuses were common octopuses and were much smaller.  Patti was a very happy camper!

Monday, January 22^nd

The first dive of the day was at Yucab with Patti, Andrew, Rich, Elaine, Ron, Kathy and Fred.  The current was going the wrong way but it was an easy dive.  We saw a spotted moray eel out swimming around.

We did our second dive on Tormentos.  There were quite a few good-sized lobsters and a splendid toadfish. 

Tuesday, January 23^rd

I went to Palancar Horseshoe with Patti, Andrew, Rich, Elaine, Ron, Kathy and Fred.   Fortunately the current was light because it was none too cooperative.  After watching a small turtle feast on the side of the wall we had to fight the current to get over to the next turtle, that stayed with us for a while.

Then I went to Dalila.  Another turtle was just sitting on the bottom having lunch.  Right next to it was the big nurse shark that I have been seeing in the same general area for weeks.  Patti accused me of pushing her into the shark.  I accused her of wanting to pet it.  We had a lot of laughs over it. 

Wednesday, January 24^th

I asked Carlos to drop Patti, Andrew, Rich, Elaine, Ron, Kathy and Fred and myself off on Palancar Caves.  I got Palancar Bricks instead.  Oh well.  We saw 2 turtles.  The second one was close enough for Patti to pet but of course she didn’t.  I wagged my finger at her.  We also saw a couple of southern stingrays there.

Ron found the little shark on Cedral wall.  It was well hidden down in a hole full of warm water.  That water must have been a good 5 to 10 degrees warmer than that water that we were swimming in.  It was really strange.  Ron also discovered the little turtle that headed straight up over our heads to the surface for a breath of fresh air.  I searched for the spotted drums that I had seen before and they were gone.  I wonder if something ate them.  At the end of the dive a strange looking cloud of murky whitish water encircled us cutting the visibility down to about 10 to 15 feet.  It looked like a giant cloud of milk coming at us.  I swam the group away from the wall and over to the shallow Cedral Pass.  Everyone came up.  No one liked not being able to see.  Can I blame them?

Thursday, Jan. 25^th

We couldn't go out in the morning because the port was closed. After the weather report at 10:30 the harbor master changed his mind and let us go out...so Ron, Kathy, Rich, Elaine, Patti and Andrew came with me to Palancar Gardens. As we entered a cave...several southern stingrays awaited us on the other side. One was the biggest southern stingray that I have ever seen. It had to be at least 7-feet across. One smaller ray latched onto the back of the big one and a third ray just swam around and around. I think they were doing the "wild thing".

We tried to go to Dalila. Silly me, I didn't check the current so we ended up doing French reef instead. We saw lots more southern stingrays and Andrew proclaimed it "Ray Day". Kathy showed us a 6-foot nurse shark.

Friday, Jan. 26^th

Our first roll back of the day was on Santa Rosa Wall with Kathy, Ron, Elaine, Rich, Patti and Andrew. We saw lots of splendid toadfish. I even convinced one of them to come out and show Ron and Elaine its splendid yellow fins.

Our second entry was on San Francisco Wall. There was a small turtle, more toadfish and some small lobsters. It was almost impossible to drag Patti away from the huge, fat green moray eel. She found a new friend and took lots of pictures.

Saturday, Jan. 27^th

Per special request, we went to Colombia Deep with Andrew, Patti, Rich, Elaine, Kathy, Ron and Len. Andrew wanted to see the bricks, anchors and the old boiler from the 1800's shipwreck. Both the deeper anchor and the boiler are now really covered up in sand once again.

There was another big, green moray eel waiting for Patti on Paso del Cedral. It was in the old feeding spot from the last decade. Old habits are difficult, and die hard. We saw tons of barracudas and a spotted eagle ray.

Sunday, Jan. 28^th

My first tank of the day was on Palancar Gardens with Ted, Jeannie, Jeff, Lanna, Ursula and Detlef. We discovered a cleverly camouflaged spotted scorpion fish on the reef. Lanna and I watched as some long, spiny tentacles from a brittle star wiggled around on a sponge.

My second tank was on Cedral Wall. A huge male hawksbill turtle shared Sunday brunch with french and queen angels. Jeff and Lanna saw a spotted drum but I missed it. We ran into a school of assorted barracuda at the end of the dive.

Monday, Jan. 29^th

I took Denise, Lester, Ted, Jeannie, Ursula and Detlef to Palancar Horseshoe. We saw a turtle that I recognized from the last week. It has a small inwardly curved deformity on the right rear side of its shell. I am going to pay more attention to that in the future as to where exactly I see that same turtle again.

Dalila produced a couple more turtles. Chino showed me a big green moray eel, but it was so far down and under the reef. Therefore, I was unable to show it to the other divers. It was too difficult to see.

Tuesday, Jan. 30^th

Ted, Jeannie, Jeff, Lanna, Ursula and Detlef accompanied me to Palancar Caves. Coming out of the last cave, a small nurse shark hid under a coral formation. After we finished diving at the caves, Jeannie, Ted and Detlef went up to the surface. Jeff, Lanna and Ursula drifted over Palancar Horseshoe at 15 feet. We floated right into the same little turtle with the deformed shell from the sighting on the day before. It was almost in the exact same spot. I guess it is all about paying attention. :-)

On French Reef Detlef pointed to a small nurse shark hiding from the strong current we experienced. At the very end of the dive, I was able to show Lanna a small turtle.

Thursday, Feb. 1^st

We had strong southeast wind. Therefore, I picked Yucab for my dive with Ted, Jeannie, Jeff, Jim, Mike, Mildred and Nick. Jeannie found a small turtle and it was not shy. I found a big green moray eel that disappeared as soon as Jim and Jeff came over for a look-see. Nick was impressed by all of the large angelfish that permitted us to come close to them..

To stay out of the chop, we did our second dive on Tormentos. We discovered a juvenile spotted drum, a scorpion fish and a big turtle. I showed Jeannie three different kinds of tunicates. Jeannie was studying the Underwater Naturalist Specialty course.

Saturday, Feb. 3^rd

Nick wanted to see lots of fish....so I took Nick, Mildred, Ted, Jeannie, Kurt and Nancy to French Reef. Kurt and Nancy very quickly learned how to deal with current. They picked up the drift diving techniques right away. Nick got some good pictures of a gray angelfish and a white spotted file-fish. Ted and Jeannie worked on their Underwater Naturalist Specialty for a small bit of time.

Nancy and I drifted over the resident 7-foot nurse shark on Dalila. We didn't even notice the shark, until Mildred pointed to it for us. We observed symbiotic relationships on the dive, the most obvious being the little fish clinging to the big shark's belly.

Sunday, Feb. 4^th

I went to Palancar Gardens with Carmen, Jeff, John and Mike. We found a small turtle right off the bat. That turtle went up to the surface and Carmen was able to got a silhouette shot. I swam around the coral head and found another turtle waiting for us. After about 30 minutes the current picked up, so I led everyone into the caves to get out of the current.

During the surface interval, Carmen asked to see a moray eel. I picked Cedral Wall as my best "moray eel place". I knew the current would be strong, but Carmen (the flag) is no stranger to current :-) I briefed them all how to go slowly and to stop in the current and we rolled in. The first big green moray eel we found was really docile. I just could not resist caressing its soft, velvety head. Carmen got about four good pictures. ( Carmen, I am still waiting to see the pictures….) The second big eel was not so happy to be bothered by divers and there was no gentle caressing going on. Both eel were both a good 6-feet long.

Monday, Feb. 5^th

I dived Santa Rosa Wall with Carmen, Jeff, John and Mike. When I rolled into the water, I saw a small nurse shark on the bottom underneath us. I then realized that it was face-to-face with a big green moray eel. A bunch of small groupers were trying to get in on the action. By the time everyone got down and swam over to join me, only the eel was still there.

On Tormentos we saw quite a few splendid toadfish and a bunch of little lobsters. A large octopus was being chased by a grouper and it responded by being stressed out and squirted its ink.

Wednesday, Feb. 7^th

Mike, Laura, Jeff, Carmen, John and Mike came with me to Palancar Horseshoe. We saw two small turtles. When Carmen was taking pictures of the second one, I was wondering if it was the same turtle with the deformed shell. However, I admit that I was just too lazy to swim back for a better look.

I asked where we were going for the second dive and Carmen picked Tormentos again. Laura and I bobbed my little yellow lure in front of a couple of splendid toadfish. We saw another small turtle. Mike and Mike saw a really big turtle, but I missed seeing it.

Thursday, Feb. 8^th

I had a good dive on Palancar Caves with Carmen, Jeff, John, Michael, Annie and Dan. The current was like a washing machine. Sometimes we moved into the canyons and caves, so it wasn't as noticeable. On Dalila the current was really swift. However, everyone seemed to enjoy the wild ride. We saw tons of critters. There were two turtles, three nurse sharks ( big ! ) and a huge spotted eagle ray. Carmen said that dive made her entire week!

Saturday, Feb. 10^th

I took David, Annie and Michael to Palancar Gardens. I saw a little turtle way off in the distance, but it was so far away and it was not worth swimming everyone over to see it. We swam through lots and lots of caves.

I went back to Dalila since it had been so great over the last week. I found a tiny little colorful nudibranch sliding over the sand. Lots of barracudas intimidated Annie and the resident 7-foot nurse shark swam right past us in a hurry to get somewhere.

Monday, Feb. 12^th

I dove Amanda's Reef with Chucho, Annie, Michael, Paul, Sharon, Jean, Tom and Rebecca. We split the group. Chucho's group saw a swimming nurse shark that circled back and visited them twice. Annie and I saw a turtle swimming down to the bottom way off in the distance.

On Chankanaab we saw enough lobsters to open a restaurant. One lobster was so big that Rebecca said that it was scary looking and didn't want to get too close! Personally I thought that the huge barracuda was much scarier. We saw a giant snapper that swam in and out of caves in the reef.

Tuesday, Feb. 13^th

Dive one was on Santa Rosa Wall. There were big waves and Paul, Annie, Michael, Tom and Rebecca got down rather quickly to get out of the waves. Once we were out of the waves, we discovered that there was also quite a bit of current making our deep dive a bit stressful. Annie saw a turtle, but I missed it. Everyone sucked up quite a bit of air since we went a lot deeper than usual this dive.

Tormentos was calm for the first half-hour, thank goodness. However, there were tons of divers everywhere. Since the south wind was so strong that day, every single dive boat in Cozumel seemed to pick Tormentos! The current kicked in for the last 15 minutes of our dive and I got my exercise. We saw a spotted moray, a peacock flounder and an arrow crab.

I did a night dive on Chankanaab because there tends to be less current there than on Paradise. We were lucky and there was almost no current or waves. Michael found the first big octopus. It was a common octopus. A minute or two later, a Caribbean octopus joined it and they glided along the bottom together for an eternity. We followed them around and we were all fascinated. Then we found a squid that after a minute or two, freaked out and squirted its ink to escape us. It darted right under Paul. We also saw the usual collection of lobsters and crabs.

Wed. Feb. 14^th

We had a nice dive on Palancar Bricks with Brad, Talen, Michelle, Tom, Rebecca, Paul, Annie and Michael. It was a bit hectic at first but it is such a beautiful site. Annie, Michael and I saw two turtles. I think everyone else saw only one.

Then we had a nice easy dive on Paradise. Brad was very pleased and kept telling me so all throughout the dive!

Thursday, Feb. 15^th

My first tank was on Palancar Gardens with Pat, Karen, Chris, Tom, Rebecca and Doug. We had another calm, easy dive and swam through the archways and watched the sunlight beam through the holes in the reef overhead.

On French reef I was cruising along when I saw the tail and dorsal fin of a nurse shark in a big cave so I just slid right in the water. The nurse shark was just sitting on the bottom and we all sat in the cave with it. Then to get out of the cave we came up through a hole in the roof overhead.

We saw a huge lobster walking around without a care in the world. A big eagle ray swam by with something big in its mouth. It was probably a conch because that is one of their favorite foods.

Saturday, Feb. 17^th

I had a boat full of friends on Palancar Gardens with Al, Carol, Carol, Barb, Deanna and Kim. We had some current but nothing to write home to Mom about. We got a late start that day because of the north wind. We didn't get out until late morning when the wind calmed down and the harbor master let us go. We did our second tank on Yucab. We saw two splendid toadfish, a juvenile spotted drum and tons of lobsters. A small turtle was sleeping in a cubbyhole and we managed to observe it without disturbing it at all. Deanna showed us a huge nurse shark just swimming by off in the distance.

Monday, Feb. 19^th

I dived Palancar Horseshoe with Carol, Deanna, Mike and Andy. Deanna pointed out a turtle as it made its way up to the surface for a breath of air. A huge lobster strutted around a circular coral formation and we followed it as it tried to get away from us! Dalila was action packed that day. We started out picking up an extra diver who stayed with us for 30 minutes. We swam right up to Al's big old nurse shark. I had to gently pet its tail because I had promised Al that I would do that for him since he couldn't come with us that day due to illness.

We also saw a couple of sleepy turtles and a spotted eagle ray. There were plenty of southern stingrays too. Sorry Al!

Tuesday, Feb. 20^th

It was a joy to have Brad and Cassie with me after so many years. I hope they don't wait that long to come back again. We saw both anchors and the boiler that was so buried in the sand, I actually had to look for it. The first turtle we saw was sleeping under a big coral head. The other turtle was blending into the reef on top of the coral as we drifted over it. Cassie wanted to stay forever visiting with those turtles.

A big green moray eel greeted us at French Reef. It was trying to get at a splendid toadfish in a hole. The only reason that I know what it was after is because the eel didn't like us hanging around, so it took off. When it left the toadfish bolted out of the hiding hole and swam to a new den elsewhere.

Wednesday, Feb. 21^st

I went to Palancar Gardens with Carol, Carol, Deanna, Scot, Scott, Pamela, Warren and Tony. We had an awesome dive! We saw three different turtles. Carol showed Deanna and I a big green moray eel swimming through a series of caves. We watched the eel from above, through the holes in the roof of the caves. There was a point when we had to decide what we wanted to look at, the eel or a turtle. Deanna and I picked the eel and we swam after it. Carol picked the turtle. When we couldn't see the eel any more Deanna and I came back to the turtle and to Carol.

On Paradise we visited my old friend the sail fin blenny. We saw lots of groupers, a couple of golden tail eels and searched the algae beds to no avail for a seahorse for Carol. Just before we surfaced, Deanna and I sat in the middle of a huge school of big-eyed scads. They formed a circular wall all around us. A protective barracuda made a slow pass to stake his claim to the meal. Then a spotted eagle ray came by and we followed it off into the blue.

Thursday, Feb. 22^nd

Dive one was at Palancar Caves with Carol, Deanna, Mike, Marilyn, Vitek, Paula and Leigh. The first turtle was a little tiny baby. The second was pretty small too. The third turtle Mike found in a crack in the reef. That one was pretty big and it swam right up beneath Paula. It was really hard to keep the bunny ears that Paula brought me to stand upright in the current. The bunny tail pinned to the butt of my wetsuit was hidden behind the tank.

Dive two was on San Francisco Wall where we saw plenty of big groupers and lobsters. We switched the bunny tail off to one side for the second dive so that it could be photographed.

Friday, Feb. 23^rd

Vitek, Paula, Leigh, Mike, Marilyn, Warren, Scot and Pamela dived at Palancar Bricks with me. Leigh and I counted four turtles. The girls brought me a lovely tiara to dive in. I was queen of the flock that morning.

I took them back to French reef where the big green moray eel was waiting for Warren. Alas, his regulator started free flowing and not only did he miss the shot of the eel but he had to get back on the boat because the regulator would not stop free flowing. Bummer! There were also lots more turtles.

Carol, you are going to kill me. You went home one day too soon.

In the afternoon I took Alyson and Rob to Paradise for dives 1 and 2 of their certification class. On the first dive we saw a few goldentail eels and conches. I pointed out a tiny juvenile spotted drum to Alyson.

On the second dive I found a big yellow seahorse scooting around in the sandy area around the three finger leaf algae. It was scooting from one algae plant to the next and hanging on for a minute and blending in perfectly. Carol, I have two witnesses that took pictures. I am soooo sorry that I found that the day AFTER you left. Please forgive me!

Saturday, Feb. 24^th

I dived Palancar Gardens with Paula, Vitek, Andy, Karl, Dan, Alyson and Rob. As Andy was showing us a big lobster down below us, I showed Rob a turtle swimming downward as well. We didn't have much current for Andy to practice drift diving techniques, but it was a nice dive.

Per special request we went to Colombia Shallow. We woke up a big turtle as we landed on the bottom and it swam away. Alyson enjoyed swimming through the schools of yellow and silver fish. She pointed out a slipper lobster. I found a mantis shrimp hoping that Vitek could get a picture of it. They are very shy creatures. We saw a southern sting ray and a couple of crabs.

Sunday, Feb. 25^th

I dived one of my favorite dive sites, Palancar Horseshoe, along with Paula, Vitek, Leigh, Karl, Dan, Alyson, Rob and Ann. Everything was going along just normal until Vitek started after the big puffer fish. He took a bunch of pictures of it before it hid under a ledge. Then a barracuda came along and Vitek swatted its tail. This pissed it off...so it turned around and charged him. Vitek stuck his foot in its face and it changed its mind. It decided that Vitek was just too big and too aggressive to mess with…. The barracuda then shot under the coral. That frightened a hidden turtle that popped out of its resting place and Vitek got some more good pictures.

We went to Dalila in search of sharks for Dan. We found the resident 7-foot "big boy" and Karl found another medium-sized shark. We also saw a spotted moray, some big groupers and southern stingrays.

Monday, Feb. 26^th

I went to French Reef because Dan wanted to see a big green moray eel. My divers were Paula, Vitek, Dan, Karl, Tim and Leanne. We saw black groupers and yellow fin groupers. The darn green moray eel showed up AFTER Dan had gotten back on the boat. Next time I going to put a leash on it and go right back!

We went back to Dalila by popular demand. Not only did we see both of the big nurse sharks again, but just as Tim was going to the surface a pair of spotted eagle rays hovered over the sand together. Once again, Vitek was there with the fantastic camera.

Tuesday, Feb. 27^th

My first tank was on Paso del Cedral with Vitek, Paula, Leigh, Ann, Tim and Leanne. We had an amazing dive. It was just one great critter after another. As we arrived at the reef we floated over a very large male hawksbill turtle napping on the bottom. Right away...a 5-foot nurse shark swam past.

The schools of grunts were visibly upset by something, so I started over for a closer look. I counted 8 or 9 groupers before the big, fat green moray eel swam out of the cave below. The grunts scattered. Then we saw another small turtle and a really big nurse shark. I really believe that the big nurse shark was the same "big boy" that I normally see on Dalila. It's just gut instinct. However, I can't prove it.

The second tank was on Cedral Wall and we had a whole lot more action. As Vitek was taking pictures of a corkscrew anemone, a giant spotted eagle ray swam by. Then we saw another turtle take off up over the reef. I found a tiny little baby nurse shark well hidden under the coral. Then we found that big male turtle again. It had gone back to sleep and we woke the poor thing up once again. At the end of the dive, we saw the big nurse shark one more time right before Paula became got low on air.

Wednesday, Feb. 28^th

Paula, Vitek, Karl, Dan, Tim and Leanne came with me to Santa Rosa Wall. We saw a couple of big lobsters. I scooped the sand out of a few local sponges.

We searched the same algae patch on Paradise for the little seahorse for at least 20 minutes. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack and we didn't find the little bugger. Oh well.

Thursday, March 1^st

I started my morning on Tormentos with Paula, Vitek, Ann, Roberta, Joe, Brian and Liz. We had quite a dive. The first turtle that we saw was a small hawksbill, followed by a rather large loggerhead turtle. The loggerheads are pretty uncommon here in Cozumel. We also saw a big hawksbill snacking on something on the bottom with a couple of angelfish. We saw little stuff too like a juvenile spotted drum, a couple of peacock flounders, a big lobster. Paula found two spotted scorpion fish.

