Cozumel Trip Underwater Pics!

[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. :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/chub_coz.jpg

Gorgeous caribbean chromis!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/chromis_coz.jpg

Spot the Rock Beauty Angel?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/rockbeauty_coz.jpg

How about a French Angel :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/frenchangel_coz.jpg

Gray Angel
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/grayangel_coz.jpg

And the almighty Queen Angel(these guys had attitude!)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/queen.jpg

Black Trigger
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/trigger_coz.jpg

Giant Pufferfish
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/puffer_coz.jpg

Large school of Altantic Blue Tangs
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/atlanticblue_coz.jpg

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Baracuda!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/baracuda_coz.jpg

more pix to come :)

[Raf]

Part 2

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

A seafan haven!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/seafan_dzul.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/seafans_dzul.jpg

mini reefs all over the place!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/minireef_dzul.jpg

urchin
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/urchin_dzul.jpg

snappers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/snappers_dzul.jpg

ray
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/ray_dzul.jpg

golden moray!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/moray_dzul.jpg

juvie french angel
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/juviegray_dzul.jpg

hawkfish i have never seen before!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/hawkfish_dzul.jpg

juvie french angel hiding underneath a large coral
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/juviefrench_dzul.jpg

gorgonian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/gorgonian_dzul.jpg

juvie filefish hiding alongside a seafan! a rare sight!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/filefish_dzul.jpg

[Raf]

fanworm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/fanworm_dzul.jpg

christmas tree worm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/christmasworm_dzul.jpg

butterfly pair
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/butterfly_dzul.jpg

blue tang
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/bluetang2_dzul.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/bluetang_dzul.jpg

more pics to come :)

[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!!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/ricordia_coz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/ricordia2_coz.jpg

Gorgonians everywhere!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/gorgonians2_coz.jpg

Nudibranchs that either feed off of or live on the gorgonians
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/nudibranch_coz.jpg

juvie altlantic blue tang
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/juviebluetang_coz.jpg

blue ringed flounder
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/flounder_coz.jpg

fireworm
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/fireworm_coz.jpg

conch
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/conch_coz.jpg

caulerpa sp.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/caulerpa_coz.jpg

boxfish
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/boxfish_coz.jpg

crappy shot but a cool sight, batfish!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/batfish_coz.jpg

anenome!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/Cozumel/anenome_coz.jpg

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 find pipefish, unfortunately we did not get any good shots. :)

[fishface]

nice pic's. the nudi is actually a flamingo tongue, type of snail that's typically found on gorgonians.

[Neil]

wow- awesome pics, thanks for sharing. I went diving in jamaica and wish it was half that good.

[fishmaster]

Get me on the next flight to mexico!!!

[Snappy]

Thanks for sharing Raf. I love diving!!!!

[Joe Reefer]

Wicked pics!!! Well done.

[Delphinus]

I find it reprehensible and disgusting how perfectly in focus each picture is!! :p Sick, sick, sick!!!!

:)

Amazing photos. Tell us what photo equipment you use? Seriously though, if you say "I used those little disposable underwater cameras" I am going to cry.

[tang daddy]

Hey Raf excellent pics thx for sharing, a couple years ago we went down to mexico aswell mayan riviera and went snorkelling in shelxa also visited the island cozumel didn't realize there were so many corals there.

[michika]

Wow, those are awesome!

Are you planning on posting more? Please say yes!

[Raf]

hehe :D

thanks guys and gals!

I can post more, just have to go through them...we made some 300 underwater and even more on land, we have some really nice ones of the resort we stayed at, would highly reccomend it to anyone.

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

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0601/06012602olympus_720sw.asp

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!

:)

[Raf]

Wow, those are awesome!

Are you planning on posting more? Please say yes!

Yes :D

I will find some other interesting shots and post them soon. :)

[Delphinus]

For some reason the link is broken, seems to be the shortened version with the "..." in it. I did find this though: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Olympus/oly_stylus720sw.asp

I'm impressed you could get such awesome shots. Well, I guess I'm not too surprised. My brother has a similar small digital camera that's waterproof up to 20 feet or something and his Hawaii shots blow mine out of the water (mine were all scanned from 35mm disposables.. they were OK, but they weren't like yours!!!)

Anyhow that's awesome. Those little waterproof cameras are pretty good!!

[Raf]

thanks for the heads up, fixed the link :)

[Ruth]

Very very nice pictures. I wish that I would have had a camera when I took my diving course in Thailand last spring because the fish and corals that I saw were so amazing.
It's actually probably a good thing I didn't though as I was having a bit of a tough time remembering to just breath properly with all the incredible life all around me.

[niloc16]

those pics are AWESOME please keep them coming. that school of atlantic blues it unbelievable