HAPPY EASTER from Mexico!!

Today was our first (and only) port stop of this cruise. Oh how we love Cozumel. There's just so much to do and beaches to go to. But, today...we are going diving! Back in 2021 when we did a land vacation here, we had done a boat dive with someone we had found on the Cozumel fb group. He talked a good talk and had a decent price. So, we booked with him. It was disaster after disaster with him (for ME). There were 2 dives involved and after the first dive, I gave up. The hubby and Sakari went on to do the second dive but I was so stressed out that I couldn't continue (you'd have to go read my review on that one to see what all happened as I won't go into details here).

So, after that stressful dive, it was the day before we were to leave the beautiful island of Cozumel that we had went to Sunset Bar & Grill to check it out (since we had never been before on any of our cruises). There were divers going out and the hubby knew I was still a little shaken up and distraught over our dive that he secretly booked us a shore dive to make up for it. It was a wonderful experience and I had a great time. I was super excited to see the under water camera they have on this dive and also "Zoe", which is a huge sculpture that resembles a DNA strand. They also had "heads" under there.

So, I decided to book with them again and reached out prior to our cruise. I believe this is also who the cruise lines use for those that want to do a Discover Scuba Dive while cruising....only the prices is MUCH higher if you book with the cruise line of course. It would only cost $84/pp for the dive.

So on with our day.

Here is the Checklist to Chill:

I woke up at 6am to shower and get ready. Yes we are going diving and it's not going to matter what we look like but hey there's port pictures to take still right? I made sure to bring and put on my "Dive Cozumel" shirt that I purchased last time we were there. I wasn't going to look like a tourist. I planned on looking like I knew what I was doing.

I woke the family up at 7am and we headed up to breakfast at the buffet. We would find there was hardly anyone up at there. Is no one getting off in Cozumel? No shore excursions? Don't you people eat? It's the most important meal of the day.

This time I would decide to have them make me an omelet. The hubby ONLY goes to the omelet station when cruising because of the "real" eggs. It was pretty good but I wish they had bacon to put in it. I'm not a ham person and that would be the meat they offer for omelets. It was so good that I forgot to take a picture of it until the end. Oops There would be no bacon today. I guess they are doing the same thing Carnival is and rotating bacon every other day and sausage in between.

After breakfast we headed back to the room to get our things ready.

We watched a ship get closer and closer to us. I took a picture and zoomed in on the name. It was none other than RC Jewel of the Seas! Hey, we've been on that one!! Welcome my long time friend!

Pulling into port and the sun was rising

The Jewel decided to be fancy and back in.

We grabbed our bag for the day and headed off the ship at 8:10am. There was hardly anyone out there or getting off. Now the ship does remind you to keep your watches on ship time because this ship does not change to match the port. Little did I know (at this time) that Cozumel is 1 hour behind ship time. So, actually it is only 7am in the morning! No wonder no one is getting off yet. There's nothing open!

Hey, at least we would get a great picture with no one photo bombing us right?

Hey, there's a few early risers out there!

None of the shops were open this early in the morning so you wouldn't have everyone yelling at you to "Come look at my leather" or anything else along the way.

We made it out of the port and up to the taxi area. We spoke to one of the taxi drivers to tell him where we wanted to go. He was honest with us and said "You want a taxi to there? It's only 3 blocks from here". Oh...um...I didn't realize that. Well, seeing how early it was, we could manage a walk there right? Kill a little bit of time?

I pulled up my MapsMe app and started the directions and out to the street we went.

We walked and walked and it definitely wasn't 3 blocks to get there. It was a bit of a walk actually. However, it's very doable for sure.

Sakari was in a happy mood and started twirling as she walked.

It took us about 15 minutes to get there according to my pictures, so not bad at all. Just not 3 blocks...unless that's Mexican blocks. I don't know. At least it wasn't scorching hot out.

Once we arrived, there was no one around. The place was closed and it said they didn't open until 9am. Oops. So it is only 8:45am ship time, which means it's actually only 7:45am Cozumel time. Well darn. I guess we were just going to have to sit around and wait for awhile. At least we had internet service and could catch up on everything happening back home.