We went back to Paradise and we got lucky...or smart or whatever. There was another divemaster pointing out a big orange seahorse not far from the sailfin blenny. It was pretty close to where I had seen the yellow one earlier in the week. We also observed a bunch of splendid toadfish and a spotted moray eel.

Friday, March 2^nd

We had some seriously strong South East wind and we couldn't make it any further south than Paso del Cedral. I even asked Carlos if he thought that it would be OK for us to stay there. He said that it was OK...so there we dived. There were big waves and not much visibility due to the water being stirred. We saw a big green moray eel and a huge spotted eagle ray. There were a couple of jumbo-sized lobsters just out walking around... brave as can be.

Yucab had less waves and better visibility. I am fascinated by those juvenile spotted drums and Yucab had a pair of them together. There were more splendid toadfish and a 6-foot nurse shark swimming nearby.

Saturday, March 3^rd

I had a perfect morning on Las Palmas with Paula and Vitek. Paula was our critter finder and she showed us a lot of little goldentail moray eels. She dropped her weight pouch right in front of a pair of big octopi. I coaxed a splendid toadfish all the way out of its hiding hole. Vitek got some good shots, but I screwed up my photos by using the wrong viewfinder. We had some good laughs at my photos when I got them developed the next day.

We spent 30-minutes searching the algae beds at Paradise for a seahorse. Another divemaster dropped down right on top of us and it took him all of one minute to find the big yellow seahorse and point it out to us. I felt like an idiot. I did however swim around when Paula was low on air marking the territory so that I could find it again MYSELF! I used the last of my air and my whole roll of film taking pictures of the yellow seahorse. The pictures came out OK but not nearly as good as Vitek's.

Sunday, March 4^th

Back to my favorite, Palancar Horseshoe with Paula, Vitek, James, Ken, Anita and Lorenzo. Anita pointed out the first turtle. It was up at the surface off in the distance. The second turtle was that little baby turtle that Carlos likes so much. Paula found two more stonefish. She is amazing.

On Colombia Shallows we saw tons of stuff including a turtle, a huge eagle ray that everyone with a camera took turns chasing and a pair of burrfish. Paula found those too.. of course.

Wednesday, March 7^th

Laura, Megan, James, Lou, EJ, Jim, Matt and Jackson came with me to Palancar Gardens. We swam right up to a very large hawksbill turtle feeding on a sponge. A few angels hovered about waiting to have a go at that sponge when the turtle got out of the way. A huge crab clung to the reef under one of the archways that we swam through. Laura and I watched a southern stingray as we did our safety stop.

I had to find that little yellow seahorse on Paradise for Laura. After two sailfin blennies showed us their sails (Laura and I love blennies) we searched the algae beds for about 20 minutes. I was soooooo relieved that I was able to find the yellow seahorse myself that time. Laura would have spent the rest of the dive staring at it if I had let her.

Thursday, March 8^th

I dived Santa Rosa Wall with James, Lou, Laura, Megan, Jim, EJ, Matt and Jackson. It was Jackson's first dive on a wall. Both he and Lou were enthralled with the drop off and the deep blue abyss. They were very impressed.

There were tons of big lobsters on Chankanaab. EJ found a big crab. I showed Laura a lemon yellow colored blackhead blenny.

That afternoon I went to Yucab with James, Lou, Anita, Ken, Loren, Jen and Del. It was pretty late in the day and we wanted something shallow and easy for Jen's ears. We saw more big lobsters and a couple of turtles. The first turtle was sitting still for the cameras. The second was surfacing for a breath of fresh air. It then returned to the bottom for a closer viewing. Jen found the first spotted moray eel out in the open on the sand. I found a big, fat spotted moray just swimming about.

The last dive that day was on Tormentos. There were yet more lobsters and one very curious slipper lobster. A very hungry toadfish came 2/3 of the way out of its den and snapped at my toy. We came up when it started getting dark.

Friday, March 9^th

James requested Colombia Deep. James, Anita, Ken, Lorenzo and Lou were my divers that day. After the first swim through we drifted over a pair of turtles in about 80 feet of water. Then we hung a right turn and went to see the two anchors from the 1800s shipwreck. After the anchors I took them through a beautiful cave. A few minutes later a spotted eagle ray appeared. At the safety stop we saw an immense turtle.

Then we went to Anita's favorite spot, Colombia Shallow. The usual schools of fish were abundant and a few very large lobsters were out strutting around...bold as can be.

I did a refresher for Steve and Anita that afternoon. James came along because he would never miss an opportunity to dive. We did the refresher on Paradise. I found loads of sailfin blennies but no seahorse. It was frustrating to say the least. A hermit crab walked right over the front door to a sailfin blenny's house and the little fish was so upset that it came all the way out of the hole and fluttered above its home. Two toadfish were partially out of the hole and we got a good look at them.

The fourth dive was on Las Palmas where there were a lot more splendid toadfish, one goldentail eel and one spotted moray. There was a coral head that had maybe 6 or 7 lobsters beneath it...waving their antennas at us as we passed them.

Saturday, March 10^th

James picked French Reef and that was a good one for Kevin, Steve and Anita. A turtle floated overhead for a while and then joined us at the bottom.

Cindy joined us for a dive on Palancar Gardens. Kevin loved the dive so much he said that it was one of his all time favorites. At the end of the dive a huge green moray eel swam around below us in and out of the caves.

Sunday, March 11^th

I took Joe and Andrew to see the towering coral formations at Palancar Horseshoe. We had beautiful conditions and we saw a squishy, soft, furry sea cucumber. I just love those things. Maybe I am nuts, but I like to pet them. They are like huge, soft caterpillars and they just cruise around in the sand. We did our safety stop with a southern stingray passing by us.

On Cedral Wall a small nurse shark (4 feet) zipped past us. I was so engrossed in watching it go by that I almost missed the other small nurse shark resting on the bottom right behind us. We also saw two hawksbill turtles. The first one swam right over Joe's head. The second one just sat on the bottom with its entourage of pretty angelfish while dining on a leathery sponge.

Monday, March 12^th

I took Alex, Kris, Jake, Craig, Lisa, Steve and Anita to Palancar Gardens. The current was a little "loco" and pushing us just about every direction that it could. Thankfully, it was also mild, so it just meant that we had to do a little extra kicking that we normally don't have to do. Craig was quite impressed to have seen four turtles on that dive.

On Dalila the current was normal and heading northbound, as usual. The divers did their first real Cozumel drift dive. We drifted right over another turtle on the bottom.

That afternoon I dived on the beach at Paradise with Mike, Laura and Nikki. Nikki was getting certified. On her first dive we saw two spotted morays, tons of flamingo tongues, a lizardfish, a scorpion fish and two yellow stingrays.

Tuesday, March 13^th

I spent all morning on the beach with Mike, Laura and Nikki. We completed confined water training dives 2 through 5 and also open water dives 2 and 3. Mike and Laura got credit for the internship part of their divemaster training. We saw lots of sail fin blennies while we searched the algae patch for a seahorse. After hours of searching and no more air...we came up empty handed.

At 3:30 pm we went over to the boat and met up with Steve, Anita, Craig, Jake, Kris and Alex. I had a little tantrum over the tank situation but got over it quickly. I found a couple of splendid toadfish for Craig and a bunch more sail fin blennies. After a good 20 minutes of searching that old algae patch I found an orange seahorse clinging to the base of an algae plant. I just left Mike and Laura there with the treasure. I told Laura to take her time and that I would see them back on the boat. We saw tons of goldentail morays and a huge spiny lobster out and about.

The night dive was definitely above average. Laura started us out on the right note by showing us a huge octopus. We saw three more during the rest of the dive. We saw a splendid toadfish completely out in the open and Mike got lots of pictures. We saw zillions of crabs, a few giant lobsters, more spotted eels than I could count too. There were 2 snake eels, 3 spanish lobsters and a big, huge squid.

Wednesday, March 14^th

My first dive that day was on Palancar Gardens with Mike, Laura, Nikki, Kristin, Greg, Randy and Jarid. As we were coming around a big coral head on the drop off, a turtle swam right over the reef. A lobster hid in a hole at exactly 60 feet.

Mike picked Dalila for the second dive. Even though it was rush hour and there were hundreds of divers everywhere, we still had a fantastic dive. We saw the big 7-foot resident nurse shark which swam by at close range. A dinosaur-sized lobster was on a walk about. We floated over a turtle lunching on a leathery sponge. Two small nurse sharks hid in a small, dark crevice. They were probably trying to hide from all of the divers.

Thursday, March 15^th

I went to Palancar Caves with Craig, Kris, Jake, Mike, Laura and Nikki. We saw the turtle with the deformed bit on the back right-hand side of its shell. It has moved a tad south from Horseshoe to Caves. I was seeing it last month over by the cement block on Horseshoe. I think we saw a total of three turtles over all.

Mike requested Colombia Shallow. We saw a humongous lobster out walking around and there were a few southern stingrays. Nikki enjoyed swimming through the schools of fish.

I did an afternoon dive on Paradise with Mike, Laura, Nikki, Brian and Rob. There were several goldentail eels and lots of snails big and small, in the sand. That means plenty of food for the spotted eagle rays.

Friday, March 16^th

I did two training dives on Paradise with Craig, Don, Mike and Carolyn. We saw three different kinds of eels. We saw the common spotted moray and goldentail eels but I was really pleased to also see a chain eel. I haven't seen one of those in a long time. They are one of my very favorites. Carolyn spotted the big crab that lives in the cave. There are always lots of big rainbow parrotfish there too.

Saturday, March 17^th

To complete Craig, Don, Carolyn and Mike's certification dives we went to Palancar Gardens first. We saw a sea turtle up close. It kind of followed us a bit and re-appeared after a few minutes. We also saw a little tiny baby turtle that went over the top of the reef and disappeared right before the first good cave. I found a juvenile spotted drum. I know just where to find it again next time.

We had good conditions and an easy dive on French Reef. We saw a huge snapper and a big black grouper.

