Cozumel Snorkel Pics and Video

So I just got back from a trip to Cozumel, Mexico and have several hours worth of 720p underwater video footage and some photos I took. One of the places I went the guy in this screenshot took pictures of me and tried to get me to buy them for 15 bucks each. I passed. Once I get a chance I'll start editing the videos and getting higher res screenshots. This is just a sample done with a print screen function quickly. The weather didn't cooperate as well as I had hoped so I was limited in different parts of the Island I could go to. Next time I hope to go scuba and get some better shots as I could see some nice coral, fish, and inverts about 30 feet down.

 

Hey Bud, lost track of this before I replied. I think you should do at least 1 scuba outing. You can snorkel basically anywhere off the shore. A lot of the resorts have their areas roped off with floats but oh well, it's a rope. I swam up and down the shoreline probably half a mile each way from the resort I was at and ignored the ropes. Generally theres only 1 or 2 people at a time from each resort snorkelling in these areas anyway so its not going to intrude really. But anyway if youre not into foreign trespassing it is still a great place for unplanned snorkelling. Lots of public or abandoned beachfront that has rock formations leading down into the water. The most difficult part is finding an entry point that wont get you stabbed by 12 inch around longspine urchins stuck to the rock. They are numerous. The secrets aura resort is about a 15 minute taxi ride south of where I stayed at Cozumel Palace. I didnt get south of the national park Chankanaab so I dont know what kind of snorkelling theyll have off of your resorts shore but that whole west side of the island has the best reef. As far as scuba goes, you need a boat to get to the places that make it worth it so you will want some kind of plan for that. There are reef formations a mile or two off shore that are best seen with scuba. There are also some good drift diving tours closer to shore and a brisk current that will take you down the western shoreline north to south and you can dive along the bottom viewing stuff as you pass. I tried it snorkelling but it is too much diving and surfacing in the current and you miss half of it. Anyway, Cozumel is like Mexican Hawaii and more laid back than even Playa del Carmen or Cancun. I wandered around on foot and by sea the entire western coast down to Chankanaab. Also, i wouldnt bother doing the tour of Chankanaab, its a tourist trap for cruise ship passengers. If you can get a free trip there through some resort credits maybe go, thats the only reason I did. They have a nice snorkel area but honestly they had nothing there I didnt have 15 feet outside my hotel room. I cannot stress enough, do not step on the rocks unless you can clearly see whats under your feet. Ive never seen so many urchins in my life.

 

Oh and no Im not certified but have about 12-15 hours of scuba time from previous trips to Mexico because they magically certify you with a 1 hour class. I didnt scuba this time but I highly recommend you try it, I ran into about 15 divers that came all the way from the UK to scuba there and had been for 10-30 years.

 

I have no idea where I ended up for some of these trips. I basically drifted down the whole west coast until Chankanaab.

Edit: I just looked. I never made it that far south, rats. The weather got really bad the last 2 days of my trip and didnt get a chance to dive further down the coast.

 

Oh I just meant the atmosphere and how laid back it was. All I know is that its supposedly the best reef to dive other than the great barrier reef. As to insider information as to where and what guides/boats to use I am sure theres some dive forums that might have that info. I know that all the european scuba tourists were going to places off the southwest of the island and were insistent it was the best in the world and they come there solely to scuba. I would research spots ahead of time from US or UK divers on forums as the locals will only give you the answer that makes them the most money.

 

Ill also add that a colleague at my office is a certified diver and said Cozumel was the best place she had gone for scuba and I know she has been to Australia, hawaii, carribean but not sure about bahamas. She said she really liked the drift diving and some places south west on the island.

 

I am going to try and get something spliced together this weekend. Problem is that I had the camera on a head mount so I have to stabilize a lot of the video and put the clips together so it makes sense. I have to work for some reason so haven't gotten to it yet.

 

Here's the very amateur edit of one of my trips out snorkeling. Next time I'll bring better gear. I had a camera mounted into my mask I picked up for like 35 bucks at Brookstone on an impulse when they were going out of business at Jordan Creek Mall. I think for good video it shouldn't be on the head. Also no zoom function or viewfinder. But for $35 bucks on impulse I'll take it haha. Also, up the video quality to 720p if your connection works well with it. My favorites from this are probably the little yellow/white/black wrasse looking fish that was in that gorgonian around 4:25. I found another one elsewhere and they both were very territorial chasing off fish much larger that hung around their gorgonians. At 6:00 there is an interesting file fish that decided to swim beside me for a while.

 

@Turbo's Aquatics Did you go on your trip there yet?

 

Here's what that wrasse was in the gorgonian. After seeing how those ones acted in the wild I would never get one for my tank Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Bluehead Wrasse