Some of the dive instructors at Sand Dollar Sports (the actual dive company) started arriving. Eventually they came over and ask if we had a dive booked and we told them "yes". They decided to let us in and told us we were welcome to go down stairs at the "beach" (using that term loosely because it's not much of a beach) and hang out and be able to have access to the restrooms and a place to sit.

Sakari headed off to do the exact same thing she did last time we were here and that was going over to the iron shore area and looking for sea glass and critters.

Our dive time was for 10am so our instructor started setting up our equipment. Only we noticed there were about 10 of them on the bench. He sized us up for our fins and weights. Then told us to leave our belongings over there and come with him.

We sat at a table and we discussed how many dives we have done and that we have actually went diving with them in the past. I told him how much we enjoyed seeing "Zoe" last time and all the sculptures and wanted to see it again. He said "yes, that's where we will be going" and pointed in that direction.

He handed us our test books and had us take our test (since this would be the 26th dive we've done, we know this test by heart now) while he went over the "class", which was very brief...remember "never hold your breath"

We had put a deposit down on our dive and still owed the balance. I walked over to pay it at the shop but they said they needed to charge their credit card machine to get it to work and they would just do it after the dive.

About that time the dive instructor discovered we were NOT with the cruise ship group and had us go get our things from the other area that had 10 tanks lined up.

Getting geared up! It's almost time!

By 10:20, we were in the water and ready to dive. The water was very wavy and the instructor helped me out over to the area we were going to go down.

He had us clear our mask and remove our regulator and then off we went for our dive. He told us the time we would dive would depend on how good our buoyancy was. I don't think that's going to be a problem for us...maybe Karl, but not us. He might also want to consider Karl's air consumption...he has a habit of breathing a little too rapid due to the excitement. Some day Karl. You'll get the hang of it.

A GOBY (we had one in our fish tank and her name was Sandy...because they spend all day gulping sand and spitting it out). Can you see it?

Hey, I remember all these balls in the water.

A conch in a shell:

I spotted an green tipped anemone:

A beautiful French Angelfish...which had a friend pop around the corner after awhile and I almost missed it.

A beautiful PUDDINGWIFE WRASSE. Think they are so pretty.

Sakari off doing her thing with the other camera. Only I didn't notice that I had handed her the wrong camera. I usually give her the newer one because it takes better macro shots.

There was beautiful and colorful coral everywhere. It's nothing like diving in Roatan or anything but still some pretty things to see.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a very pretty orange coral...only there was something on top of it. Was that a BRITTLE STARFISH.

Then we spotted a PORCUPINE PUFFER FISH! They are just so cute!

A small HARLEQUIN BASS (in the upper left hand corner):

Off in the distance I seen a head. I started swimming that way.

As we swam that way something else was spotted slithering on the ocean floor: It was a SHARPTAIL EEL.

Still heading toward the heads.

We had arrived at the first sculpture. This is the Jacques Cousteau head. If you don't know who this is, look him up. I can remember growing up watching him on the tv. He is known as the father of scuba diving.

We headed toward the next sculpture and this little guy was swimming by with a friend. A SMOOTH TRUNKFISH.

On to the next sculpture off in the distance only we were distracted again by something swimming by. Can you spot it on the ocean floor in the middle of the picture?

It was a STINGRAY

The next sculpture is Sylvia Earl, who is a Marine Biologist and Oceanographer. She holds the record for the deepest walk on the sea floor.

This is the Ramon Bravo. He is known as the most beloved diver of Mexico. He was first known as a famous Mexican swimmer in the 1948 Summer Olympics. However, he had a love for diving and underwater photograph with a fascination for sharks. He became a dive guide for Jacques Cousteau around Isla Mujeres in the cave of the sleeping sharks.

The next sculpture is Sergio Zambrano. I have no idea who he is or his significance.

I was trying to focus in on something I seen wrapped around the brightly colored sponge. It looked like another BRITTLE STARFISH but it was a whitish color. I've never seen anything other than the dark brown ones. Sure enough it was...several of them.

Then we spotted another PUFFER FISH peaking out from under the rocks.

Then another Puffer Fish

There was something stirring up a lot of sand on the other side of this rock and we went to explore.

It was a grouper. He was digging and throwing up sand and then coming out and repeating.

At this point Sakari motioned to me that her camera was not working. Boo! I believe we had problems with that camera last time too. After the dive she would tell me that it said it was over heating. I think the last time it said the same thing or that we were down too far (which I knew we weren't). It's kinda old at this point. Maybe it's time to invest in another.

