"Paradise", Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 30', W 86° 57'
Dive Number 234		Buddy Neva	Surface temp ~30°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 40ft	Visibility good	Time 45m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 800psi
Notes:	Off cruise dive in Cozumel: Highlights included spotted eel, trumpet fish, sleeping stingray, baby queen angel, huge grey angel, and lobster. then we came up and snorkelled with the other kids!

Unnamed coral reef, Isla Mujeres, Mexico			N 21° 12.1', W 86° 44.0'
Dive Number 189		Buddy Gerry	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 24ft	Visibility very good	Time 48m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1400psi
Notes:	We had a short surface interval before our second dive while we traveled to the reef. I had packed BCD, regulator and fins but elected to leave them at the hotel and use the dive operator's equipment to spare myself the task of carrying them around Cancun afterwards in case we lingered and dined in Cancun afterwards. Unfortunately I also left my dive computer behind so had to recall the dive details without it. It was fine to log a second dive but this was more of a sandy bottom dive punctuated by a few reef outcroppings than a real reef dive. Another turtle was present, and plenty of the same varieties of fish we'd seen on our earlier dive this morning, but we would have been no poorer if we'd skipped this one. We returned to the resort immediately after and had some lunch with Ursula and Cheryl. Yay!

MUSA, Isla Mujeres, Mexico			N 21° 12.1', W 86° 44.0'
Dive Number 188		Buddy Gerry	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 25ft	Visibility very good	Time 47m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
Notes:	We had managed to book a short Cancun getaway with Ursula and Gerry and the one dive that is considered a must is the Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA). We dove with an outfit called Aquaworld and our check in time of 7:30 required us to depart our resort shortly after 6am (for Gerry this was equivalent to 4am Pacific Time and for me a slightly less draconian departure of 7am EST). We dove without wetsuits (me bearing 8 lbs weight for salt water) and were rewarded with a few large schools of grunt, French and queen angelfish, and a curious turtle, in addition to the underwater statues.

Palencar Caves, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.2' W 87° 1.6'
Dive Number 175		Buddies Neva, Kevin, Josée	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 61ft	Visibility excellent	Time 54m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Neva had four "wishes" for her diving here. She had already seen free swimming sharks and planty of turtles, but so far no rays or eels. Josée's sinuses had improved enough that she and Kevin both joined Neva and I for this afternoon's dives. Our divemaster indicated that there would be several swimthroughs on this dive, but that as a junior diver, that Neva and I ought to stick to the simplest of these only. The terrain and swimthroughs made the topology interesting, and Neva and I joined in all but a couple of the deepest swimthroughs. Early in the dive, Josée spied both a spotted moray and a stingray fluttering around the bottom. Later we also saw a freeswimming green moray! It rained for much of the dive, but the skies were clear as we exited the water. Neva was feeling cold, so we scrubbed our remaining afternoon dive, and I used the credit to pay for PADI's Enriched Air certification. Here's a picture of the spotted moray: And here are buddies topside... ... and underwater!

La Francesca, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.5' W 87° 1.2'
Dive Number 174		Buddy Neva	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 54ft	Visibility excellent	Time 53m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	It was a little milder today. Neva and I joined the morning dive to the Francesca reef. We got in a few turtle sightings and another couple free-swimming nurse sharks, like the one you might be able to make out in the distance of this photo.

San Francisco, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 22.2' W 87° 1.6'
Dive Number 173		Buddies Neva, Kevin	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 57ft	Visibility excellent	Time 58m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 900psi
Notes:	Two evenings earlier, as we were walking back to our room after diving, we ran into my old Dolphin Scuba Club buddy Kevin Leblanc and his wife Josée, who just happened to be vacationing at the same resort as us! By this morning, Neva had successfully completed her course and Kevin joined us for a dive on one of the morning's charter excursions. Diving was good, and we were particularly enchanted by a juvenile queen angelfish that eluded my attempts to photograph it. Here's a stock photo for reference: For part of this dive, Neva continued to work on her buoyancy with legs crossed in the lotus position. Topside, we took another group shot to share with Dolphin dive buddies back home.

Columbia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 19.0' W 87° 1.0'
Dive Number 172		Buddy Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 40m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
NITROX		O2 % 33%	Depth Limit 107ft	CNS Toxicity 5%
Notes:	Well, this was interesting: Our resort had a problem with one of its air compressors, so we had picked up a few extra tanks from a neighbouring resort. While preparing for the dive, a detected a leak coming from the connection between the tank and Neva's regulator. When the problem persisted with other tanks we figured out that the loaner tanks were DIN-type instead of standard yoke-type that would match our regs. Jay asked if I would be OK to dive with one of the nitrox tanks they had and I agreed, so we swapped Neva to my [air] tank and I got a quick briefing in nitrox, and dove with it. A can't say I felt any different at the end of the dive, but was glad for the intro to nitrox. I would go on to complete the PADI Enriched Air course before we left Cozumel four days later. Neva successfully completed her last open water training dive, and it only remained for her to challenge the exam for certification card! There were lots of [hawksbill] turtles on this dive. Here's a picture of one.

Punta Dalila, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.7' W 87° 1.2'
Dive Number 171		Buddies Neva, Jay	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 28ft	Visibility excellent	Time 52m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1400psi
Notes:	Neva's third open water dive. Some other divers joined us for her open water skills, and the skills went fine, although it seemed to me that she might have been distracted during her navigation exercise by the presence of a cute porcupinefish. After, we got to explore a little and were treated to more fishies, turtles and good times. Here's a picture of her pointing at something.

Palencar Gardens, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.2' W 87° 1.6'
Dive Number 170		Buddies Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 29ft	Visibility excellent	Time 53m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1300psi
Notes:	Neva's second open water dive. More skills, and no problems. This dive she got see more turtles and a nurse shark under a rock. She's still mugging for the camera, but isn't accidentally making the "thumbs up" any more.

Columbia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 19.0' W 87° 1.0'
Dive Number 169		Buddy Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 54m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Neva and I arrived in Cozumel and I had planned on doing as much snorkelling as she liked, but when she said she'd rather take her open water course, I was glad to go along! She spent much of the day on the 8th watching videos and doing knowledge reviews. After a pool session in the morning, we went out for her first basic open water dive. She completed a quick skills test, and then we went off to explore the reef. We saw some big lobsters, a big crab, and the biggest parrotfist I have ever seen (a midnight parrotfish). We're still working on indicating approval with something other than the thumbs up signal to ascend.

Chacal-Al, Riviera Maya, Mexico			N 20° 29', W 87° 13'
Dive Number 135		Buddy Jim	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 73ft	Visibility excellent	Time 55m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 750psi
Notes:	For the afternoon dive from the resort, our leader was Sergio, and I was buddied with Jim Ryder, the Montana diver who I'd been paired with for yesterday's cenotes dives. Although five of us dove en masse, two ended their dive after about 30 minutes because of low air, and the remaining three of us stayed on the reef to enjoy a little more bottom time. I was pleased to see yellowtail damselfish (one of my favourite fish) on this dive, as well as large school of blue tang. The photos are of some of the tang, as well as a smooth trunkfish. So ends my diving for 2010!

Cuevitas, Riviera Maya, Mexico			N 20° 29', W 87° 13'
Dive Number 134		Buddy Dan	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 48m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1350psi
Notes:	For the second day, harbours in Cozumel were closed, so I joined the daily dives offered by Dressel Divers to the reefs offshore from the resort. This first dive was with Giorgia, who led four of us out of twelve total divers. Although the highlight of the dive was a set of three French angelfish, my photos are of a squid and a foureye butterflyfish. I managed to see a couple queen angels, a lobster, and two puffers that my dive buddies missed. We also saw a spotted drum.

Chak Mool, Riviera Maya, Mexico			N 20° 36', W 87° 12'
Dive Number 133		Buddy Jim Ryder	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 2950psi
Depth 43ft	Visibility excellent	Time 41m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1750psi
Notes:	For some reason, the two Ottawa divers who formed part of our foursome for the first dive opted out of the second. Their loss: The return to Chak Mool was more beautiful, more convoluted, and featured a short stop in an air pocket that connected to the surface, from which the bottom of tree trunks could be seen that pierced into the top of the cavern. The salt/fresh-water halocline created a very mild thermocline as well, and it was unusual to dive in a place that got warmer as it got deeper. I'm grateful to Fernando for suggesting that I log cenotes dives while on vacation in the Yucatan.

Chak Mool, Riviera Maya, Mexico			N 20° 36', W 87° 12'
Dive Number 132		Buddy Jim Ryder	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 2950psi
Depth 43ft	Visibility excellent	Time 37m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 1950psi
Notes:	I hooked up with the folks at Dressel Divers while on vacation at the Barcelo Maya Hotel for Brad and Karine's wedding. I had taken it under advisement that a dive of one of the cenotes was in order, as well as Cozumel. Normally, a diver would do Cozumel first (so that divemasters could ensure adequate buoyancy control for cavern diving), but with they allowed me to join an expedition to Chak Mool today instead. The first dive of the cenote was a simple one - we followed a line around a cave lit from a single opening that was within view at all times. The water was warm, and the experience was unique, although it was really just a primer for the second cenote.