Cozumel, Mexico

May 30-June 6, 1999

The World's Best Drift Diving!

We got to do it all!  Deeps and shallows - Walls and coral fingers - Swim throughs and tunnels - shore dives and boat dives - Coronas and Margaritas!

We got off to our patented early morning start.  Most people were barely awake but still quite excited about the upcoming adventure.  The 3:15AM departure allowed us to arrive at the La Ceiba hotel by 1:00PM and we were suited up and in the water by 3:00PM.  The diving excitement started right away as the Dorsey's were the first to meet Dorsea the spotted eagle ray.  We were fortunate to get to see Dorsea up close and personal several other times during the week.

The hotel is located just a couple of miles south of town with beach front access offering some nice shore diving right from the dive shop on the property.  This offered the opportunity for some leisurely afternoon diving as well as some interesting night dives.  In addition to the eagle ray we were able to find octopus, hermit crabs, stone crabs, splendid toad fish, flamingo tongues and the full assortment of soft and hard corals, parrot fish and seargent majors.

We did our boat dives with Del Mar Aquatics who provided an excellent dive crew for us; Adolfo, Adrianne and Patricio.  These guys got to dive with us all week.  We were also fortunate to have our own boat most of the week.  It was the same boat with Captain Antonio that we had when we were down before.  Capt'n Antonio proved that he remembered us by reminding us where we had placed our Smokey's Divers Den sticker on the boat.  But this time one of our new divers, Lori, got the honor of placing our Goin' Down Divin' sticker in a very prominent place on the boat where everyone will clearly see it. They took us to the "best damn dive sites in Cozumel".  One hightlight of the boat diving were the two trips to Punta Sur where we were able to do all three deep tunnels at this site on each dive.  There is no other dive site like this in the world and even my dive buddy Henry "no use bringin' air back to the boat" was able to hit all three tunnels. 

Other sites visited during the week included Tormentos, Paradise Reef, Yocab, Palancar Horseshoe, Punta Tunich, Santa Rosa, Columbia, Chankunab, Palancar Caves and Paso de Cedral. The currents that make this drift diving so relaxing bring in lots of nutrients.  Thus the corals were in good shape and the marine life was abundant in number and variety; lots of queen angels, queen triggers, big turtles, little turtles, spiny lobsters (we counted 12 of them under a single coral ledge on one dive!), 200 pound groupers (just ask Helen), eels of all sizes and colors and even a couple big nurse sharks (check out Steve's picture of the shark).

No trip to Cozumel would be complete without a trip to Carlos and Charlie's.  The whole group headed there for Coronas, dancing and dinner and of course had a great time.  Kathy and I really appreciated receiving the gifts from the group.  We'll definitely make good use of the hammock.  Here's the poem written by Carole (with support from the rest of the group) that was read during the presentation of the gifts (thanks, Carole - great job!):

I'm not much of a poet and this will surely show it......

Tonight we pay tribute to those whom we follow; whether swimming with sea-life or through caves that are hollow;

Through Curacao, Cozumel, Tortola and Bonaire; (and who could forget Cayman, where we had weather most rare!)

For adventure, fun and friendship - and even some strange actions, we say "thank you" to our fearless leaders - The Jacksons!

 

We've said it before but it's still true - what makes these trips so special are the great people who have honored us by going along.  They are not only good people but great friends.  Thanks to everyone who sent along!