Monday, March 19^th

Dive one was on Palancar Gardens with Wendy, Sandra, Chad, Elisa and Don. The current was wicked. As we descended, a weight pouch fell out of Don's BCD. I went over to get it and the current started pulling everyone out to the blue water. I had to fight to get everyone back to the reef. Once we were all down behind the coral that blocked the current...things got much better. After the dramatic start and quite a bit of swimming, we had an exciting dive. We spent some time with a hungry turtle and I found that little spotted drum again. Coming out of the last cave we swam up to a big green moray eel that just sat there while everyone took its picture.

The current was much calmer on Dalila. We saw several huge barracudas and another turtle.

Tuesday, March 20^th

We did a couple of easy shallow dives. The first one was on Colombia Shallow with Tut, Rob, Bryan, Jen, Michelle, Steve and Jim. There was a huge lobster and a big crab waiting for us. The turtle that we saw was very friendly.

When the getting is good...I just keep going back for more you know. We went to Palancar Gardens where we saw a little baby turtle, a big barracuda, a couple of big groupers and a 6-foot long green moray eel.

Friday, March 23^rd

Everyone loves Palancar Horseshoe. My divers were Tut, Chuck, Moni, Ron, Ryan and Clare. Pancho came along to help me since Ryan and Clare were working on getting certified and I didn't want to bore the other divers. Pancho showed everyone a turtle that went up to the surface to breathe and then it came back down again to re-join us. Tut burned up 500 psi chasing after a puffer fish to get a picture. Who would have thought that the puffer could swim so fast? Pancho pointed out a big crab. I discovered a big green turtle swimming over the reef just as we were heading up.

We went to Paradise because I promised Tut a seahorse. There was some current as we got in but as soon as we reached the algae patch the current was roaring. It was blowing so fast that the visibility was reduced by all of the particles that the current lifted off of the bottom and blew about. I just blew off the search for the seahorse and headed for the safety of the shallows. I think Pancho felt a little performance anxiety to find the seahorse and he just kicked hard against the current looking for a seahorse. We ended up getting separated. Chuck and Moni got winded and aborted the dive. The seahorse quest was shot to hell, but Tut had a good time anyway. He is used to those currents.

Saturday, March 24^th

I went back to Palancar Gardens with Ian, Barbara, Stacie, Jody, Chuck, Moni and Andy. (They hadn't seen Palancar yet ) I swam through loads of swim throughs and archways. We saw a big green moray eel being followed by a couple of black groupers.

Tormentos produced a spotted moray eel and a big lobster.

I finished up Clare and Ryan's certification that afternoon. Ron, Mami and Andy joined us on Chankanaab. We saw another green moray eel that kinda swam up to me. It was enough to get me to put my hands behind my back……A huge spotted eagle ray glided by in the distance.

Their last certification dive was on Paradise where we had tons of crabs everywhere. A couple of splendid toadfish smiled at us too. I found a juvenile spotted drum. They must be in season. Ron was our Superman on that dive. He is the one who found the little yellow seahorse.

Sunday, March 25^th

I took Tut, Stacie, Jody, Kirsty, Samantha and Dan to Palancar Horseshoe to see the towering coral formations. Tut showed us a turtle going up to the surface. We saw two crabs. One was dead and one was alive. The dead one was bigger. The girls screamed when I put the pinchers of the dead crab on my nose.

I took Tut to my best shark place, Cedral Wall. We got skunked! However, we did see four different turtles so we had a great dive anyway.

Monday, March 26^th

It is a winner this month so I just keep going back to Palancar Gardens. Chuck, Moni, Dan, Kirsty, Samantha, Mitch and Dolores all came up smiling. We saw a little turtle swim downward and hide behind the reef. The juvenile spotted drum fluttered around in circles as always. A lobster big enough to feed everyone on the boat crawled around out in the open for us.

I wanted something easy for the second dive so I picked French Reef. We saw a southern stingray and a big hawksbill turtle swam right up to Dan. Another large lobster pranced around to show off for Moni since she hadn't seen many on the other days of diving.

I was late picking up Rob, Tina, John and Kevin that afternoon. We went to Chankanaab for lots and lots of lobsters and crabs. That place has the crabs in the afternoon. We saw another little black and white spotted drum and another big ray.

Paradise was my last stop where I poked at the sail fin blennies to make him display his "sail". We found two spotted morays, loads of crabs everywhere and just one lobster. When Rob came up he declared that place "Splendid toadfish heaven". I lost count of how many we saw.

Thursday, March 27^th

It was time for a change...so I took Dan, Kirsty, Stacie, Jody, Mitch and Dolores to Santa Rosa Wall. We had a minor traffic jam as we reached the caves. We escaped the crowds by swimming over to the shallows where we were greeted by a small turtle and a lobster. The current was quite forgiving and we had a nice dive.

I found a baby nurse shark on Cedral Pass. It was in a cave and I frightened the poor thing out. A huge southern stingray loomed in the distance. There were schools of huge barracudas and they were too numerous to count. At the very end of the dive a large turtle sat contentedly nibbling on a sponge. Stacie practically had to push the angelfish out of the way to get a picture of its face. It was quite cooperative for the camera.

That night I took the same group to French Reef for a night dive. Tut joined us. I only saw three octopi. Some of the divers saw four. There were tons of big crabs, spiny lobsters and a slipper lobster too. We saw one spotted moray and we turned off our lights to check out the bioluminescence.

Wednesday, March 28^th

I dived Dalila with Tut, Sam, Kirsty, Dan, Moni, Chuck, Stacie and Jody. My goal was to find a shark for Tut and Sam. Tut was King Neptune of the Sea when he found Al's big nurse shark just sitting there on the bottom. We parked and had a good look. Then we drifted over a pair of hawksbill turtles. One got up and swam away from us. The other one tolerated us. Kirsty and Sam saw a pair of southern stingrays. We also saw a big grouper, a huge barracuda and lots of puffer fish.

Once again I struck out on Paradise. Sorry Tut, no seahorse this trip AGAIN. But I saw a strange phenomenon. Near the big block there were thousands of tiny baby sea hares sliding over the sand. I haven't seen even one sea hare since Wilma but there were more babies there than I have ever seen. Tut got a picture of them and he better send me a copy!

Then I did a resort course at Paradise for Scott, Andy, Nate, Matt and Tom. Despite the current the boys all dived well. They looked like real certified divers! We found a spotted moray and a goldentail eel too.

Thursday, March 29^th

Rob, Kevin, Tina, John, Heidi, Dan, Sam, Kirsty and I had one hell of a day! First we went to Colombia Deep where a turtle swam right by us and down to Raul. Since I had 8 divers and he only had 2 divers, Raul being the gentleman that he is, went over to the wall and left the anchor to us. Then, that lucky dog Raul saw a black tip and two other sharks that were not just nurse sharks. No fair! Everyone really loved the big turtle at the top of the reef when the dive was almost over.

We went looking for Jorge's finger on Cedral Wall. Instead we found seven turtles, three nurse sharks and a big green moray eel! It was a fantastic dive. I recognized the first nurse shark. It was the one that I call "Notchka" because she has a small half moon shaped "notch" in her dorsal fin. I am also sure that the last turtle that we saw was the same one that sat really still for Stacie the other day.

Friday, March 30^th

Back to good old Palancar Gardens. When I get a good reaction out of the divers I just keep bringing them there! My happy campers were Chuck, Rob, Kevin, Tina, John and Heidi. We saw a few turtles, lots of juvenile spotted drums and a couple of southern stingrays.

The action started after Chuck surfaced. As we were looking at another turtle, Tina and I were joking around. Then her eyes got really big when the nurse shark swam up. This apparently bothered a hidden green moray eel, that appeared from below and we didn't know which one to look...as they were swimming in different directions. Talk about difficult decisions. Once they were both out of sight, I discovered another turtle sitting on the bottom. As I pointed out the turtle, someone else started pointing madly at a big spotted eagle ray. We had sensory overload.

We agreed to go back to Cedral Wall looking for Jorge's finger. Instead of a finger we found more turtles that I bothered to count and a couple of very photogenic green moray eels. We had a perfect day!

Saturday, March 31^st

Jill, Bernie, Cedra, Mike, Scott, Derek and Debbie came diving with me to dive on Palancar Gardens. After going through all of the tunnels, we saw a big lobster strolling around on top of the reef. As we watched the lobster...a nice hawksbill turtle swam right up to the group.

Debbie was happy when I announced that we were going to Dalila. We saw several turtles. One sat still while continuing to eat chunks of sponge. We saw three nurse sharks on that dive. They just kept getting bigger and bigger with each arrival. The first shark was about 5 feet long and well hidden. The second one was at least 6 feet long and it was swimming. The final shark was Al's "big boy" and it doesn't make any effort to hide from us. It had a couple of remoras clinging to it.

Sunday, April 1^st

I went to Palancar Caves with Kevin, John, Scott, Derek, Debbie, Dawn, Sam and Bill. We saw a couple of turtles coming out of one of the swim-throughs. I found a tiny little seahorse that looked just like the algae to which it was clinging.

Then we went to French Reef. There were lots more turtles and a bunch of big crabs.

Monday, April 2^nd

My first dive of the day was on Palancar Horseshoe with Scott, Debbie, Sam, Dawn, Bill, Joseph and Frank. We all saw a couple of turtles. I showed them a soft, squishy sea cucumber. I think that they are so cute!

On Paso del Cedral there were lots and lots of barracudas and large groupers. We saw more crabs and a few lobsters.

That afternoon I took Bob, Tom, Linda and Laura to Palancar Shallows. There were two big southern stingrays that swam right past the ladies. Everyone took pictures. We stayed very shallow and worked on preparation for the skills of certification.

I did a fourth dive that day on the same spot, Palancar Shallows. I swam with Tom and Laura over to see the drop off.

Tuesday, April 3^rd

I went to San Francisco Wall with Sam, Dawn, Bill, Joseph, Frank, Kristen and Brian. Sadly I found a big green moray eel that had been badly injured. About 3 or 4 inches of its lower jaw had been torn off and was dangling to one side. It was very upsetting to me and I decided not to point it out to the other divers. I don't know if that could have been a result of a fight with another eel or if a poacher had accidentally hooked the eel and it broke away. I am worried that the poor eel will not be able to survive if it cannot hunt.

I rarely go to Punta Tunich. That is one of Sam and Dawn's favorites...so we went there. Boy, did we get our exercise on that dive! For most of the dive the current was pushing us out to sea towards the deep blue water. We had to kick constantly just to stay on the reef.

We saw a beautiful healthy green moray eel and a turtle hiding in a large crevice to get out of the current. When Sam and Dawn were finishing their dive, I decided to stop kicking against the current and just float to let them see where the current took us. They were both impressed. The current took us out to sea for our safety stop and we floated over the blue abyss. We could not see anything around us except blue. The bottom was hundreds of feet beneath us.

I finished up Tom, Laura and Linda's certification on Palancar Shallows again. We saw a small lobster and a school of horse-eyed jacks. Tom was curious about going deeper so I swam him through a cave at 60-feet and he loved it. Thankfully, there was no current that afternoon.

Wednesday, April 4^th

I tried to dive the C 53 wreck with Scott, Derek, Debbie, Sam, Dawn, Bill, Tom and Kevin but the current was too strong. We decided to go next door to Bolones de Chankanaab instead. The current there was pushing hard out to sea. Everyone dropped straight down to the bottom 70-feet below and held on. After a short rest, we all crawled over to the reef that offered a lot of protection from the current. We had a great dive.

We found Scott's big spotted eagle ray that was feeding in the sand. When it noticed us, the ray did a U-turn and swam in front of us...before it simply took off. We saw two giant lobsters just strolling about, a Peterson's cleaner shrimp and a spotted moray eel.

Dawn and I love seahorses, so we went to Paradise. Scott found a fat pregnant male. It was kind of brownish orange. Usually they are found in pairs when one is pregnant...so we started looking for the female. I found a smaller one the exact same color only 30-feet away. But then, Dawn found the big yellow seahorse nearby...so I don't know which one is the mother. I wonder if seahorses can have more than one mate? Three seahorses on one dive was a record for me! We also saw a few splendid toadfish, a barracuda, lots of sail fin blennies and a pike blenny.

Thursday, April 5^th

Dive one was on Colombia Deep with Scott, Derek, Debbie, Dawn, Sam, Bill, Kevin and Megan. We didn't see any turtles until the very end of the dive. When we finally did see turtles, we saw lots of them! One came up to the surface right next to us while we did our safety stop.

Dive two was on Cedral Wall. After 40-minutes we crossed over to Santa Rosa Shallow where we were greeted by more turtles. One sat very still, put a flipper around a gorgonian to hold on and feasted on a sponge. Beautiful angelfish surrounded it snapping up bits of sponge that fell out of the turtle's mouth.

Friday, April 6^th

We had west wind that day which made for some seriously choppy seas. Dawn, Sam, Bill, Brad, Amy, Joseph and Frank were my divers. We had big waves and I had a short temper, so we went to Chankanaab. Underwater we had very calm conditions. We encountered a black grouper that had a snapper inside of its mouth. It looked like the snapper was too big for the grouper to swallow and it got stuck. The snapper was still alive and moving its mouth. That was weird. We saw lots of lobsters and a couple of crabs.

Surprise, we went to Paradise! Dawn found her big yellow seahorse again and made Amy's day. We also saw a splendid toadfish, a dinosaur sized lobster and a pipefish. Brad had to look really hard to see the big stonefish camouflaged on the bottom.

Saturday, April 7^th

I dived Palancar Gardens with Brad, Amy, Tom, Frank and Joseph. Brad kept pointing out turtles for us. He also showed us a crab. We had beautiful conditions and a perfect dive.

Amy requested French Reef for the next dive. It was a great choice. We saw a huge crab with immense claws just crawling around on top of the reef. Amy found a small turtle perched on the reef having lunch. Next, a very, very big nurse shark with two remoras stuck to its face swam right up to us and then took off. When we came up, the first words out of Amy's mouth were, "That was crazy! I could see all of its muscles moving as it swam!" She was very pleased and excited.

Sunday, April 8^th

My first tank that day was on Palancar Horseshoe with Tom, David, Holly, Kent and Bill. We saw a couple of different turtles. A green turtle was hanging out in about 5-feet of water, snapping up thimble jellyfish.

My second tank was on Colombia Shallows, where we saw plenty more turtles. Kent found a huge lobster. Bill says that it was the size of a beagle. Tom said that he had never seen a lobster so large. Kent also showed us a big green moray eel.

Thursday, April 10^th

I did a nice, easy shallow dive on Chankanaab with Holly, Kent, Chris, Bill and Meagan. We saw tons of lobsters and a hidden crab. Meagan liked viewing the big schools of fish best of all.

That afternoon I picked up Debbie, Craig and Jay. They brought lots of snorkelers with them. We all went to Palancar Gardens, since Palancar Gardens is good for both snorkeling and diving. Debbie swam right over the first turtle that was hiding in a hole in the reef. The second turtle was smaller and impossible to miss. It went to the surface to breathe for a minute or two and then swam back down right in front of Craig and Debbie's faces. It has absolutely no fear of us what so ever. It almost seemed to want to be noticed.

Wednesday, April 11^th

I did two dives on Paradise to start Eric and Sue's Open Water referral. On the first dive we saw lots of big crabs, a southern stingray swimming by, a spotted moray and a large school of big eyed scads.

On the second dive we went looking for the seahorse but only found a jellyfish. (ouch !) A rather large gray ray was resting in a coral cave.

Thursday, April 12^th

I dived Palancar Gardens with Ted, Jeannie, Bill, Stacy, Steve and Christine. Bill led the way. My little spotted drum was well hidden deep in the crevice. We saw a big lobster at the end of the dive.

A turtle was off in the distance on Dalila. Steve saw a shark, but I missed seeing it. Everyone loved the huge spotted eagle ray that glided past us.

I finished up Eric and Sue's certification on Paradise. The first tank we did was close to shore. We saw lots of big crabs and a small lobster. We also saw a few eels, mostly golden tails and one big spotted moray.

I took Eric and Sue over to the reef at Paradise for the final certification dive. There were several different splendid toadfish and a few big rainbow parrotfish. Sue found the big yellow seahorse. We spent a good five minutes enjoying its company.

Friday, April 13^th

I don't know why I chose San Francisco Wall on Friday the 13th. We actually got lucky with the ocean conditions that day. My divers were Ted, Jeannie, John, John, David, Pat, Sharon and Christine. One of the Johns pointed out "Notchka" the small nurse shark. I named her after a character in a book. Notchka has a small "notch" carved out of her dorsal fin that makes her very easy to identify.

I had no luck finding the seahorses on Paradise that day. I did play the old rubber seahorse trick on poor Sharon. As I was nearing the end of the first section of the reef, I hung my big red rubber seahorse on a purple rope sponge. Then I sat down in the sand to watch the show. It was Sharon who happened upon the imposter and she was quite enthusiastic in pointing it out. I pretended not to know what she was pointing at and she started getting suspicious. I called everyone over to watch too. ( I am sooo terrible ) When everyone was paying attention I snatched it up and stuck it in my mouth. Sharon went into hysterics with laughter. She was laughing so hard her mask filled up with water. That was the best part of the dive. We did see a bunch of squid in the algae patch but no living, breathing seahorse.

Saturday, April 14^th

My first dive was on Palancar Gardens with David, Pat, Christine, Sharon, Ted, Jeannie and Stacy. The biggest turtle in the world swooped down upon me from on top of the reef. It was headed straight toward me. I wondered if it wanted to check me out, mate with me, or just take a big bite…… At the moment that I was thinking that perhaps I should worry, it veered off and disappeared over the top of the reef. My eyes must have looked like a new diver's seeing a turtle for the first time. I am not kidding! It was the biggest turtle that I have ever seen. It was a male loggerhead.

Dalila produced a bunch of mega barracudas that were definitely not shy. Christine was pointing out a small two-footer and I smiled because I could see the big daddy off in the distance. When that monster came over and smiled at her, I wondered what she thought. I also found a couple of hungry splendid toadfish. I tortured them with my little lure.

That night I dived Chankanaab with Ted, Jeannie, David, Sharon, Pat and Christine. I only saw one small lobster. There were tons of crabs and we saw a gold spotted eel. The highlights of the dive were the bioluminescence and the Caribbean reef shark that started to swim away, doubled back at us and then changed its mind and left. I wonder if the shark was attracted by our lights.

Sunday, April 15^th

I took Ted, Jeannie, David and Sharon to Yucab. The first turtle was kind of small and it was eating a sponge. Then as Sharon was staring at a barracuda, a medium-sized nurse shark swam past us. Later we saw another pair of turtles, one within about 100 feet of the second turtle.

We had a motor fail and an impending storm so I insisted on diving Paradise again. I wanted to be right in front of the marina, just in case. We saw two huge rainbow parrotfish, a couple of splendid toadfish and various golden tail moray eels. After about 45 to 50 minutes it started getting dark. I got nervous and called the dive. I didn't want to get caught in the storm. It got really windy by the time we pulled into the marina.

Monday, April 16^th

For a change of pace I brought Mike, Laura, Ted and Jeannie to Santa Rosa Wall. We had almost no current at all. Mike showed us a huge spotted eagle ray gliding through the blue beneath us.

We all did a night dive on Tormentos. The colors of the reef were beautiful. The reds and oranges really stood out. Mike found crabs and lobsters. He also pointed out a spotted moray and a baby octopus. Overall, there wasn't much going on there compared to diving on Paradise at night.

Tuesday, April 17^th

Mike, Laura, Ted, Jeannie, Brian and Steve accompanied me to Palancar Horseshoe. It was very unusual to see a big nurse shark cruising beneath us at a fast pace. We also saw a turtle that Laura correctly identified as a hawksbill.

Cedral Wall showed us five hawksbill turtles. Most were sleeping on the bottom and we awaken the poor things. The second turtle was huge and it was a male. It took its time swimming away. As Laura, Steve and I were ascending, I looked down and discovered a large green moray eel hunting a black grouper below us. She was just beautiful to watch.

