Deep Wall Drifting and Bioluminescent Nights
Cozumel is a beautiful small island that lies just six miles off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It is one of the top diving destinations in the world. The reefs around the island are part of the nationally protected Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. Because of this, Cozumel’s deep walls sustain an abundance of life. Also, Cozumel is famous for it’s thrilling drift diving. In addition, be transported into another world while surrounded with bioluminescence during a night dive.
Deep Walls
Santa Rosa, San Francisco, and Villa Blanca are just a few of the amazing wall dives in Cozumel. Their depths start shallow and go down to about 120′. With water visibility up to 100′, you need to pay attention to your depth.
The coral and animal life are abundant. When we dove San Francisco, the current took us along nicely at 3-4 knots and we spotted a graceful and serine Eagle Ray in the distance.
Drifting Along
Floating along with the current in Cozumel is so much fun. The Yucab reef is at 50′-60′ and usually has a strong current. It’s exciting to to go with the flow and fly by the low profile reef heads, which range from 10′-12′ tall. On our dive we saw Trunk Fish, Moray eel, lobster, an anemone, and a group of Queen Angels!
Night Diving
Doing a back roll off of a dive boat into the pitch black ocean can be a little unnerving. What is awaiting you down there? But, from the moment that your dive light illuminates the water, all is well. You have just entered an amazing world. The coral are active and displaying vibrant oranges and reds. At Cozumel’s Paradise Reef we saw an octopus, many squirrel fish, giant crabs and huge Queen Angels.
We had the privilege of diving Paradise Reef during a full moon. When we shut off our dive lights and waved our arms around, we saw that we were surrounded by an innumerable amount of tiny blue bioluminescent plankton! It was a spectacular experience!
Have you experienced scuba diving in Cozumel? How did drift diving go for you? Ever gone down during the night? Leave a comment and share your experience.