This was going to be my last day of dving for this trip. Since I was only planning to do 2 dives today, I decided not use nitrox. I would later regret that decision. Today's group was smaller and all the familiar faces (dive buddies) were back home or about to leave. We sailed on a smaller boat, not the catamaran that we were using all week. Althought this boat was smaller, it could easily fit 15+ divers. The divemasters were different this time as well. There was Jesus and Raymundo who was my nitrox instructor. It's funny that I went out with Raymundo on my first dive in Cozumel and now I'm on my last dive. I was lucky that throught this trip there were no crowds on the boats and the hotel was on a minimal occupancy. I was given one of the best rooms and the best individualized attention. I was told that two groups of 30+ people were arriving on the day I was leaving. I really luck out.
First Dive: Colombia Reef
This was my second time to Colombia. The boat trip there took a whole hour to get there. The weather was sunny and clear. My divemaster this time was Jesus. I had a long chat with him on the way to the dive site. He was telling me about the creatures and how he wanted to start a business in video photography. We got into the water at about 9:30 am. As the last time, the scenery was breathtaking, pinnacles, drop-offs and swim-thrus. Here's a picture while brossing one of those swim-thrus:
We were also graced by a sea turtle that cruised above us:
We finished the dive on a sandy area. My maximum depth on this dive was 95 ft and I was already approaching my time to ascend. So I started to hover above the group at about 40 ft. This is shen a shool of horse eye jacks passed in front of me. A horse eye jack is called "jurel" in Spanish. I remember from my childhood that "jurel" was a low quality fish, good only for soups. Here's a close-up picture of a "jurel", it was about 3 ft away from me and it must have been 2.5 ft long:
Last Dive: Tormentos Reef
My previous dive was not very enjoyable. There were two women in the group that had horrible "diver etiquette." They would chase the divemaster, monopolize time with creatures that were found and cut you off on a swim-thru. They should be sent back to finishing school.
So, I decided to switch groups. On this dive, I went with Raymundo, my nitrox instructor. I believe the two girls going with him were on a course dive. Anyway, the group was smaller and it turn out to be more enoyable dive. From the get go we saw nice creatures like this king crab:
On the briefing, Raymundo told us that were going to see a "huge" drum fish. How did he know? It looks like they really know the neighborhood. We'll see if fulfill his promise ...
After seeing the crab, we spotted a huge spiny lobster. I believe this is one of the biggest ones I've seen. It must have been 2 ft long ...
After that I swam to a sandy area where I noticed something moving up and down. It was "jawfish". They are difficult to photograph because they retreat to their hole when you approach them. Here's a picture of the jawfish hiding in its hole:
Patience reward photographers, so here's a picture of the same jawfish, completely out of its hole, after several minutes of quiet and patient waiting:
Jawfish have beautiful tail fins. The coral formations on this reef were beautiful and colorful. The visibility was also great. There must have been nearly 100 ft of visibility. I passed by this staghorn coral. It looks like a picture from a fish tank.
Afterwards, I rejoined the group, and Raymundo, the divemaster, pointed out this scorpion fish. On this picture, I caught a shot from its side.
Raymundo also found a nudibranch. It was sitting on grassy plant. It was bright red and white. Unfortunately, I could not get a good shot. Every attempt I made to photograph a nudibranch on this trip had resulted on an out-of-focus picture. Even with the macro setting, this camera could not focus well in those conditions.
Instead, I did get a great picture of this scrawled filefish as it passed by in front of me. It measured about 1.5 ft long. On this picture, the fish seems to be suspended on air.
Now came the time when Raymundo fullfilled his promise. We spotted a "huge" spotted drum fish. This one must have been 4 inches long. It was "chubby" as well. As usual it was swimming inside its coral hole.
At about 55 ft and 55 minutes into the dive we found a sea horse. I was already running out of air and my dive computer was telling me that I was getting into decompression. What a bummer! This is when nitrox comes into play, unfortunately, that day I was using air, nitrox would have given me more bottom time. Since this was my last dive and were in a group of four people, we extended the dive a few more minutes. We checked our air and some people in the group had spare air to share. We spent more time trying to get a good shot at the seahorse. Here's probably my best shot at a seahorse on this trip:
We spent close to 5 minutes taking pictures, more than we should have. Raymundo took this picture of me with the seahorse and this is was only one of three.
After a barrage of pictures, we quickly started our ascent. We were past our limits already. We were 1 hour 2 mins into the dive and my dive computer was already blinking saying that I was entering into decompression. At 20 ft and 2 minutes into the safety stop, I was essentially out of air. I started to share air with Sofia, who was also in our group. She still had 1000 psi! We spent about 11 minutes on the safety stop, but still my dive computer was saying that I needed 10 more minutes of decompression. In the end, we finished the dive with no problems and that last seahorse was worth it :D. Here's the graph of my dive profile:
Lessons Learned:
- Use nitrox whenever you can, you never know when you will be running into an interesting creature.
- Nitrox is the best friend of underwater photography.
- Only attempt to push the limits when you have a trustworthy buddy, but watch for overly aggressiveness.
- Do not try this at home. This was a one-off situation.
Post Dive Notes: