A Boys Trip Gets Us Back in the Water - Part 2

 Day 5: And we're back in the water. First dive is back to La Francesca. Immediately upon descent, I noticed that the current was a bit stronger than it'd been the day before. So, my hopes of getting some good wildlife shots were going to be challenged. Max depth on this reef is about 65 feet. We got to the bottom, adjusted our buoyancy, then began searching for what we could see.

Despite the current, I was able to get a semi-decent shot of a Splendid Toad Fish, which only exists in Cozumel. They hide in little holes and crevices most of the time, so, when you find them, you have to try to get your camera down to their level, then figure out how to get a light in there.

As I've mentioned, this is one of those great reef dives where you can find all variety of fish and corals. The trick is when it's a day like this one where the current is ripping and everything is shot as a drive by.

Like before, we did our surface interval anchored near a beach in about 6 feet of water. I grabbed my snorkel and camera to check out the area and saw this starfish cruising around.

Our second dive was at Paseo de Cedral. Also about 65 feet. It's another drift dive over a reef where you're looking for various wildlife. My son is getting really good at spotting things, including this peacock flounder that our guides missed.

This reef is always just filled with life. 

As we got to about 45 minutes, I was getting NDL warnings from my computer and began to slowly ascend. As I did, we moved into much stronger current than the group below and quickly realized we were on our own for this ascent. I attached my camera to a bolt snap on my BCD, then proceeded to inflate and launch a DSMB. This is a combined set of skills that, even though I practice it, is never particularly graceful. My camera is bouncing around, I'm managing my regulator in one hand so I can take a breath, then blow into the DSMB in the other, then launch it without dropping the reel. I always manage to pull it off, but I wouldn't exactly film it for a training video.

Day 6: Our final dive day on this trip. As we got on the boat, we noticed that the 4 other divers on the trip were a group of Austrian guys. All decked out as technical divers with backplate/wing setups, bolt snaps everywhere, torches + backup torches, etc. 

As I was wondering how my son and I were going to pair with this group, I was informed that we were given a guide for just the two of us. My favorite dives have always been when it's just our family, or, when we're paired with very like-minded people. Because of this, these were the best two dives of the trip.

Our first dive was Palancar Bricks. Max depth around 80 feet. Bricks is such an amazing section of Palancar. Lots of amazing swim throughs, with peaks and valleys. And drifting through the current, it's how I imagine a fighter pilot feels when flying through canyons.

Midway through the dive, a hawksbill turtle swam right between us and a coral mound. So close, we could've touched it. 

The entire reef was teaming with life. I call the shot below, "Name a fish, any fish" (wrasse, angel, parrot, tang...)

Our second dive was back to La Francesca. This time, we stayed above 60 feet maximum depth. This was one of the fastest drifts I've done in Cozumel. There's always a current, but it was more on this day. Not scary, but the idea of fighting against the current to stay and look at anything was pretty much out the window. Fortunately, there was a ton of great things to see as we flew by. 

Honeycomb Cowfish

Juvenile Trunkfish hiding in a coral

The image doesn't give you scale, this guy was at least 3 feet long

The stress of being in a group with divers of varying abilities was gone. Just me, my son and our guide. I wish every day of diving could be this great.