Where oh where to begin? There’s so much information and stuff that I might include in this report!  We traveled a long way and were there for 14 days, so this is a very long report!  I haven't had a chance to go through all of my photos properly so very few modifications have been made and some areas in the report aren't really done justice by what I have put together.  I have tried for some variety and will be putting other photos up around the boards as I get time.

Airlines: Qantas from Australia to Los Angeles. Qantas is not my favourite airline, but they are my frequent flier miles people so that is who we used. I find their cabin crew rude and unhelpful (in my last 8 flights with them there have been exactly two crew members that I didn’t want to slap for being rude & this includes my flights in Business Class earlier in the year), but their ground staff are second to none in friendliness and aid. Go figure. Their seats don’t offer as much leg room as some other airlines, but they are adequate even on a long sector (about 13 hours from Sydney to LA). Aim for a bulkhead seat or try for one of the rear seats (about row 75, I think) on the window – there is extra leg room in some rows so you can really stretch out. My favourites are the bulkhead aisles between business class and economy class – the carts don’t come by so no whanged elbows, people do not constantly walk by bumping your seat or falling on you and you can stretch into the aisle a little bit, too. The arm rests don’t flip up in these seats so be aware of that limitation. Qantas does have good in-flight entertainment with individual screens and a good selection. Their food is fair to very good, but I haven’t found much consistency on the exact same flights from date to date! Do not expect service on these flights. Most times there is no response to the little light (I watched several people wait for more than 15 minutes with no response and I waited for more than 20 before finally getting up and getting it myself. There were three crew members in the galley happily chatting and ignoring their passengers – I find this consistent on all Qantas flights I have done.)

American Airlines: Los Angeles to Dallas to Cozumel (and then a bunch of other internal US flights). I like AA. Friendly & lots of leg room. Happy to help and flexible about seat changes etc. Service is OK – certainly not the standard of Singapore Airlines, but at least they do respond and do so with a smile. Entertainment is fine – one movie (no choice) and some tv shows, $2 for a headset you can use again if you remember to drag it along. Ground staff at all airports were very friendly and helpful – in LA the nice lady even got us on an immediate flight out so we saved a four hour layover AND our luggage made the flight, too!

Hotels: Wingate Inn DFW Irving in Dallas, Texas. We had to overnight in Dallas before catching our Cozumel flight. Large rooms with comfortable beds and an OK shower/bathroom. Low street and hotel noise, so that was nice. Great delivery service options for meals and ours came quickly – less than 30 minutes. Free breakfast including "make your own" waffles in the shape of the great state of Texas. Fun and yummy. Free business centre with fast internet connection and everything else you’d need. Complimentary shuttles to/from airport – punctual, friendly & clean. Moderately helpful staff, but certainly at least average – nothing bad, but nothing outstanding either. About $55/night plus tax – book on Wingate’s site, it was the lowest of any site I found by a healthy amount. I’d stay there again.

Caribe Blu in Cozumel. Would definitely stay here again. Clean, good sized comfortable rooms. Great beds & pillows.

Excellent funky bathrooms – a bit small, but perfectly adequate, and the shower area was large. Tremendous view and only a few steps to the boat in the morning. This was right after an impressive rain shower on our next to last day, late in the afternoon.

On site café, Rendez Blu, was great for our needs. Can request a fridge in your room, which we did. Housekeeper was fabulous – even made sure our cervezas were taken care of each day! All staff were friendly and helpful at all times – smiles and conversation…mostly Spanish, but they try and I tried so together we got there most of the time! Even our non-diver was more than happy here: hammocks in the shade,

a lovely pool, nice palapa area right on the ocean, quick cab ride into town etc.

Early evening view from the loading dock back to hotel - cafe is the upstairs part on the right.

Street noise was acceptable and the other normal hotel noises were minimal. Good air-conditioning – we were always comfortable (I was actually cold most of the time, but DH hates the heat!) even in the most humid part of the day.

