Cozumel met Wilma... (Lots of pictures)

[Ms. Toad]

(Subtitle: How I spent my (daughter's and spouse's) spring break)

My Christmas present this year was a diving trip to Cozumel (during spring break for the two student members of the family - I had to play hooky). I posted one photo in another thread and promised a separate thread - here it is (finally)! From a photographic perspective, the more interesting photos are at the end of the post.

Cozumel was hit by Wilma last October (and also by Emily in July). Lots of damage is still evident.

Most of the trees looked like this:


A school less than a block from our hotel and the view across a vacant lot between our hotel and the main drag for the cruise ship clientele (8-10 blocks away):
and

We rented some wheels for $5 for the day to see the rest of the island. Some of you will remember these from your youth - no it was NOT one of the recent reissues. (All of the upright posts that are visible supported roofs before Wilma):


The south end of the island looked like this. The south end is out of the main tourist reach, so not much rebuilding has gone on there:
and this:

Much of the underwater world is covered with a layer of sand:
and

But they are working hard at rebuilding. Our hotel in the background is already all spiffied up. This is the second dock our hotel was rebuilding (they lost two out of three) - and I couldn't resist the underwater concrete worker donning scuba gear:


(They left one of the underwater workers underwater one of the days we were there. He came up to discover the rest of the work crew MIA.)

On the whole, much less underwater damage than I feared, and lots of critters:








The grin on my baby's face when she surfaced after her first dive made my day. Breathing underwater was more emotionally challenging than she expected - and she came close to dropping out of the training class on more than one occasion. Her self-portrait will be in the contest this month, with her new friend for whom breathing underwater comes much more naturally!


But all good things must come to an end:

[Immad2]

1. These pictures are gorgeous! Underwater photos have always struck me with

"Look at those beautiful colors!" and "Amazing!" They just made my day. Thanks, Ms Toad, for sharing and excellent job.

[Ms. Toad]

4. It really is like a fairyland underwater

A still camera only captures a fraction of it - wonder how much housing for my video camera would cost....

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures.

[TahitiNut]

5. Amen.

It's almost impossible to describe, I think. It's like visiting another planet - one on which we can fly! I'm a bit envious of your daughter. I can remember the nearly complete joy of my very first open ocean dive. It's easy to remember, since I had much of that feeling on almost every dive including the last I did. (Sigh. It's been over 10 years. Withdrawal is tough.) It took me about 50 dives to learn how to breathe ... without sucking the tank dry in 20 minutes. Wanting to stay down and push the tables is a strong motivation. It's a "Zen thing."

I'm always fascinated by the trigger fish. Before I first saw one on a dive, I wouldn't have believed any fish really looked like that, with the colors and patterns. I'm glad they're 'bold' enough to hang around for pictures.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Yep-pretty impossible to describe...

and nearly impossible to resist the draw back down once you've been there. Too bad it (and other similar fairylands) are so far away...somehow I don't think the cold Ohio mudpits will quite satisfy my daughter after having done her first dives in Cozumel.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. These are beautiful photographs...

I suspect I would be as "emotionally challenged" as your daughter if I were to try scuba diving, but your underwater photos are amazing. I wish I wasn't such a coward when it comes to such things, but I really like my feet planted on terra firma. I can handle flying, but if I'm in water, I get really nervous if I can't stand up and still breathe the air. :scared:

[Ms. Toad]

3. Thanks!

My spouse has the same problem. We went through training together up to the open water part. She was fine in the pool where she easily reach the air. Then she got down about 30-40 feet on the first open water dive (she swears it was 90'), decided that she couldn't make it to the top on one breath and bolted. Woke up the next morning and decided she just wanted to snorkel for the rest of the trip.

Periodically she looks at the underwater pictures, or down at me as she snorkels over the top of me while I'm diving, and decides she's going to get certified....someday. It would be nice - but she enjoys snorkeling and since I'm not a fanatic about deep dives we can generally do both in the same location.

Our daughter's challenges started in the pool (I suspect partly caused by poorly adjusted equipment). Once she got into the open water she actually used less air than I did (generally the more scared you are, the more air you use).

[F.Gordon]

6. Really appreciate the "vacation" you've given me

With these excellent photos.

That last photo is a real print me-frame me-hang me on the wall shot. The infinite horizon of the sunset and being framed by the silhouette..... really like that.

The underwater stuff? Hey, what can I say? I watched 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
:scared: :silly: There is definitely an otherly world beauty to those photos but me thinks I'll keep trying to come up with a decent land-locked snap before I venture "with the fishies".

Oh... good friends go there every year. We are going to go in 2004 on a cruise and meet them but I opted out to work the GOTV. Priorities and all.
:patriot:

Anyhoooo... they always talk bout' this famous bar there. Don't remember the name of it. Does that ring a bell?

[Ms. Toad]

7. Don't know how many of the bars survived...

If it was in the standard cruise line portion of the island it likely is still there. Those were gussied up real quickly, since the cruise ships bring in a good portion of the revenue of the island. If it was on the south end of the island, see the two pictures from the south end of the island...most cruise line tourists don't have time to travel that far afield.

The bars that come up as famous are all in the area either hit hardest or not yet prettied up for tourists.

Coconuts is still there - it was the busiest place on the east coast when we drove by on our island tour.

A Reggae Bar (which also comes up as a famous bar) is probably the one with the concrete sign down in the photo above - or the one in the picture to its left - which was across the road. The first was open, but not much business, and the second was completely dead.

The location of Mescalitos (the third bar that comes up - mentions a nude beach and spectacular views of the ocean, as well) is at the point where no-man's land begins - the road north from there is completely impassable. I didn't notice the bar, but I wasn't looking for it so I don't know if it vanished or not. (One post-Wilma reference I found says it just reopened.)

Any of those ring a bell?

Thanks for the compliments, by the way!

[F.Gordon]

9. No ringing bells (on the bar names)

Our decision not to take the cruise (which we won through our biz) turned out to be a good one. I forgot to mention that the ship was hit by a barge at dock and after repairs were done they spent the entire time at sea. No ports of call.

We may take our friends up on the trip one of these days. It's just that Ms F and myself aren't "sit on the beach and drink" kinda people. Like to "see and do".