Cozumel underwater shots - Part 1

[Raf]

Well, some of you may have known, Diana and I took off to Cozumel Mexico for a week. As you can imagine we got a lot of pics! I made some 300 underwater shots alone!!

Anyways, I thought I would share a sample. Part 1 was shot at Palancar Reef Gardens and Columbia reef, some of the largest reefs in the world!

More pix of fish, inverts and corals to come in Parts 2 and 3.

Enjoy

Chub? These fish were everywhere following us around, one even bit my finger thinking it was food.

Gorgeous caribbean chromis!

Spot the Rock Beauty Angel?

How about a French Angel

Gray Angel

And the almighty Queen Angel(these guys had attitude!)

Black Trigger

Giant Pufferfish

Large school of Altantic Blue Tangs

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Baracuda!

more pix to come

 

[michael_cb_125]

Awesome shots.

 

[Raf]

Part 2

These shots were taken at Dzul-ha, an awsome snorkeling destination!

A seafan haven!

mini reefs all over the place!

urchin

snappers

ray

golden moray!

juvie french angel

hawkfish i have never seen before!

juvie french angel hiding underneath a large coral

gorgonian

juvie filefish hiding alongside a seafan! a rare sight!!!

fanworm

christmas tree worm

butterfly pair

blue tang

more pics to come

 

[Dentoid]

Great shots! How deep? Were you using a flash?

 

[Raf]

Thanks, depths vary by location. The first shots at Palancar and Columbia are about 30 feet or more...the Dzul-ha shots are shallow between 5 and 15 feet.

Yes, flash was used that was built into the camera, would have liked to have outside strobes to light up the area but considering I was using a pocket digicam, I think the shots came out pretty good

 

[Dentoid]

They're awesome! I was remembering R-O-Y-G-B-I-V from my diving days.

 

[Raf]

Part 3

These shots were taken just off our resort's beach. We snorkeled towards the end of the beach were people rarely ventured and got to see some neat things. The day was breezy so the water clarity was not that great. Depths vary from 5 feet to 10 feet.

Ricordias!!!!

Gorgonians everywhere!

Nudibranchs that either feed off of or live on the gorgonians

juvie altlantic blue tang

blue ringed flounder

fireworm

conch

caulerpa sp.

boxfish

crappy shot but a cool sight, batfish!

anenome!!!

this location had a lot of caulerpa species and we were really thinking we might see some seahorses. Well, we did not find any but DID fins pipefish, unfortunately we did not get any good shots.

 

[lcstorc]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

 

[cheeks69]

Awesome shots Raf, thanx for sharing !

 

[prow]

nice . looks like you had alot of fun exploring. thanks for sharing, very cool :bluenod:



makes me want a much bigger tank:invisible

 

[Snappy]

Awesome stuff Raf. Aint diving great!!!!!!

 

[bluespotjawfish]

No spotted toadfish? Or drumfish?

 

[bluespotjawfish]

Your shots are very nice. Did you get to do a night dive? That was my favorite dive! The toadfish are only found in Cozumel. Did you see any?

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Awesome pictures.. Thanks for sharing.... I would of wanted to bring them all home.

 

[aquaman3680]

Did you buy an underwater casing for the camera or something? How did you do that? Amazing shots!

Matt

 

[vdituri]

Wow! I want to go next time!
Looks like tons of stuff to look at. Sounds like you had a blast.

 

[Raf]

Thanks guys and gals, we did actually see a drum...I have a pic but not a very good one. As for toadfish, only saw one but it was hidden so deep under a rock that the camera could not pick it up.

As for housing for the camera, believe it or not, all shots were taken snorkeling with an Olympus Stylus 720 SW 7.1 megapix compact digital camera.

Olympus Stylus 720 SW Digital: Digital Photography Review

This camera is waterproof to 15 feet and worked great. I would go diving but Diana had ear troubles which prevented her from diving. I decided it was best to snorkel with her instead, these shots were taken then. Was very nice and we enjoyed it a lot!

We will definately go back. Our hosts at the Ibero Star Cozumel were fantastic, the food was very good and the hospitality even better. I highly reccomend it to anyone wanting an affordable vacation not too far away from the States or Canada.

 

[bluespotjawfish]

I agree, Cozumel was very affordable! I hope you get to dive next time!
I forgot about all the cool stuff we saw. It was my first trip with my underwater camera. If you aren't tired of pics, here is a photoshow of my diving in 2005 (the show is 5-10 minutes long, so grab some popcorn or a snorkel).

COZUMEL - PhotoShow Circle

:lurk:

 

[Raf]

AWSOME!!

I gather that was pre-hurricane?

Nice cam and lights, what was it?

We plan on going back, it was a great time....

 

[bluespotjawfish]

Yes, pre hurricane. The camera is a Sea & Sea 5000G and the strobe is the YS-25 Auto. A fairly basic setup. The first day in the water I smoked the strobe and had to rent one. I'm kinda glad I did, because I discovered a great photo shop on the island and as a result learned a lot about how to take pics with my camera. Everyday I would take my pics to Holly and she would download them and tell me what to do different to get better shots.

Your pics make me want to go back. We are headed to Grand Turk in March. Trying new places for now, but we will find our way back to Cozumel at some point.

I'm glad you got to see a toadfish. They are so cool! BTW, you got some awesome shots with the simple camera you had. Getting good lighting is the hardest thing, and most people take the picture way too far away from the fish to get a good pic.