Cozumel « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Cozumel

Cozumel / photo / SCUBA / Tuesday — Comments Off
16
Jan 24

Winter up here, fishies down there

There is snow. How much? I do not know. It doesn’t matter. There is no need to wander out and try to estimate or otherwise measure things. It is only important that it is on the ground. It is only important that it remains.

Today is the first day of classes, though my first class isn’t until next Monday. But the weather — the snow, the ice and the commute, I suppose — closed the campus. Sorta? I think? It was a little confusing. Such are our times. Professors have discretion. Online classes are a possibility. Attendance could not be taken. This part seems fair, some students come from wide and far. Some faculty do too. But as soon as the university said there would be no attendance, the emails must surely have poured forth: I can’t make it, for my driveway is iced in. I have, you see, spent the last 36 hours pouring ice cubes on the cement.

I did a little class prep. Stared at the walls. Wondered where the day went, and, with itm, my energy. It’s surely out there covered in snow.

Let’s go back to Cozumel! The low there today is 73. The high was 86. Why wouldn’t you want to be there, seeing fish like this?

That is, I think, a beautiful specimen of the Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus). That purple tint tells you it is a juvenile. Their colors change during growth, with yellows and blues along the way to maturity. This fish has some biofluorescence ability, emitting different colors under different light. That’s probably useful in it’s day-to-day life. They’re also an effective cleaner fish.

But the best fish in the sea is right here.

She’s growing gills, I’m sure of it.

The blue striped grunt (Haemulon sciurus) named for the pig-like grunts produced with their well-developed pharyngeal teeth located in the throat.

Though they don’t know much about it, experts say this is the beginning of their spawning period. So, sorry to have intruded?

Here are a bunch of orange elephant ear sponges (Agelas clathrodes) growing inside another, large, I-can’t-ID-it sponge (Unknownus identificationus.).

And here’s another look at a beautiful queen angelfish.

They don’t know anything about snow accumulation. Lucky fish.

adventures / Cozumel / Monday / photo / SCUBA / video — Comments Off
15
Jan 24

We’re back, but I’m still diving in my mind

We are back in the United States. Snow is coming down. Saturday I was sweating in pure humidity. Today I am wearing layers and not going near doors or windows. Going to Mexico in January was a smart move. Coming back to winter wasn’t as smart.

Put another way, when I walked onto the tarmac yesterday afternoon at the aeropuerto in Cozumel it was 84 degrees and brilliantly sunny. When I walked out of the airport at the end of our travels, it was 26 degrees, with a wind chill at 15. A 70 degree swing is inconsiderate.

But the trip back was easy. We’ve been to Cozumel once before, around spring break last year, and the airport there was a disaster. Even the locals were stunned. On this trip, we asked several of the frequent visitors about their experiences and they’d never had a problem. They assured us that two hours at the airport is plenty, when three hours wasn’t close to enough last year. Spring breakers breaking things, then. That had to be it.

Sure enough, two hours was about right. Returning the rental car, easy. Checking in, no big deal. Security, moving briskly. (Though the Yankee lost two plastic-tipped crocheting needles to the security theater gods. Just two. They overlooked, entirely, a whole sleeve of other equally dangerous plastic pointed weapons of the fabric arts.) We made it through and only had to wait about 10 minutes before the plane started loading.

Outside, then, one last time in the Mexican January. On the plane, and into the air. We landed in Atlanta, got through Customs — Atlanta does this better than anyone else on this side of the country, in my experience — found a little spot for a bite to eat, and a TV with the playoffs. It was in Atlanta where we said goodbye to my mother. Her plane was this way, our plane was that way. It was in Atlanta where she booked a hotel. Better to extend your vacation in a Holiday Inn Express for a day or two than spend the last few hours driving through ice. The weather, yesterday, was worse in Alabama than it was in the northeast. We got snow today, but they had snow and a dangerous few layers of ice beside.

We got about four inches.

They had about seven inches. Plus the ice. Also, most of the roads around here will be treated and passable tomorrow. down there? Who knows.

But enough about the cold stuff. Let’s look at a few more shots underwater.

It’s even warmer in video! Please press the play button and float along some of the beautiful formations around the Palancar reef.

Fish and coral and sponges of Palancar reef, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

She doesn’t breathe. She really doesn’t.

While we devotin’ full time to floatin’ under the sea!

Here’s another perfect brown bowl sponge (Cribrochalina vasculum) specimen.

Under the sea we off the hook
We got no troubles
Life is the bubbles
Under the sea

My mom, getting her dives in …

This is the blue chromis (Chromis cyanea) — a damselfish. It is a shallow water fish, living on reefs, or swimming just above them for plankton. They are often collected for aquariums. You can see why.

Their biggest threat is the expansion of the lionfish, which is an invasive species throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic east coast. Another concern is the loss of live corals, but there’s not a lot of data there yet, apparently.

Here’s another example of some beautiful purple rope sponges.

And so we’re back, but I have enough photos and videos to pad out the site for days and days.

adventures / Cozumel / Friday / photo / SCUBA / video — 1 Comment
12
Jan 24

Four more dives under our belt

At dinner this evening a delightful little clown stopped by and introduced me to a new friend.