I did a shore dive with Mike and Laura that afternoon so that they could finish up their dive master certifications. They completed the rescue evaluation, the stress test and the mapping project.

Wednesday, April 18^th

My morning divers were Mike, Laura, Kathy, Patti and Dave. We saw tons of turtles on the Gardens. Laura was a good girl and resisted the temptation to reach out and pet the turtles as they swam up to her and/or past her. We also saw a stingray, a spotted drum, a nurse shark and a huge crab.

Then we did an easy dive on French Reef where we saw big turtles and little turtles. Two lobsters were out crawling around on top of the reef.

I did a resort course for Mark and Linda that afternoon at Paradise. We saw one spotted moray and a big crab.

Thursday, April 19^th

We had perfect conditions on Punta Sur with Mike, Laura, Kathy and Patti. The first turtle that we saw was hidden in a cubbyhole and taking a snooze. I took a picture of it but the picture didn't come out. The third turtle would not pose with Laura. I chased it around a bit trying to get it to go over to Laura but the darned thing was completely uncooperative.

Laura came up from the second dive, which was on Paradise, exclaiming that it was the best dive ever! Laura has over 100 dives with me and she liked that one the absolute best. It was because we found four seahorses. That is a NEW record for me. They were all the yellowish/greenish colored ones. We didn't see any orange or brown ones. The first two seahorses were found by other divemasters. Mike found the third one and I found the fourth one. I also found a red-lipped blenny, a pike blenny and a few sail fin blennies.

Friday, April 20^th

I went to Palancar Horseshoe with Patti, Kathy, Mark, Linda, Dave, Steve and Mike. We saw crabs and found a big green moray eel. Patti thought the huge snapper looked angry. It certainly had some impressive teeth on it. Kathy also found a little golden tail eel..

We swam around Colombia Shallows admiring the big schools of fish and the sand dollars that were scattered all over the bottom. We saw a big black grouper under a ledge and more crabs.

Saturday, April 21^st

My first stop was on Palancar Caves with Patti, Kathy, Mike, Steve, Troy and Marianne. We swam through the reef and I told Marianne that it is like Swiss cheese down there. All of the sponges were smoking or producing that white stuff that looks like wet Wonder Bread. When we got back on the boat Patti had fun asking Kathy if she knew that we were swimming around in sponge sperm.

On Dalila, Patti went after an eagle ray in the distance. During our safety stop I was glad that Patti was wearing her tank-banger. My head was turned and I never saw the pair of spotted eagle rays that she discovered. They were feeding in the sand. The two rays promptly joined by a pretty green turtle. What a great way to make a safety stop!

Sunday, April 22^nd

We went back to Palancar Horseshoe because Chad and Ali didn't get to see it last time they were in Cozumel. Patti, Kathy, Steve and Mike didn't mind going back either. As soon as we got down, we spotted Patti's friend...the huge snapper with those big, pointy teeth and the white scratch on its head. Since Andrew wasn't diving with us this week I think that Patti's new boyfriend is that big snapper. It likes her. We saw a pair of turtles together but as soon as we got close the little one took off. Later, a different turtle got so close to Patti that it startled her.

Cedral Wall was like watching a turtle parade. We counted seven turtles in total. The first one was that large male hawksbill from the other day. All the remainder were females. (Lucky boy turtle…..) They were all big. Kathy said that the green moray eel seemed to come out at Patti but I don't believe that. We also saw a few big groupers.

Greg and Suzanne came with me to Paradise that afternoon to work on Greg's certification. On the first dive we ran into Roberto down below and I decided to follow him around. We saw two seahorses. One was yellow and the other was that brownish/orange pregnant one. Roberto showed me a sail fin blenny that was white and gray. I have never seen the white and gray ones display their sails. It is only the black ones that I have seen do that.

On the second dive Suzanne found a big lobster with a spotted moray hiding behind it. A tiny juvenile spotted drum fluttered around in front of the lobster. We found another seahorse. It was bigger that the first two and it was sort of dark greenish yellow.

Monday, April 23^rd

I took Chad, Ali, Patti, Kathy, Suzanne and Greg to San Francisco Wall. There were several golden tail morays and few good-sized groupers. At the end of the dive, we found a huge snapper for Patti. A large puffer swam below her on the safety stop and she was tempted to go back down and take a picture of it.

There were schools of humans in front of us and behind us that morning on Tormentos. My group did a great job of staying together and not getting mixed up with the other groups. We saw a turtle that swam right towards us and we also saw a little spotted drum.

Tuesday, April 24^th

I dived at Palancar Caves with Chad, Ali, Suzanne and Greg. We found three turtles for Suzanne, and we also swam through all of the pretty caves. There were a lot of other dive groups again down below. We dived on Cedral Wall in search of more turtles for Suzanne. Carlos dropped us off right on top of a big one. We saw a few more turtles throughout the dive. Chad found a small one near the end of the dive. We all stopped for a good look.

Wednesday, April 25^th

We had a bit of current on Santa Rosa Wall that morning with Chad, Ali, Troy, Marianne, Suzanne, Greg, Jeanette and Jill. The current was swift but we had a good dive. We spotted a huge lobster on top of the coral out and walking around just as we got to the bottom. There was a big spotted eel behind a black grouper, a southern stingray and a huge barracuda.

Next we went to French Reef and saw tons of good critters. The first was a big green moray eel. Then a medium-sized nurse shark swam by us. Chad found a turtle and I found another green moray eel.

That afternoon I went to Palancar Gardens with Pat, Frank, Debbie, Dustin, Bridger and Brandy. We had light current and everyone chased the big stingray at the end of the dive in the shallow sandy area.

On Chankanaab we saw tons of crabs and lobsters. We also saw a golden tail eel, a spotted moray and a one more southern stingray.

Thursday, April 26^th

We went back to French Reef by popular demand with Suzanne, Greg, Chad, Ali, Ken, Judy, Troy and Marianne. We saw a couple of turtles and a ton of fish. I made Chad laugh and his mask filled up with water. Troy got a picture of the big crab. There was a bit of current on Dalila and poor Judy spent most of the dive swimming against it. It was a big surprise to see her finish her air before me. She almost always has at least as much air as I do if not more.

Friday, April 27^th

I went to Palancar Gardens again because Ken and Judy just love that reef. Suzanne, Greg, Jill and Jeanette all dived deeper with me, while Ken and Judy stayed shallow with all of the angelfish. We saw a turtle well hidden under a ledge and on the side of a towering coral formation. It was contentedly eating its breakfast and let us all have a good look at it. Jill found a nurse shark lying on the bottom.

We waited until the other group of divers swam right past it and then we moved in for a " looksy. "

Our divers decided on Paradise for the next dive. Another divemaster from a different group found the yellow seahorse for us. Jill found a very interesting little octopus with really long tentacles. I think that I have seen one like it before, but it has been years. It is similar to a pygmy octopus (but just a tad different.)

Samantha, Jon, Tiffany and Neil got on and we went to Palancar Caves. We had a great dive and saw lots of marine life including three turtles and a nurse shark. The conditions were fantastic. Next, we were off to Cedral Wall in search of more turtles for Samantha. She found her very own turtle out and over the wall. We all had to kick against the current to stay with it.

Saturday, April 28^th

We went back to Palancar Gardens but a section further north with Ken, Judy, Eric, Angie, Jill and Jeanette. As we were coming out of one of the many tunnels, Eric saw a spotted eagle ray. I completely missed it.

On the safety stop with Ken and Judy we saw a graceful 5-foot green moray eel undulating against the current. It is amazing to watch them swimming so easily in that current.

At San Francisco Wall I was poking my head under all of the ledges looking for interesting creatures and was startled to see a big mouth full of long pointy teeth smiling out at me. It was a big dog snapper and his choppers were very impressive. There is a reason why they call them dog snappers. It must have been almost 4-feet long too.

We also saw lots of lobsters and some baby peacock flounders flitting around in the sand. I did a couple of afternoon dives with Samantha, Jon, Tiffany and Neil. The first one was on Santa Rosa Wall. We saw a couple of big groupers. The current was kinda strong.

The next dive, we had a much more relaxing time on French Reef where, upon arrival, we were greeted by a Caribbean reef shark. I tried to keep up with it but it was just too fast for me. Even when it was swimming at a relaxed pace, it surely could move. We saw a bunch of turtles, which is what Sam loves. She also found a spotted moray..

Sunday, April 29^th *** MY BIRTHDAY ***

I took Ken, Judy, Troy, Marianne, Angie and Eric to Colombia Deep but we didn't go deep at all. In fact, I didn't bother to check the current before we all rolled in the water. The current was going the opposite direction of normal. The current was so mild that I decided that we could swim against it. Ken made fun of me when we got back on the boat. He said he thought that it was funny that all of the other dive groups were swimming the other direction. No harm done, since the current was extremely mild anyway. Makes a good story, however.

Then I took them to Ken and Judy's favorite reef, Colombia Shallow. Marianne had fun swimming through the big schools of fish. I found a spotted scorpion fish camouflaged on the reef. We watched a big school of blue tang feed on algae.

Later in the dive I found a large green moray in a hole.

Monday, April 30^th

There was some grumbling on the boat about how much sand was on Tormentos. My divers were Ron, Kathy, Ken, Judy, Eric and Angie. We saw several lobsters, a couple of spotted morays and I found a red-lipped blenny! If the red-lipped blennies are territorial and stay in the same area, I know that I can find him again next time. I remember where I saw them. I just love those little guys. They are very elusive.

Fortunately there wasn't much current on Las Palmas and we could take our time and look at the little stuff instead of flying by it. We saw zillions of small eels, three splendid toadfish and a small hawksbill turtle. There were lots of spotted drums too.

Tuesday, May 1^st

My first tank of the day was on Palancar Horseshoe with Ken, Judy, Ron, Kathy, Angie and Eric. Everyone was very pleased with that dive. Aside from the gorgeous coral formations we were treated to a spotted eagle ray, a couple of turtles and a big crab. Judy showed Ken and me a pair of spectacular juvenile spotted drums. There were a couple of big groupers on Dalila, a big snapper and tons of colorful fish.

