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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.

adventures / Cozumel / photo / SCUBA / Tuesday — Comments Off
9
Jan 24

No dives today — sad diver face

Day three in Mexico, day two of diving. Except today’s diving was canceled by high winds. We lost four dives. That hurts. So we sat under the shady palm trees of the beach. Later, I went back to the room to take a nap. For some reason I woke up this morning, early. The room doesn’t make sense, so I had no idea what time it was. After a time I went to the bathroom, and checked my phone on the way.

It was 4:30. I could still get almost three hours of sleep.

I could not go back to sleep. So I was tired.

With no diving to be had, I enjoyed a late afternoon nap.

Rallied just in time to see the sunset, though.

And that ain’t bad.

A few more shots from yesterday’s dives, since I have worked through about half of the raw photos of the day. (Seriously, we’ll be at this for weeks. It’ll be great.)

There’s my mom, diving since the G.H.W. Bush administration.

Me too, come to think of it.

Sometimes people ask you, what’s the secret to taking a good photo of a person underwater. (No one asks me that, but let’s assume they did.) I can tell you definitiely: the secret to taking a good photo of a person underwater is to go diving with someone who doesn’t breathe.

Rule number one of diving is this: Keep breathing. But that’d mean you’d have to start. As far as I know, she only ever breathes when she runs. That is an undoctored photo. There are five little bubbles. Behind her, the tank is leaking as much air as she is exhaling.

When a tank and regulator rig let’s a little air slip through an aging o-ring like that it isn’t a concern at all. And you see it a lot, especially on this tourist-rental set ups. When a person runs through air as slowly as the tank, it’s impressive.

We drifted over this conch shell yesterday. Whatever is inside is going somewhere.

You wonder where it’s headed, and how long it has been on the move.

You wonder how long it has taken, and what the critter inside will find when it gets there.

More diving tomorrow, hopefully.

adventures / Cozumel / Monday / photo / SCUBA — Comments Off
8
Jan 24

Making the international signal for ‘Go down’

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it is in the 80s here. Here being the key term. We are in Mexico this week, diving the Palancar Reef off the island of Cozumel. We flew down yesterday. One stop in Atlanta, an easy trip right to the island. Rented a car, picked up a few things at the big grocery store and then drove to the place where we are staying.

We slept in this morning, which was great since, despite it being an easy flight, yesterday was a long day. But, this afternoon, we got on a boat.

We slipped below the waves and went down to the sandy bottom. Look who I found!

So the three of us are underwater this week, my wife, my mother and me. Well, some other people, too, but they don’t really figure much into the tale. Here’s my other dive buddy, now.

That’s a píntano, or a sergeant major fish, in the photo with her, but we’ll get to that. But, first, enjoy this yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus). It’s a member of an abundant species usually found around reefs. The biggest one ever caught was 11 pounds, it is a commercially important species, both farmed and is fished. In places like Cuba and Brazil it is overfished. The species is at some srisk of overfishing in Mexico, as well.

The yellowtail snapper was first formally described in 1791 by the German naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch. He said it was local to the “Brazilian seas.” Bloch was an important ichthyologist of the 18th century. A medical doctor by training, Bloch got interested in fish in his 60s when he found fish Carl Linnaeus didn’t identify. He started a collection of specimens from around the world, wrote a 12-volume collection on the subject and is, today, credited with the description of at least 267 new species and 19 genera.

The queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris), notable for the crown it wears. They live in harems. It is a popular fish in the aquarium trade, and you can see why.

The queen angelfish eat sponges, jellyfish, corals, plankton, and algae. Juveniles act as cleaner fish, removing parasites from bigger fish. Carl Linneaus first described the queen angelfish in 1758, in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae.

Settle in! We have a lot more fish to go. I’ll be dragging out these photos and videos for weeks.

It’ll be a good way to wade through winter, which is a strange thing to contemplate when you’re deep in Mexico.

Hard life, I have to say.