The ladies at the table got balloon bracelets. It was all rather charming in an unexpected way. But, then, no one ever expects the balloon guy. Not really. He’s a marvel unto himself.

We knew a balloon guy. Said it took years to get the art down. Not just tying the balloons, but doing it with patter. You have to be able to make the jokes without looking at your hands. It seems a silly thing, but these are people devoted to their craft. I could barely blow up one of the balloons.

So when you get a new parrot friend, appreciate him. It’s an art that is an investment, even if the finished product only lasts a while. The gesture can stick around for much longer.

Five days a day is just about all you would want to do, and that fifth dive would be a night dive. There’s an issue of timing and chemistry, surface intervals and endurance. We don’t have any night dives scheduled on this trip. We were supposed to get 20, all told, but lost some dives on Tuesday and Wednesday. Counting our last dives, tomorrow, we’ll finish with 14 for the trip, I think. We’re coming in with a bottom-time of juuuust under an hour on each dive, so far. I think we’re doing OK.

I promised you an eagle ray. Here’s an eagle ray. And some beautiful mackerel, and sponges.

We’ll get an even better look at an eagle ray before we’re done diving.

Here’s The Yankee in a swim-through. She used to not do these, afraid she’ll get tangled up in something, but this trip she’s gone through every one we’ve seen so far.

I always go in behind her, just to make sure her rig doesn’t get caught up on something. Most of them are quite wide, accustomed to a bunch of divers and are harmless.

Here’s our other dive partner, my mother, floating along in the currents of Cozumel.

And here are a few of the amazing views we took in. From the very big …

To the medium-sized …

To the small …

There’s easily more than a dozen species represented in that photo, which I took because I liked the two different sets of purple sponges right next to one another.

Below the surface there are mysteries and discoveries and wonders beyond your imagination. I suppose that’s why we keep going down there. To see. To wonder.

adventures / Cozumel / photo / SCUBA / Thursday / video — Comments Off
11
Jan 24

Finally back in the water

We went diving today. And so today was a good day. Also, my ears began cooperating today, meaning I could dive better. But let me back up.

When we first came to Cozumel in March 2022 I got a great allergic reaction to something on the island. Couldn’t breathe. Got on the boat and away from the island and it all went away. Late in that week I picked up some OTC medicine, and that helped the breathing, but not so much the diving. Descending was a big problem. Coming back up to the surface was no great treat, either. So, this year, I brought some medicine with me. What do you know, the allergy problem came right back. I started taking the medicine, and blamed this guy.

Descents were slow on my first dives Monday and Tuesday. Coming back up was also a little unpleasant.

But, today, my ears and I had a little talk. On the ascent of the first dive of the day my ears were making all sorts of noise. I don’t know how everyone else on the dive boat didn’t hear them. And then, they opened up as they are supposed to. On my later dives, I descended like a normal diver. I even beat my lovely bride, who is a fish, to the bottom on one of the dives.

(This is not the point, in any way, but it’s a useful measuring stick.)

Anyway, here’s the first video I shot of the dive trip. This is a simple one. There will be many, many more.

Here’s a photo of a conch shell, if you couldn’t get enough in that video.

This little collection of coral and sponge looks like a video screengrab, for some reason. It’s a shame, too, because it was really quite beautiful.

The filefish is just a catchall name, made of more than 100 species, which are classified in 27 genera. They’re found all over the world. Some people call them foolfish, leatherjackets or shingles. I’ve never seen one that looks quite like this.

Oh look! A sponge!

Nothing in this one, but you never know about the next one.

More diving tomorrow, more photos and video. You’re going to see a beautiful eagle ray!

adventures / Cozumel / photo / SCUBA / Wednesday — Comments Off
10
Jan 24

Dry again

More high winds today. Another day of canceled dives. Another day slaving away under the shaded part of a quiet little beach. It’s not a bad consolation prize, reading and listening to the waves. But that’s four more dives lost to weather.

I appreciate the safety concerns — I am, after all, the most annoying safety first diver in the world — but the winds and choppy sees have now cost us 40 percent of our scheduled dives.

We’re here, though, enjoying the quiet of a not-at-capacity all inclusive resort. They put up good sunsets.

Yesterday it was obvious that the dive boats were having a difficult time getting to the dive shop. It occurred to me that the most dangerous moments in that’s boat life are probably centered around getting to, and leaving, the pier on days when there’s a lot of energy in the water. Today was better, but only by a bit. There were still white caps off the reefs and so the harbormaster said no.

Tomorrow we’ll go diving, if I have to wade into the water the old fashioned way. Can’t have boat problems if you don’t use a boat!

I love the brown bowl sponge (Cribrochalina vasculum). They’re just so intriguing from a distance. Are any critters inside? How big is this going to look? What is even the point of this thing? It’s always a mystery, every time.

Those few moments between seeing one in the distance and getting above it can be full of wonder. This is the same sponge.

And each one of them deserves to be explored, if only for a moment. But there are so many to peer into, and the currents on drift dives, like these, dictate many of the terms. So the mystery will always be there.

Sometimes there are fish hiding inside the sponge, just waiting. Maybe I’ll see some myself. Four more dives are on the schedule.

Tomorrow, we’ll see more fish. I’m certain of it.