Saturday, May 10^th

Stupid, crazy me!  Now why would I want to dive on my vacation??????  For that matter, in the arctic waters of Monterey Bay, California?   Everyone always asks me where I go on vacation.  Well there you have it.  California.....  My friend Paula rented a dry suit for me.  It turned out to be way too small.  Paula, Vitek, Leigh and Kyle took me on a shore dive at Lover's Cove in Monterey Bay.  The dry suit was so tight over the new warmies that Paula bought me plus my favorite sweat shirt, that Vitek had a hard time zipping up the back of my suit!  Once I got in the water Paula and I worked together as a buddy team to get our gloves, mask and fins on.  Once that mission was accomplished we started swimming out to Vitek who was leading the dive.  He was half way to the dive site on the surface.  My heart was pounding hard and my breathing was labored.  My feet floated up and I had a hard time keeping them in the water to kick.  I should have used some ankle weights in that dry suit.  I swear I felt like a beginner diver!  Well, I know what to do when feeling overexerted because I tell people all of the time what to do :-)  One needs to stop, rest and get the breathing under control, then move on at a slower pace.  So I told Paula what was going on with me and she stopped and waited with me.  She is such a good friend. 

After my heart stopped pounding and I felt that I could breath again I asked myself honestly, "Am I nervous about this dive?" .  The answer was ABSOLUTELY NOT!  So what was my problem?  Vitek looked back and shouted at me, "Hey, are you waiting for Carlos to come and get you?  Because if you are, he isn't coming!"  Ha ha ha!!!!!!!!  So we all laughed and I started out again away from shore.  I didn't get far before I started to breath heavy again and my heart rate was out of control.  I stopped, rested and thought about it for a minute.  Then I announced that I was getting out of the water!   I told everyone to go have a good time and that I would see them when they came out.  It took me a really, really long time to get back to shore because I kept having to stop and rest a lot on the way in.  Hiking up the sandy beach and up 4 flights of stairs in a too tight dry suit and 35 pounds of weight (not to mention the steel tank) made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack.  Once I got my tank and belt off I asked a passing diver to please unzip my drysuit.  I was just dying to get out of it.  As soon as she unzipped it I could feel my rib cage and thorax just pop out into place.  As soon as the suit was off I could breath and my heart rate went back to normal immediately.  Whew!!   What a relief.  Duh.  I was squeezing myself to death.

That afternoon I went to the local dive shop and rented a wetsuit that fit.  I rented a 7mm farmer jane, 7mm jacket and a 7mm hooded vest.  That makes 21mm of neoprene around my middle.  That should do the job, right?   I knew that I would probably freeze my ass off the following day on the boat dives in a wetsuit anyway but I was very determined to dive.

Sunday, May 11^th

I did a boat dive in Monterrey Bay with Paula and Vitek.  So I suited up in my rental wetsuit and jumped in.  As soon as I began my descent the icy water (48 degrees) actually hurt my face and the exposed part of my forehead.  The cold and pain were shocking and disorienting so I just willed myself to wait it out.  I knew that I would "get used to it".  In a couple of minutes sure enough, it stopped hurting and I just felt a bit cold so I "warmed my wetsuit" :-)   Boy, what a relief.  At that point I figured that I was over the hard part and I would do just fine.  We had huge swells at the surface that caused surge down 40 or 50 feet.  The anchor line was yanked out of our hands with each passing wave but I was grateful for the 30 + feet of visibility that we had that day.  When we got to the bottom Vitek took a compass bearing and led the tour towards the shallow water.  Paula and I followed.  We saw beautiful anemones and brightly colored bat stars.  There wasn't much kelp.  The reef was composed of huge boulders sloping down at an angle.  About 25 minutes into the dive I decided that I couldn't take the cold anymore and I signaled to Vitek that I was going up.  Paula said that she wanted to go with me so up we went.  The safety stop felt like an eternity.  Up on the boat my hands and feet were completely numb and I had to ask the divemaster for help to get my gloves off.  The boat has a hot water hose which I used to douse my hands and get the dexterity back.  They were completely white which happens to me when I get cold.  Then I put lots of warm water in my booties and waited for the sensation to come back to my feet.  They started to recover but promptly went numb again so I decided that it would be a good idea to take off my booties, wrap my feet in a towel and sit in the sun.  When I took off the booties and rolled up my wetsuit I was startled.  The bottom of my feet were completely white.  My ankles were swollen to the size of small cantelopes and there were 2 to 3 inch crimson and deep purple bruises surrounding my ankles and on my heels.  It was quite un-nerving.  Vitek didn't seem impressed but Paula looked worried.  I had no idea what had caused that and I didn't want to take any chances so I decided not to make the second dive.  Shit.

When I got up Monday morning at Sylvie's house I called DAN.   The guy on the phone told me not to worry about it.  He said that when our bodies get cold the blood vessels in the extremities shut down forcing the blood to protect the vital organs.  This caused a big back up at the ankles and the blood vessels just popped.  That would explain the bruising.  He said that the swelling should go down soon and he told me that I could fly in an airplane that night. 

After the flight from Sacramento to Houston my ankles really swole up again and so did my calves.  I slept with my feet elevated that night and now my feet and ankles look normal again. 

I do not want to give up diving in Monterrey Bay.  It is so beautiful down there.  I think that I will have to get a tent sized dry suit next time and try it again.  I will not go back into Monterrey Bay in a wetsuit again.  Ever.............  Vitek was diving in a wetsuit for 3 days straight and was just fine.  Go figure.  I started calling him the Polar Bear.  So that is what I did on my summer vacation folks. 

Moral of the story:  Never be afraid to abort a dive if things are just not right :-)

Friday, May 18^th

I wasn’t really working when I went to Paradise with Chucho and the Hawes family. I just got in with my camera with the intention of taking pictures of the seahorse. I got shots of squid, sail fin blennies, and a hermit crab but no seahorse. I searched and searched with total determination for an hour and 25 minutes before I gave up. We got low on air. Oh well………

Sunday, May 27^th

I attended Nick Fittipaldi’s memorial service on Paso Del Cedral. All of the Dive Palancar boats were there with all of the staff. Also aboard were Nick’s close family members and dearest friends. It was very sad to watch Donna, his daughter, cast his ashes into the sea. She had a very hard time letting go of her daddy. We all got in and dived with Nick. Nick’s best friend had found a large, flat stone and carved Nick’s name in the stone. He placed it on the platform at Cedral in memory of Nick. I am sure that Nick is honored. We all miss him sorely, but it is reassuring to know that he is now diving with us for eternity.

Later that morning I went back to work officially. I chose my easy place on Palancar for Mom, Craig, John and Audra. Conditions were calm. At the end of our dive a small turtle swam right up to my Mom and said hello.

Then for an encore performance of the relaxing dive we went to French Reef where there was no current. At the beginning of our dive we saw another turtle on its way up to the surface for a breath of fresh air. We saw groupers, a big snapper and a huge rainbow parrot fish. I found lots of tiny iridescent nudibranch in the sand.

Monday, May 28^th

This day I did four dives starting with Palancar Gardens with Mom, Wendell, John, Audra, Craig and Susan. Wendell was a bit frustrated that someone had stolen his brand new digital camera out of his suitcase but he was determined not to let it ruin his trip. But when that turtle just sat there perched on the reef chomping away on something Wendell must have been fuming. My little juvenile spotted drum is almost to the intermediate stage now. We saw a southern stingray at the end of the dive.

There was no current on Dalila. Now that is really strange…….. We saw another turtle go up to the surface to breathe and then come back down again to join us. Two very large black groupers made an appearance.

In the early afternoon I headed out to Palancar again to work on some certifications with Keena and Michael. Chucho, Greg, David, Lindsay, Jessica and Pat came along too. The current was absolutely wild! My divers did great in that crazy current and made me proud. We saw so many turtles on that dive that I lost count.

Usually when the current is horrible in the south it is quite calm in the north so we went to Paradise. It was a nice, easy dive, thank goodness. Without much current, we saw a big school of fish called big-eyed scads. There were so many of them that they formed a circular wall all around us. It is one of the most amazing things that you can experience while diving. We hung out in their school for a good 10 minutes. Keena found a couple of eels and I did too. We also saw tons of big crabs, enough to open a restaurant. Michael’s favorite part of the dive was the tiny little octopus that I found that later disappeared into a dark hole.

Tuesday, May 29^th

I did another four-dive day starting on Palancar Caves with Mom, Craig, Wendell, Chris and Stephanie. The current was clipping right along and going the opposite direction of normal. The dive was not exactly easy but it was a pleasant one and we saw a few turtles.

We enjoyed less current on French Reef and we had a better dive. There were more turtles than we could count. Chris took a great picture of Mom with a turtle. We also found a splendid toadfish and a southern stingray.

Dive number three was on French Reef again hoping for the same good conditions with Keena, Michael, Greg, David, Lindsay, Jessica and Pat. Instead, we got fast current. However, it was still a good dive. The troupers were getting used to the current by then. The biggest turtle in Cozumel swam right up to Gary and almost pushed him out of the way as Gary fumbled trying to get to his camera. A big lobster tempted us too.

Then we were off to Tormentos to see a big splendid toadfish and a fat moray eel. There were yet more lobsters and Pat chased a big black grouper, but couldn’t catch it.

Wednesday, May 30^th

My first tank was on Palancar Gardens with Mom, Craig, Chris, Stephanie, Julie and Dave. On the way out I asked every dive master that I encountered how the current was and where I should go. Everyone recommended the Gardens. Craig said that it was the best dive yet. We didn’t have a lot of current and we went through all of the tunnels and archways. I showed everyone my spotted drum.

My second tank was on Paso Del Cedral. I wanted to show Mom Nick’s memorial stone. Thankfully, we had light current and Mom got to stop and pay her respects. We saw huge barracudas on that dive.

Thursday, May 31^st

I tried to go to Santa Rosa but the current was just too strong. So I took Pat, Gary, Keena, Miguel, Jessica, Chris and Stephanie to Yucab instead. I was more interested in a safe and easy dive than a struggle. We had some nice, normal current and we got to see a big 7-foot nurse shark and two turtles, so everyone was pleased.

