Just got back from a week in Cozumel. We dove last Monday, Tuesday, took a day off on Wednesday, and dove on Thursday and Friday. There were four of us, and we had the boat to ourselves for the whole week. We dove with our old divemaster Dario Hernandez (35 years experience), another divemaster Jorge', and Gato (35 years experience) was our captain. It was the best diving we have ever done on Cozumel. They are a "one boat" company at this time, and offer fishing trips as well.
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Our group of divers are not early risers, so we left at 10 am, the first day, and dove Palancar Horseshoe, hit Palancar Beach Club for our interval, then drifted Yukanaab on the second dive. Both great dives, not a lot of current.
The second day was awesome. Dario recommended we not leave out until 4:30 pm to get an evening dive and a night dive. We went to Palancar Bricks (we haven't been able to dive it for the last three years) and were able to really see the backside of the reef lit up by the evening sun angle. We had forgotten what a magical place it was. we just went shallow and ate on the boat for our interval. We then idled back out to Palancar Gardens for a night dive. We saw octopus, squid, cuttlefish, lobsters, crabs, CHIEF Jr. even found a Splended Toadfish.
Wednesday was a blowoff day. We went to Coconuts, CHIEF Jr. met a Cutie that goes to Tarleton with him. Hung out at Rastas, then we all went back by Mega, loaded up on beer and rum, and let those two mug and play grab ass at the rooftop pool at our condo.
Thursday was drift diving. We left at 10 again and went to Santa Rosa on the first wall dive, then Cedral Wall for the second dive. Saw a lot of turtles (saw them on every dive of the week), and one of the biggest Nurse Sharks I have seen.
Friday was by far the best diving day we have ever had. This is also the only day we had to leave early before the wind got up. We went about 8-10 miles offshore, north of Cozumel, to a cave that has sleeping Carribean Reef sharks. You are completely out of sight of land. However, fishermen had been to the area, there weren't any sharks in the cave, no lion fish to kill, no lobsters, etc. Hard to believe but the fishermen had picked it clean. We had homemade tamales in banana leaves and homemade guacamole that Gato had made for lunch. Dario and Gato were disappointed for us, and they discussed going to another reef about three miles farther north. This place was the jackpot.
The last dive, we saw more big fish than anywhere else we had ever dove. On the decent there were huge schools of Permit and Amberjack. At no time could you not look up and see 25-40 barracuda. We had several tag along with us, staying about 4-5 foot away just watching us. This also where we saw Caribbean Reef sharks, a huge Spotted Eagle Ray, and a big Moray.
We have become really good friends with everyone in this organization. CHIEF Jr. talks to Dario about every other week. He had broken his clutch and brake lever on his Harley, so we went by the Harley shop, in Ft. Worth, and got him a new set and took them to him. They are the first operators to run dual Mercury engines on their dive boat. My wife has several new laptops that her sales force won't use, so we are setting them up with a laptop and diagnostic cables, to be able to diagnose any problems they may have in the future. I love the setup, basically customized for you. You tell them what time you want to go out, what you want to see, where you want to go (or if you don't know, they will recommend a location for the type dive you want to do). They aren't the cheapest on the island, they have a new boat, park permits, and diving equipment to pay for, but aren't on the expensive end of the spectrum either. We dove with four people, they can hold up to eight, and the price gets cheaper the more divers there are in your group.
I told them I want to see them be successful, and to offer a Surly discount. If anyone heads down for some diving DM me, and I can give you the DM's phone number to call direct before heading down.
CHIEF