Restaurants: Our dining experiences seemed to be pretty unlike a lot of others I had read about before heading off. The main reason for this is that DH does not like to explore very much…I knew this but thought that maybe, armed with recommendations and with some purpose, he’d be more ok with a little off-the-beaten track cuisine. I wasn’t really right – lol! He simply doesn’t like to wander around in an unfamiliar area checking things out; he’d rather simply head into the first place we come across. Most nights we didn’t even bother with dinner – we’d eaten large at lunch and a few munchies with a beer or two seemed to be more than enough to keep us going through ‘til morning. Because DH wasn’t much for trekking around in search of authentic delectables, we decided to cruise the strip around our hotel and try the restaurants within walking distance. Most are definitely aimed at the pod people, but we enjoyed them for the most part. All walking times are from Caribe Blu at a leisurely stroll.

Casa Denis – this restaurant is right off the main square and gets lots of great reviews. We hit this place the first night and started with chips & salsa while we looked over the menu. This place had the absolute hottest salsa of any place I have ever been! It was good, but caution is needed! We ordered the seafood platter for two. It was marginal at best. The octopus was great, the fish was terrible, the other tidbits were average to nearly inedible. Certainly not what we expected and totally overpriced for the quality and quantity – even with being on the tourist strip. The service was friendly and fun – A; the drinks were pretty good – B for the margarita. If you never eat seafood anywhere else, this might be OK, but I’d look around for other options before heading here again.

Ernestos – located south of Caribe Blu, near La Ceiba; approx 20 minute walk. This place was recommended by a couple on our dive boat; they had been told to not miss it as it had the "best fajitas on the Island". We ordered a chicken & shrimp fajita and a burrito. The fajita was ok, but certainly nothing to write home about; the burrito was delicious. This place is overpriced, but has a nice view and is easy. For lunchtime we had two for one beers. We actually ate here twice because it was easy – tortilla soup was very average and their mixed drinks (daquiris & pina coladas) are horrible, stick to the beer. Worth going for the burritos if you are there anyway.

Jeannies Waffles – located north of Caribe Blu; approx 20 minute walk . DH’s favourite, I think.

We did a couple of breakfasts and one lunch here. Everything was great and the service was friendly & quick. They do great huevos mexicana, massive orders of French Toast (yummy) and a lovely fruit platter. DH had huevos benedicto and loved it. Pork tacos were good and large serve, and the special burrito thing (named after someone, but I didn’t write it down) was very good. We felt that this was good value, very good food, large servings (too much some days!) and a nice location & atmosphere. Would recommend it.

Plaza Leza – south side of square. There are two restaurants right next to each other; I can’t remember the name of the other one, but we ate at both. Fajitas and burritos for us – both portions nice sized, quite tasty and not bad value. Seemed to always have two for one drinks. At the restaurant next door we had fajitas, a burrito and seafood along with a couple of margaritas. All were good. I’d say hit these if you can’t be bothered to look around and are in the square. Not terribly expensive, friendly staff, quick service and good, if not completely memorable, food.

The Grill – just south from Caribe Blu; approx 10 minute walk. I actually thought that this was some of the tastiest food we found. We only had the Special for Two that had quesadillas, tacos etc and the chicken tacos – it was all good and had some character. The service was strange. We were the only ones in the restaurant and it seemed like every staff member bought us a round – their drinks are strong, but good. That was nice. And they were attentive, maybe too much so, but still this side of obnoxious. One waiter was doing the gangsta attitude thing – it totally put off DH and my Mom; I was chatting and was oblivious to it for the most part. He was an idiot so I ignored him. Shame coz I would have eaten there again just for the food. We were also given two free meals & a drink voucher that we didn’t use because neither of my companions wanted to go back due that guy’s ‘tude.

Hog’s Town Café – south of Caribe Blu, across from Papa Hog’s launch area; approx 15 minute walk . Breakfast: omelette & huevos mexicana. Both tasted good, but the food took a long time to come and it was cool when it came to the table. Service wasn’t very good; prices were reasonable.

