Photos from Cozumel, January 2006

If you would like to see some photos from Cozumel taken last month, go to

On one of the pages I have posted comparison photos, showing how various
sites looked in January after Hurricane Wilma struck in October. Beside
them are shots of the same sites from previous years.

Greg Mossman...

Thank you bjeanneb, but I was hoping your comparison shots were underwater
since I leave next week and plan on spending most of my time submerged or
asleep. How was the diving?

bjeanneb...

I wish I had been able to do the underwater video that I have always done
but had to forgo it this time. It felt very strange not to have a camera in
my right hand. The diving was excellent but different. More sand on the
reefs and not many growing things there. Most notably missing were soft
corals and sea fans. The walls didn't look very much different except that
there were cleanly scoured swim-throughs all over the place. The critters
tended to be larger, still very plentiful, quite visible since there are
fewer places to hide. Very large lobster out walking in the middle of the
day, small-dog-size lobster only partially hidden, lots of turtles. We had
very unpredictable currents, once a down-current on the wall which made the
divemaster very nervous. Look for springs on the bottom. I didn't see them
but a friend took photos of them. Any more questions? I would try to

Greg Mossman...

That's OK. I'll see for myself in a week. I'm not bringing a camera
either - we're only there for three nights so it doesn't make sense to drag
it along. "Long weekend" trips are only survivable when you pack light.

A previous report had mentioned the sand covering the reefs. Hopefully we
can talk our DM into spending more time on the walls. Maybe we'll skip
doing a night dive in the shallows if they've been swept clean and the
lobsters are walking around in the day time. It should be interesting to
see the hurricane damage. I'm getting excited.

I'm not too big on downcurrents, but you take what you can get. The only
time I was ever hit bad by one was off Santa Rosa wall (I think). It was a
CF dive from the beginning as I had started the dive by forgetting my
weights back on the boat. When we hit 30' I was feeling very light and
realized after a quick pat of my weight pockets that I had forgotten to
stick the weights in at the last minute, which I had had to do since my tank
was located in a spot on the boat where I couldn't access the weight pockets
beforehand. So my buddy and I went back to the boat, I quickly weighted up,
and they re-dropped us near our group which had just dropped over the wall
and into a swimthrough. We swam against the current as hard as we could to
catch up, leaving us both panting to catch our breaths inside the
swimthrough at 90'. I'm a big guy that can normally make an AL80 last an
hour if I dive very meditatively, but when I'm breathing hard, I can suck
that little cylinder down real quick. I found out later that my buddy, who
normally has excellent air consumption, wasn't able to fully catch her
breath - her regulator was a POS, IMO. Finally outside the swimthrough, we
hit the downcurrent from hell, with everyone's bubbles going straight down.
I'm kicking hard and watching my depth continue to drop 85,86,87; my AI
computer also displayed the air remaining: 580 psi. Uh oh.

Jer...

Just kick latterally toward the reef, you'll be out of it in a moment or
two.

Somehow we survived. I wish I remember how since it could likely help me in
the future, but all the drinks I had that night in order to help me forget
helped me forget. I do remember that it freaked my buddy out enough to sit
out the next dive, which was too bad since it was the wreck dive (Felipe X)
with very little current outside and none whatsoever inside. Very calming
after the previous breathless roller-coaster ride.

Which does remind me of one question: did the hurricane impact the wreck?

answer.