We came to Cozumel by cruise ship and decided since we have been so many places here in the past that we would be scuba diving today. We have went diving with Sand Dollar Sports, located at Sunset Restaurant & Bar and had a good experience. So, we booked with them again. After getting off the ship, we actually walked from the cruise port to Sunset with no issues and it's not very far.

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 goi

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 i

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.

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

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:

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.

So as I said, this was dive number 26 for us. Everyone always asks why we don't get certified. Up until maybe the last 5 dives or so I just had no desire to. But, I have been thinking about it each time we dive recently. With our schedules and the hubby being a truck driver, it would never coincide withe each other. This time I told everyone maybe we were just going to have to all do it on our own whenever we can. I still have no desire to go down any deeper, do a night dive or anything that we haven't been doing already. But, I know that means we would be able to skip the class each time and would end up being cheaper in the long run. So, I think I just may check into at least doing the online class portion this summer and maybe picking a Caribbean destination for a land vacation to complete it. At least for some of us. We will see.

Here's our video for the day. It's a little over 3 minutes long and packed with various types of fish...and our fish friend following us everywhere we went. He wanted to be the star of the show. I guess he's heard about my reviews and wanted in on it.

We ended up diving for 51 minutes (the instructor said) and we went to a depth of 33'. After the dive they thanked us and hoped that some day we would return. I reminded them that we still needed to pay our balance and ask if the credit card machine was working yet. Also, I would notice that everyone working here at Sunset would have the same "Dive Cozumel" tee shirt that I had on too! I told you I was going to fit right in!