Temptations – south of Caribe Blu, above Dive Paradise, across from Villa Blanca; approx 12 minute walk. Had the poblanos stuffed with cheese & shrimp & chicken breast stuffed with shrimp in wine sauce. Serves were on the small side and the food was bland but edible. DH and I also had coconut ice cream for dessert – unfortunately, it was the best we had anywhere! Service was appalling; food took absolute ages to arrive and it wasn’t hot, merely warm; couldn’t seem to get drinks replenished. Extremely overpriced. Avoid this place – I would never go back, even for the coconut ice cream.

the Other Side Restaurants – This was our most disappointing day. We hired a car and headed around the island. Nothing was open despite being told that Coconuts opened at 1030 (and we arrived well after this). Coconuts staff were extremely rude. There were two other groups of people who stopped at the same time we did and all of us were ignored by all staff members…all the tables were set up, there were waiters and bartenders. Finally, one of the cab drivers that had brought a couple out went up and asked what was going on. He was told they were not open and that we all had to leave. Got a couple of photos of the wonderful view

and continued along the coast. Very disappointed.

Came to Punta Morena and they were open for drinks only. We ordered beers and wandered down to the beach to look around. Inside there were several very cute dogs and some sort of animal that I can’t remember the name of.

Bartender was extremely unfriendly so we finished our beers and headed off to the next place. By this stage we were all wishing that we hadn’t bothered hiring a car to come to this side of the island at all.

At the end of the road before you head back to town sits Mescalitos (there’s another place in the same area, but we didn’t stop there). I walked inside to make sure they were actually interested in serving us and was met with enthusiasm and smiles. Drinks were served along with chips & salsa…salsa is hot and very tasty. We ordered their special –shrimp – margaritas and beer. The shrimp were divine – definite A+. The margaritas are deadly! Do not drive after one of these babies…you could feel your legs getting rubbery before half the drink was gone. Sometimes a margarita is so powerful that it doesn’t actually taste very good – this is not a problem here…they are delicious. A++ for the margaritas. Food and drinks are not cheap here, but I felt they were an OK value. There are hammocks and chairs/tables set up on the beach to laze around in

and the atmosphere under the shade area of the restaurant was really nice. The place started to really get full near the end of our stay, but people were all having fun and things weren’t out of hand. I would hit this spot again on my next visit but with better planning so we could enjoy the beach, atmosphere and multiple margaritas a bit more: a) a driver who doesn’t drink or b) hire a cab for the afternoon.

Rendez Blu – upstairs above Blue Angel Dive Shop. We ate quite a few breakfasts and lunches here. The service was always great and the food was fast, hot, plentiful and good. We really liked their chicken burrito – huge and very tasty, perfect for post-dive. Being on-site was a great advantage for us. The prices were probably higher than we could have found elsewhere, but it was always good, was extremely convenient and has an awesome view.

La Mission – 30 Av. (also called Av. Pedro Joaquin Coldwell) Between Calle 2 & 4 Nte.

This was one of only two "explorations" off the main drag we did. The first exploration was a bust because the restaurant we were searching for was closed when we arrived! DH was not happy. This time we headed out with a couple we had met on the dive boat. Very inexpensive, good service, friendly atmosphere. We ate here twice and both times the other customers were all locals. The food was very good – pork tacos and grilled shrimp. Portions were good sized and they have a salsa bar thing where you can load up with a variety of salsas and sides…try the green bean concoction, scrumptious on the pork tacos. My mouth is watering just remembering! Very good coconut ice cream in a massive portion. Sit by the patio doors to enjoy the breeze & the huge mural in the outdoor courtyard.

Wish we would have searched this place out sooner. DH was pretty comfortable getting here and back from the main square after the second time, so now that we have it as a destination and we aren’t wandering around this place is on our return list.

In the same area as La Mission there are tons of restaurants. The couple we met has explored this area and says that most all they have tried are good. They usually catch a taxi to the Francisco Markets – on 30^{th, and then walk from there. The whole area is only about 5 blocks from the main square, so it is really easy.}

Michoacana – about one block east (away from water) from main square on Benito Juarez.

Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. Monster serves for a buck or so. Coconut ice cream was nice but very very sweet! Friendly & packed with locals. Pretty much it was Spanish only – point and smile if you are like me and only have a few words of Spanish!

We also ate one breakfast at a place a couple blocks from the main square. I’ve seen the name mentioned before, but can’t for the life of me remember what it was. Has a great mural on the wall inside of a bunch of skeletons etc. Across from a dive centre that is on the far, right-hand side as you face away from the water. Anyway, it was average (both food & service) & I wouldn’t head back, but I did want to put my thoughts about it in this report as it had gotten some recommendations. I’ll update this if I remember the name…

Diving: We used Blue Angel for all of our diving on this trip. The boats held a max of eight plus crew and all of the ones I saw had ample shade. I believe they also have a larger vessel that they use for day-trippers and snorkel tours, but we didn’t go out on any of those tours. I only had two skippers over the two weeks and both were great; they really know the area, the currents and the conditions. Had a few DMs during the stay and three were simply outstanding: Ramone, Jorge & Matteo. Most of my dives were with these guys and I would certainly recommend them all. Truly, leaders after my own style – don’t kick much, just cruise and enjoy. All three DMs were great critter spotters, gave good briefings and acknowledged the different needs of each of the divers on the boats. This is a critical factor to me when I dive in a group and I thought the team at Blue Angel did a fantastic job in this area. I also dived with Dario and Servando, but only for one day each. Again, very nice DMs, but I found that Servando’s style didn’t suit mine very well but that happens…the less experienced divers on the day seemed OK with him.

Blue Angel was quite busy even though we were there in the low season. They not only had divers who were staying at the hotel, but lots of divers staying at other places. Most of the divers I dived with were repeat customers and the others were there because someone they trusted had recommended this shop. Some days only three or four of us were on the boat while other days the boat was full with 8 of us plus our crew. I never felt crowded nor neglected. The crew was slick & professional. The briefings were good and underwater the DMs were great – the group was allowed to spread out and I only had one dive where I had another diver in my face. And that was totally my fault for not paying enough attention to the attraction I was creating by spending so much time looking under a ledge!

Every day that I dived was an excellent experience bar one. I think the day that was not perfect was due to some communication problems between the DM and the skipper, mostly. Hint to all DMs – your skipper might know what he is talking about, so listen!

Being a non-air user and a solo diver for the most part was a bit frustrating at times as I am not so used to dealing with the schedules of others and I almost never get under 100 bar by the time most are at their surfacing pressure. Mostly this wasn’t an issue, but there was one dive where I had well more than 100 and everyone else bar one guy was back on the boat including the DM, who we later found out was low on air. The other diver, he had ample air, too, and I looked at each other coz we lost sight of the DM…we weren’t sure if he had surfaced or run off after two other divers. The dive brief was that we would reach a shallow area that shouldn’t have much current and we could then spend our remaining time & air there before surfacing, so we were a little confused. We headed up and found out that the dive brief wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. On the second dive, the dive brief had nothing to do with the dive at all – including the wrong max depths and location – so that dive was a complete loss for me as I went into deco at 15 minutes and wasn’t even on the bottom! It was my only negative experience of the trip. This all happened on the same day, so at least I got all the problems out of the way in a single day! And the first dive was beautiful, if too short, so the overall trip was still good. Why do I include this little story? It’s not to be negative about the operation or DM, but it happened and I am trying to give a good feel for my two weeks there. Only one other diver, out of eight, felt that there were any problems at all, so it is all a matter of perspective. Glitches happen, especially on holiday and especially while diving, and you just have to deal with it and get on with things. As far as I am concerned, the incident was pretty minor and a repeat was easily avoided by letting the parties involved know my impressions and concerns.  Again, high marks to Blue Angel for meeting individual needs.

On all the days, after the initial check-out day, we were allowed to pretty much dive our own style. Usually this meant that I cruised along well behind the rest of the group and was the very last to surface. It worked just fine for me. I was lucky enough to meet and dive with a great range of people and several of us sort of had an informal system underwater that let us do our own thing and maximize our diving. On virtually every other dive, the DMs were flexible about letting me stay longer and doing my own thing. We discussed the plan pre-dive and it worked very smoothly. On one dive there were several of us who had over 100 minutes, so that was great. I would highly recommend this crew & operation for experienced and newer divers…as always, be up front with your crew and let them know your experience level, interests and dive style. Blue Angel really did a good job of meeting a wide variety of needs/wants.

I believe, from what I have read and from discussions with the DMs, that we had unusual conditions for most of our dives. There were only two dives that we did that had what I would consider even moderate currents; on all other sites the current was non-existent to mild. As with the rest of this report, YMMV and these are only my opinions based on my experiences. FWIW, this was my first trip to Cozumel or anywhere in the Caribbean; I am a fairly experienced diver with well over 3000 ocean dives. The information I have given regarding depths etc is from my experience only and may not reflect the complete nature of the site in question. I have a different system for measuring visibility than most, so my numbers may seem a bit down; things must be clearly visible, not murky or fuzzy at all, to count. There was no dive with less than what I would consider wonderful visibility, no matter the number involved. Mild currents carry you at a leisurely pace that allows you to check things out without too much effort; you can stop and hold a position and the rest of your group doesn’t get spirited away. Moderate currents mean a bit of exertion to stop and hold a position or to swim against; your group speeds away pretty quick. I didn’t have any stronger than that!

Palancar Wall – max 30m; viz 50m+; very mild current.

This was my first Cozumel dive and it was stunning. Amazing reef structures with major sponges of all types and colours. I loved this site – it was a feast for the senses.

A good range of fishes, a quiet turtle feeding (I could not get all three of these guys to pose at the same time!),

many angels, a tiny moray and one feeding & one cruising eagle ray were notable. This is a great WA dive and I wish I had taken more shots instead of playing tourist and gawking at the sights so much! I would definitely like to dive this again, but did not get to on this trip.

Punta Tunich – max 20m; viz 40m+; mild to moderate current

This was a pretty and extremely active area. Juvenile drums, monster crabs out walking around, a single barracuda stalking the divers ahead of me,

plenty of angels, good sized schools of grunts and mating triggers & tangs were just some of the creatures keeping the place hopping.

Santa Rosa Wall – max 26m; viz 25m+; very mild to mild current.

#1 for drama/true awe.

Dived this area twice; the second time we did a drift over to San Francisco. This is an awe-inspiring wall – such a feeling of vertigo and endless fathoms as you look over the edge. Fantastic sponges and reef formations give this an abstract feel. I liked the overwhelming feeling of Palancar Wall’s variety better, but it’s a close one. I found that for active marine life the top of this wall was the place to be and spent most of my time there. Don’t forget to check out the sand areas – cool scorpion fish,

eagle rays and nifty things out there. The top houses lots of tiny things like arrow crabs, flamingo tongues and morays – probably not seen so much when the current is pumping!

Columbia Deep – max 24m; viz 25m+; mild current.

Another totally impressive area for structures and one of the most active dive sites we visited. Barracuda, eagle rays,

turtles (the smallest I have ever seen – too very cute!), big grouper, trumpetfish and 100s of angels were the extraordinary critters here. I also saw my first ever fireworm as I was cruising by…my brain didn’t register this until I was past it, so had to swim against the current to try for a shot of it. The current wasn’t strong, but I was already a long way behind my group and didn’t want to get separated so only stayed for a quickie.

Paso del Cedral to Santa Rosa Shallows – max 17m; viz 40m+; mild –> moderate –> mild current.

#1 marine life & activity.

I loved this dive. As soon as I got near the bottom I found three arrow crabs on a single sponge (unfortunately in a very awkward area!); arrow crabs were everywhere on this dive. Then I found two splendid toadfish under the a piece of coral, one on each end. One was very small and the other was about the size of my fist. The smallest trunkfish and jewel damsels; whitespotted filefish in a huge variety of colours.