Chankanaab had almost no current at all and we saw tons of fish. Everyone loves that big school of fish at the beginning of the dive. We saw a dinner-size crab too.

Friday, June 1^st

As long as the currents are wild I just keep going back to Palancar Gardens because it offers good protection from the currents. Luke, Serge, Sterling, Robin and Sam had not been to Gardens yet so it was the perfect choice. Mom came too but she doesn’t mind going back to the same place twice. Anyway, we had a wonderful dive with just enough drift so that we didn’t have to kick, but not enough current to be difficult. It was Cozumel drift diving at it’s finest. A big, old loggerhead turtle with barnacles growing on its back swam slowly right up to us. We also saw a small hawksbill turtle at the end of the dive.

We went back to good old French Reef where we saw a big green moray eel completely out in the open. We also saw another turtle there. The diving conditions were excellent. That is why I chose that site again.

Sunday, June 3^rd

I dived Chankanaab Bolones with Serge and Luke. We had perfect conditions on that dive. I got to thinking that maybe those wild currents were caused by a combination of the full moon, low tide and tropical storm Barry to the north of us. Is it possible that Barry sucked all of the water up northward to the Gulf of Mexico where it was swirling around? Anyway, I am very grateful for the lovely diving conditions again. I had been taking the easy dives for granted for so long. On Bolones we saw a few lobsters and a grouper at a cleaning station.

The second dive was on Chankanaab Shallow. I told Luke that he had really good karma because he had told me during the surface interval that he wanted to see a shark and we found a big one on the bottom under a ledge. I haven’t seen a big nurse shark on Chankanaab for years. I have seen little Caribbean reef sharks there, but no big nurse sharks. We also saw a jumbo-sized lobster on that dive.

Monday, June 4^th

Paul, Debbie, Danny, Jason, Danielle, Jim and James came with me to Palancar Horseshoe. Fortunately the current was still mild and we had a nice, easy dive.

Debbie requested a seahorse so off to Paradise we went. I proudly found the big yellow one. Everyone took pictures of it. A big barracuda swam right through our group and made some divers nervous. We followed three rainbow parrotfish as they did what all rainbow parrotfish do.

Tuesday, June 5^th

I went to Palancar Gardens with Chucho, Joe, Blake, Laura, Mike and Joe since they had not been there yet. We saw three turtles, all within a few feet of each other. The baby turtle bumped into the big turtle while trying to swim away from our group of divers.

We were so lucky to have mild current on Colombia Shallow. While we were driving home after the dives, Carlos pointed out the wicked current on the usually calm French Reef. That is where I had been diving all the last week to try and avoid strong currents. It looked simply HORRIBLE at French Reef and I felt so lucky to have just had an easy dive!

At the end of the day I took Mike and Laura on a private seahorse hunt on Paradise. Laura found the first one well hidden under two large algae plants. It was kind of brownish orange and blended in well. I have no earthly idea how she spotted it. I found my big yellow seahorse buddy in its usual spot. Mike took loads of pictures and will be bringing me a CD of them.

Wednesday, June 6^th

In the morning Mike, Laura, Joe, Joe and Blake accompanied me to Palancar Horseshoe. Thankfully the current was perfectly normal. We had a great dive. During the last minutes of the dive Laura discovered a turtle and swam off after it.

On Dalila we found a big green moray eel in a dark cave. Blake had no second thoughts about following my example and sticking his head and shoulders in the cave for a better look.

A visit to Paso Del Cedral was Laura’s idea. She says that we always find good critters there. We visited Nick’s stone. We saw a toadfish and a big nurse shark that swam around us. Laura found two green moray eels. I swam right past the first one and never even saw it. I still don’t know how she found the both of them. She must have been looking hard into every hole we passed. Right before we ascended, a medium sized turtle stood on its tippy toes to poke its head into a sponge. Five angelfish swarmed around it feeding on the sponge that the turtle opened up for them.

Thursday, June 7^th

Once again I intended to dive Santa Rosa Wall. When Mike, Laura, Joe, Joe, Blake and I got in the current was slow and northbound. I had interviewed another boat captain that was finishing the dive and he assured us that the current was light. It was light indeed and after 10 minutes it started pushing out towards the channel. That was OK because the reef protected us. But after a few more minutes the direction switched and the current was lightly to the south. Mike agreed with me that we should change directions, so we ended up diving Cedral Wall instead. We swam up to a pair of hawksbill turtles huddled together in a feeding frenzy along with a group of angelfish. One scurried off upon our approach, but the other stayed with us and put up with the cameras. We kept seeing more turtles throughout the rest of the dive but I suspect that they were actually just the same two turtles moving about.

As I got in to check the current on Paso Del Cedral I spotted a large turtle just sitting on the bottom. The current was about 3 knots and Mike could not get down fast enough to get a shot of it. The current slowed down to next to nothing after about 10 minutes. When Joe got low on air I stayed with him until Carlos came to pick him up. The visibility had diminished to about 40 feet at that point and I could not find the group again. Mike, my newly certified divemaster came to the rescue and rounded everyone up for a safety stop. Then he got sneaky and stole Paul’s safety sausage and blew it up to signal Carlos. The changing current was making it hard for Carlos to follow us and it created a bit of stress.

Friday, June 8^th

Yippee! I had an easy dive on the C53 wreck with Paul, Joe, Bernardo and Mirila. The current was mild and a big lobster waggled its antennas at us from under the wreck. Paul took pictures of everyone looking out of the porthole in the wheelhouse. Paul said that the current that day was probably the best that it had been on all of his dives at the wreck.

Chankanaab turned out to be Joe’s favorite dive so far. We saw a spotted moray eel on the bottom and a southern stingray glided by. Of course, we also saw the usual lobsters.

Saturday, June 9^th

I finally got to dive Santa Rosa Wall with Bernardo, Mirila, Joe and Paul. We saw the big black grouper in his usual spot on top of the reef just before the cave. Paul found us a fantastic turtle. It was pretty darn big and it was feasting on a leathery sponge. It sat very still for us and we hung out with it for about 5 minutes, watching it bite off big chunks of the sponge and swallow it.

Paul requested French Reef where we saw more huge lobsters, a couple of which were actually out walking about. We saw another medium-sized turtle with a gang of colorful angel fish.

Sunday, June 10^th

I went back to good old Palancar Gardens with Chucho, Paul, Mike, Grace, Lauren and Brandon. The men ventured deeper down the wall while I stayed in 20 to 30 feet of water with Grace and the children. We saw lots of pretty fish and Brandon did a great job on his skills.

We swam through the big schools of fish on Colombia Shallow and we chased a humungous lobster around and about. We also saw a crab with claws almost as big as my hands. The first turtle that we saw was a common hawksbill turtle. The second turtle that we saw was the much less common green turtle. Lauren and I got a good look at it.

Monday, June 11^th

I went to Chankanaab with Brandon, Lauren, Grace and Mike. A pair of groupers drew my attention. As I got closer, I realized that they were hunting with a big green moray eel. All of the colorful sponges are back and now there are loads of fish. Chankanaab is making a nice come back after “Wilma.”

On Paradise I found lots of sailfin blennies and yellow stingrays. I spent 40 minutes combing the algae beds for a seahorse, however, to no avail. But we did see a little tiny octopus that was really cool.

Tuesday, June 12^th

Chucho and I took our large group of divers to Palancar Gardens. Our divers were: Denise, Lester, Mary, David, Candy, Scott, James, Debbie, Kathy, Shawna and Chrissy. We had ideal conditions for a first dive of the vacation. Scott said that he saw a black eel. I didn’t see it, so I am not exactly certain what kind of eel it was that he saw...but he saw one! Chrissy showed me a huge crab way deep down at the bottom of a crevice.

Mandy got in and joined us on French reef where Chucho found us a small turtle. The turtle was uncooperative, so Chucho swam around the far side of it and chased it back over to the group and we all had an opportunity to enjoy a good view. Chucho also showed us a lobster and an 80-pound grouper. It was quite impressive.

Wednesday, June 13^th

I dived Santa Rosa Wall with Denise, Lester, Mary, David, Candy, Scott, James, Debbie, Kathy, and Courtney. Denise asked to see shark and all that I could find for her was a big turtle and a bunch of barracudas. I think that it was the same turtle that Paul found a few days before. It didn’t seem to mind our group visit. It just kept munching away like we didn’t even exist.

Our second dive that day was on Paso Del Cedral. Denise really liked that dive a lot, because there were so many fish. We had a nice dive and a lot of drama...

Jorge came swimming at me with open arms for a big hug. I shook my finger “no” at him and pointed to Chucho. Chucho picked a fight with Jorge down there and got his new knife out of his BCD pocket. He went after Jorge with it. Jorge just rolled his eyes and waited for Chucho to go away. Chucho tried to shave Jorge’s head with the knife. Jorge just gave Chucho the finger. Actually, he gave Chucho the finger a bunch of times. It was comical and irritating at the same time.

As I was taunting the splendid toadfish with my yellow spinner William swam up and caught me. We saw two splendid toadfish, a spotted drum, a huge crab and a spotted moray eel. At the very end of the dive we saw another turtle.

Thursday, June 14^th

We went to Palancar Horseshoe with Chucho, David, Denise, Lester, Mary, Candy, Scott, Chrissy, Shawna, Courtney, Kathy, Debbie, James and Rhonda. David was my hero. He found a nurse shark lying on the bottom in 80 feet of water. Denise had been asking to see a shark for days so David saved my day. Next, we swam past a huge crab clinging to the reef. Late in the dive, I found a turtle. As a bonus, on our safety stop, I also saw Carlos’ little baby turtle.

Mandy joined us again for our dive on Paradise where Mary found the big yellow seahorse. One of the several splendid toadfish came completely out of its burrow with no help from me...believe it or not. We also saw the sailfin blenny display its impressive dorsal fin. Chucho tickled a spotted scorpionfish under the chin. I found a harlequin pipefish behind a goldentail moray in a hole. David discovered a spotted moray on the bottom and we also saw a couple of yellow stingrays.

Saturday, June 16^th

I took Lisa,