Cozumel, Mexico - Awesome Diving

On March 3rd we traveled down to Cozumel for a week of scuba diving with Aldora Divers. We left our land yacht at the Herrick Vineyard Property for a needed warm water dive trip.

Flew down to Cancun on Southwest with points from Oakland, California. Picked up the ADO bus at the Cancun airport for the one hour drive to Playa del Carmen. After a dinner at Señor Frogs we boarded the ferry to Cozumel. A short taxi ride to Villa Aldora and we were there after a long travel day.

Took it easy on Friday and rested up, explored downtown using the hotel bicycles, stopped by the dive shop to fill out the obligatory paperwork and got some groceries at the Mega store for the week.

Dove eight times from Saturday through Tuesday along the east side of Cozumel. All our dives were over an hour long on Nitrox (32%-36% oxygen air mixer) with a maximum depth of 90+ feet. Water temperature averaged 81ºF and the visibility (viz) was 60+ feet.

Plenty of current to move us effortlessly along as we explored this wonderful diving venue. The largest creatures from the deep we visited were Eagle Rays, both solitude individuals and multiple schools of rays along with the occasional Green Sea Turtle. The smallest critters included Flamingo Tongue snails (photo above), Arrow Crab, also known as the Spider Crab, and Fire Worms.

The rare treat for me was encountering a Caribbean Reef Octopus (photo above) during the day. These creatures usually hide themselves during daylight hours and become active at night. I visited briefly hoping he might come out of his hole and move along the reef, These animals are incredibly smart and this one chose to play it safe.

The week was wonderful. Great diving, delicious food and great weather in March. Highly recommend both Villa Aldora and Aldora Divers to our scuba diving friends and community. Next time, at least a ten day stay on the island.