Barracuda, schools of fish, Queen triggers…the list from this dive reads like a book.

Paradise – max 13m; viz 25m+; none to mild current.

This is an incredible dive for marine life; we were able to dive it twice and each time was jam packed with creatures. I was nervous after hearing how many boats are usually here at any one time, but we fluked it and saw no other divers during first dive of 74 minutes! The next time we visited we got through about 20 minutes before another set of divers descended on us,

but Jorge had told us that if that happened we’d just stay put and let them cruise past us. It worked a charm and they were there for only a few minutes. And they provided some entertainment – there must have been 20 or 30 of them on snuba…now THAT is funny to watch from underwater!

There were just critters everywhere (besides the divers, snorkellers & snuba-ers) 

I felt a bit schizophrenic dashing here and there as people would point things of possible interest out to me! Thank goodness my Mom had brought the 1GB card to me before this one!! Too much to mention so I’ll just pick out three highlights: abundant splendid toadfish, cleaner shrimps of all sizes in almost every sponge and two huge crabs out walking around the reef. Of course, the crabs were at the end of the dive and I was out of shots, so I was frantically trying to erase second-rate images so I could take more of the crabs. I only managed a few shots…I had even filled the XD backup card.

Yucab – max 17m; viz 25m+; no to mild current.

Simply an enjoyable dive with lots of nice sponges and corals. The marine life was active,

abundant and varied with tons of fish: individuals, pairs and schools. Very cute small turtle munching, then moseying a bit, having another snack, another slow cruise…Again, lots of arrow crabs and three varities of angels: French, Queen & Grey.

Las Palmas – max 20m; viz 28m+; mild to moderate current.

Wonderful critters! Turtles, stunningly patterned ray,

large groupers, conchs everywhere. Best highlight was a pair of batfish found by Jorge!

They were pretty cooperative but this dive had some of the strongest current of the trip and it was an effort to keep in the right position for a good shot…I’m a bit disappointed with my efforts in that regard, but will chalk it up as a learning experience and keep these until I have some better ones!

Tortugas & Tarpons, mainland – max 20m; viz 20m+; moderate current.

We were in Cozumel near the end of the Tarpon season, but were lucky enough to still get on a trip to the mainland for this experience. These were the largest turtles

we had seen on the trip and there were turtles everywhere you looked for the first half of the dive. About half to three-quarters through the dive we came upon the Tarpon…these are some big fish.

They are not the most cooperative of subjects. There was lots of other stuff to see including a very large green moray hiding way way under an outcropping and blue angels.

Blue Angels aren’t actually found at Coz, but only near the mainland, so that was nice. A thoroughly enjoyable dive site.

Punta Sur – max 32m; 25m+; none to mild

I did not want to dive Punta Sur but my choice was to head there with people I had dived with before, or join a boat with brand new divers who were major air-consumers. It was my own fault, as I did not let the guys in the shop know I really did not want to do this dive. Lucky for me, Jorge was the DM and we talked to him and created a dive plan to suit.

We followed along on the top of the ridge while the others did the swim-throughs. Because we were going to be shallower than the others, we could extend our bottom time if we wanted to. Perfect fit for us. Punta Sur from the top is a lovely dive with some excellent structures and a belly-tingling view over the edge.

We were joined for a while by another small turtle that didn’t seem very interested in divers. Garden eels peppered a sand patch between two mountains of reef. Of course, after all of our planning, DH was low on air at 45 minutes anyway! This was a pretty dive and I am glad I went to check it out, but it would not make my list for a return visit.

Columbia Shallows – max 10m; 30m+; none to mild current.

I don’t know why more "experienced" divers don’t want to dive this site!  Of the sites I dived, this one makes it in the top three for variety and amount of small to medium marine life.  And the extended bottom times at this depth ensure plenty of time to get in there and discover a whole universe of critters.

There is so much to see here that several of us dived for over 100 minutes and only came up coz we knew some others had already been sitting on the boat for a while and we felt guilty! The only nurse shark of the trip was hiding out deep in a crevice;

angel fishes were abundant & curious;

triggers and filefish were everywhere. Groups of lobsters hung out and posed.

Chun Chacaab – max 25m; viz 30m+; none to mild current

I’m told that this is not an area that is dived very often. I’m glad – it’s pristine, active and beautiful in a very surreal way. Forests of coral trees sway in the gentle current as far as you can see.

Rolling hills of hard coral & rock create an impressionistic landscape and provide hideaways for an impressive variety of fishes and invertebrates. The sandy canyon floors are covered in conchs, hermit crabs and gobies.

Turtles glide around, unconcerned by the bubble blowing monsters. We saw more turtles here than on any other site bar the Tortugas area near the mainland…and the count was probably pretty close. One such turtle was just cruising slowly through our group, within feet of me and another diver…I was thinking "yes! This is going to be an excellent WA shot!" and started to line it up. Just as I went to depress the shutter button, said other diver reached out and grabbed the turtles back flippers! I was dumbfounded. I dropped my rig, kicked right over to Mr. Idiot and slapped him on the arm then scolded him out including a good finger shaking! I was furious. But he didn’t come close to touching anything again.

Tormentos – max 20m; viz 20m+; mild current

I was surprised by the beautiful structures and sponge sculptures on this dive.

It runs a close second to Palancar Wall for that, I thought. This is a great visual site: a rolling vista of small mountains of colour separated by pristing white sand that looked like snow in places; there was hardly a flat area anywhere.  In other areas the sand was a shimmery green-blue, like jewels.  Enough fish life to impress me as an active site,

but not as much variety as some other sites. Many uncooperative angel fishes. Lots of lobsters under ledges throughout the dive.

Blue Angel Shore Dive – max 8m; viz 20m+; none to mild current

There is a good map on the wall of the dive shop and the entry is a really easy walk through a shallow pond, over a set of sand bag steps and swim out the channel.  I usually rigged up on the ledge, walked out over the sand bags and put my fins on sitting on the bags.  Too easy.  Don't forget to look around in the channel as there is a wide array of life even there. 

This bird sent us on our way and greeted us on our return most days.  DH started rounding up the little fish in the channel and pushing them along in front of him on returning...the bird would happily grab a few for a job well done!  I did this four times and my shortest dive was 76 minutes…and that only because I had commitments on land!

100+ minutes is definitely the way to go here. I should have dived this thing every day, but the laidback total relaxation of a hammock and a cold beer got me on more than one afternoon! If you are staying at Caribe Blu, get in the water here! If you aren’t, grab a cab and get in the water here. It is tremendous.

Flamingo tongues are everywhere in all sorts of sizes, patterns and colours.

Arrow crabs hide in sponges, along the rocky edges and under various outcroppings.

Make sure to check out the area right next to shore on both sides of the little entry channel – juvenile everythings,

arrow crabs, octopus, a variety of eels…on one dive I spent 35 minutes on the north side not moving more than 5m! It’s in this area you will also find those uncooperative little devils – the gobies with their mouths open.

Head out along the buoy line –

octopus, eels, scorpionfish, lobsters, crabs, flamingo tongues are all here. Just south of the entry channel, in the real shallows, you’ll find a ton of life. If you’re lucky you’ll find the sea horses.

I only found one on one day, but I found him twice! Fish of all sorts are abundant allover the site. I found the greatest tiny trumpetfish here. As you head south you’ll find more and more fans

and small coral outcroppings – slow down and really study each one…I was amazed at what I found.

I’ve read that the shore diving isn’t as good as the boat diving in Cozumel. I wouldn’t say that. It is definitely much different, but I could have happily dived this shore dive daily. There was always something very cool to find, lots of action and extended time underwater. The contrast of the shore diving versus the boat diving improves appreciation for both and I wouldn’t dream of a return visit without plenty of both!