In April 2007 we took a holiday in Mexico, attracted by the diving and of course the food. We had a wonderful time, and have brought back lots of photos! We also took a few video clips underwater, which we have posted on YouTube. The first is from our day on Cozuemel and the second from our last dive at a site called Savalos.
The videos are also linked below (they should work as long as you have Flash installed for your browser, although some browsers may block them). You can run the video by pressing the large arrow button in the middle of the picture.
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The view on arriving in reception at the Magic Blue Hotel. Our room is right at the top in the middle!
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Our room from the balcony...
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...and looking down towards the pool! Lovely and warm, it was.
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Ruth having a wee rest after our 10 hour flight.
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Watching Mexican TV so Ruth could try out her Spanish.
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The hotel at night - a lovely sight coming back after dinner!
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The first day's diving, and a shallow dive at Gardinas. A spotted Moray hiding under a rock.
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A blue striped grunt gliding past a brain coral.
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Grunts crowding round a coral head.
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A spotted Goatfish pretending to be a part of the seabed.
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A Green Moray, this time a big one, about 6" in diameter.
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Ruth gives me a slightly suspicious look!
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Day two saw us at a Cenote called Dos Ochos. Tree roots come down through the limestone roof as another party of divers set off in the crystal clear water.
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We get a final briefing from our guide before we set off on our first cavern dive!
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The water was just completely clear, you could see as far as the beam of a torch could reach. You could almost forget you were underwater as we set off.
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The cenotes are filled with stalactites, stalagmites and pillars formed by water running through them long before they were flooded.
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We followed a yellow "cave line" which was tied off a regular intervals like this, so we didn't get lost.
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These pillars and stalagmites look just like ones we have seen in caves above water. Although it's quite dark we were never completely out of sight of daylight...
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...or more than 60m from an entrance. This one is the "Bat Cave" where a ladder leads up and bats roost among the stalactites in the roof.
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Surfacing after the dive, the jungle looks pretty amazing as we look out of the cavern.
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Afterwards we have lunch at the cenote, and a friendly Coati comes to say hello...
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...becoming very friendly with one of our group!
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Back in Playa Del Carmen checking our "La Quinta", the touristy 5th Avenue area.
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There are lots of colourful restaurants for us visitors to frequent.
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This guy is making fresh guacamole for us at the table! Our favourite.
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Ruth tucking in to some chicken cooked in a banana leaf.
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While I have a mixed grill of Mexican delicacies.
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5th Avenue was always busy even late into the evening, although we didn't see much of the late night scene!
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Back to diving in the ocean now, and big Blue Angelfish.
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Our first turtle - they are slow but very deliberate as they graze algae off the bottom.
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A fish navigating between all our bubbles.
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A featherstar of some sort? We couldn't identify this one in our book!
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Another turtle. You often seem to see them surrounded by parrotfish, wrasse and angelfish hoping the turtle will turn up some morsel on the bottom they can grab.
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This turtle was about 4ft long in the shell, and was wedged into a cave sleeping with a big Green Moray sharing its shelter! I love the yellow and purple Fairy Basslets, they are just so cheery.
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When fish look at you, you don't really get the impression they see you. With turtles though, you really feel that they are checking you out!
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This turtle was heading off to the surface when we came across it.
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I was relaxing on the beach after a hard mornings diving, watching someone brave parasailing...
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...hard to tell from this distance, but that's Ruth up there!!!
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Safely back on terra firma.
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Ruth hovering again, this time back in the water.
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This is one of our favourite fish, and we saw one very like it in Egypt 18 months ago. On neither occasion have we been able to ID it in our book! For scale, it's about 12 inches across the head!
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Corals at a dive site called Chun-zumbul.
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A Scrawled Filefish hiding...
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...but not as effectively as this 2ft long trumpetfish!
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These are some of my favourites, Flamingo Tongue Snails grazing on a blue Sea Fan.
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An afternoon off diving again, so we headed off to the Mayan ruins at Tulum, only to find these guys playing music up a pole...
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...then as we watched in wonder, four of them rolled off the platform and slowly descended head first on ropes spinning around the pole!!!!
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Ruth and the Ruins.
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One of the outer parts of the Tulum complex against the sea. It's a beautiful blue along this part of the coast!
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An large lizard of some sort in amongst the foliage.
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The main temple at Tulum, dating back to between 1200 and 1450, although the site was first occupied around the year 500.
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More ruins. These pictures just don't adequately show how hot it was that day! We were baked!
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Ruth in front of part of the outer wall.
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A Thai restaurant in Mexico, complete with water features.
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The next tay we took the ferry to Cozuemel for a change of scenery. The corals here seem bigger and better formed.
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A Creole Wrasse peeping out of a big Netted Barrel Sponge
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A Turtle with a couple of Grey Angelfish
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Ruth checks the time remaining on our safety stop as we drift past a turtle with our guide in the background.
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A big (maybe 3ft) Black Grouper
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Fish everywhere over the coral.
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I love the colouring of these Stoplight Parrotfish.
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A Black Durgon hovering over a coral head.
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A cluster of brightly coloured corals and sponges.
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One of two Yelllow Stingrays we saw.
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This bizarre wisp of a fish is a Spotted Drum.
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Orange Boring Spong living on a coral.
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Another day, another safety stop. The water was just so clear at Cozuemel.
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Mr Chillis - a cheesy restaurant on Cozuemel where we had lunch one day.
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Back on the mainland. Can you spot the crab (or is it a lobster?) in this coral formation?
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These Squirrelfish tend to dart off into their burrows when approached, but I just caught this one before it disappeared.
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Fish. I'm pretty sure at least one is a Blue Tang.
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Foureye Butterfly, there was an endless variety of butterflyfish darting about.
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Another turtle lazily checking me out before going back to grazing.
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The restaurant we had lunch in on the very last day, right before heading to the airport. Sad times.
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OK so Ruth isn't exactly showing how sad we were because she's just seen her favourite on the menu... Fresh Guacamole!
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These last photos were all taken by Ruth. Here's me on the surface before a dive on the first day.
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A nice group shot of Blue Striped Grunts and Bermuda Chub.
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Me with a mushroom on my head. Why couldn't she take a nice one of me eh? I take lovely ones of her!
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You can just see a big school or Tarpon in the distance - these gamefish are 3 or 4ft long!
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Heading across a sandy bottom towards the next section of the reef.
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Banded Butterflyfish. You usually see butterflyfish in pairs but Ruth is much better at snapping them together than me!
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A curious turtle with a Blue Angelfish and Spanish Hogfish.
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A cloud of little jellyfush to ascend through - these guys were only about an inch across but still sting!
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Corals.
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The other Yellow Stingray....
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A turtle heading off to the surface for a wee breath of fresh air. This is one of my favourites.
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A French Angelfish.
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Angelfish often come in pairs too, and once again Ruth does a better job of catching them together than me.
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Even these ones trying to take advantage of the turtle feeding to steal a snack.
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Ha, one on its own. Although this time she's captured it surrounded by tiny Wrasse Blennies which appear to be cleaning it.
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A Rock Beauty. Ruth didn't manage to get this one with its partner.
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We love these little Smooth Trunkfish. They are just shaped completely unlike fish.
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A Spanish Hogfish co-operating with the camera for once.
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A lovely pair of Blue Tang. The colour of these fish is slightly irridescent and just defines "Blue" for me!
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OK, that's a better one of me. Thanks Ruth.
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Another pair, this time of Spotfin Butterflyfish.
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This one is a triumph, a lovely silhouette looking along an overhang.
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Dante, our guide from Scuba Libre. He did a really good job of making sure we didn't miss anything, and ensuring no-one drowned on the trip!
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And finally......... We just loved the mexican food. This is just some tortilla chips (they are not the same as the ones here, much nicer) with a selection of salsa. Lovely.
That's all folks!!!
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