So I will share the photo's she did get while it was working.

I tell ya, she's got a good eye for spotting things. She always spots more than what I do when we are diving. She would make an excellent dive instructor. I did not spot one CHRISTMAS TREE WORM during this dive.

Another BRITTLE STARFISH hiding in some coral.

Look at this beautiful SPOTTED DRUM with its long fins.

She was really trying to get a picture of this sharp nosed puffer but after multiple pictures taken, the camera just wasn't focusing.

There was an area with a bunch of fry (baby fish) and she noticed something sticking out from under the rock and went to explore.

There was a lobster under there. He tried to reach out and touch the camera when she got close.

BRITTLE STARFISH

Yep, that was all she got before the camera died. So, she ended up eventually taking the GoPro from daddy. She's like me...she can't be without something to capture everything you see down there.

We noticed a PUDDINGWIFE WRASSE near by. It came right up to us and started following us. It would circle us as we swam around. I'm not sure if this is their behavior or not because I've never had one do this before. But it didn't go away...like at all during the rest of the dive. It definitely wasn't scared of us.

Sakari was now filming with the GoPro (where the grouper was) and I was finally able to get her attention to show her the wrasse (now that it was right beside her and circling).

I found an ORANGESPOTTED FILEFISH near by.

Then there was THIS!!! WHAT IS THE WORLD???? I have NEVER seen these before out of all the dives we've done. They were HUGE!! And there was two of them. I knew it was some type of file fish, I just didn't know what kind. After returning home, the best I can come up with is the ORANGE FILE FISH? (Aluterus Schoepfii). I'm not sure if that's right or not. If someone knows, contact me so I can correct it on here.

Now that's a very large GRUNT and his mad big friend the DAMSEL fish.

In case you were wondering, yes our Wrasse friend was still with us. Fish are Friends. Not Food.

Our dive instructor started making air blow rings in the water. I tried to get Sakari to do it but she wouldn't. She was practicing it for awhile on previous dives.

Another SMOOTH TRUNKFISH

There were a lot of fish hiding out in here. We just had to explore.

Peak-A-Boo. I see you watching me!

Yep, still with us...

I look over and this is going on...oh Karl...

Karl is now breathing out of the instructors Octo. Was he out of air already?

Then I found a TRUMPET FISH trying to hide.

During the dive I kept seeing this "stuff" floating down in the water and had no idea what it was or where it was coming from. This time, I figured it out. It was the parrotfish.

Another cute little PORCUPINE PUFFER

SMOOTH TRUNKFISH

Look at all the fish!!

Purple tip anemone:

I have to admit, for the longest time when I would see these sea urchins, I thought they were...alive. It took me years to figure out these are the same exact same urchins with the white spikes only now they are dead and have lost their spikes.

Notice Karl is back on his own respirator.

🤷‍♀️

Here's a few pictures taken with the GoPro from the hubby and Sakari after she took over.

I did not see this. I wonder how this conch shell got up in there?

Now one thing I did not see (and this was under the same rock the Grouper was under and Sakari had taken over the GoPro at this point) was there was an eel under there too. From what I can tell, it looks to be a SPOTTED MORAY EEL.

She also seen an ARROW CRAB (it didn't turn out too clear though). One thing we always forget is that the GoPro is NOT a macro type of camera and the closer you get to it, the blurrier it gets.

Sakari was getting some good shots of her Wrasse friend swimming with her. It had no fear I tell ya.

Another ARROW CRAB and HARLEQUIN BASS.

I didn't spot these 3 TRUMPET FISH either.

Her pics of the FILEFISH

A CARIBBEAN STINGRAY I didn't see either.

BRITTLE STARFISH down in the sponge

GROUPER

So the dive was over and it was a good one. We seen a lot of things but...wait...we did not see Zoe!! I had mentioned to the instructor about wanting to see it prior to the dive and we did not. He said we were right beside it when we were at the head sculptures. I have looked at all my pictures and there's nothing showing it anywhere. We did not see the larger than life DNA strand sculpture. None of us.

When we returned Karl said he only had around 200psi left in his tank. Sakari had 1500, the hubby still had 1000 and I was sitting at 1400. Not too bad...for some of us. Just saying.