Today we saw Pilot Whales in Cozumel!

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The diving and surface interval have been exciting and unexpected in Cozumel this last month! As I have already blogged, a couple of days ago we saw False Killer Whales on our dive at Yucab reef, today we had the incredible good luck to run into Pilot Whales during our surface interval! One of them swam right under the bow as I leaned over and took photos. I wish I had had my little GOPRO Hero2...a video would have been better than photos. Of course, you never have what you need handy, right? zuWe saw Pilot Whales last year at this exact time, and apparently the False Killer whales have been seen this time of year for 4 years, so it appears a migration is taking place. No complaints here! It is so exciting to see these gorgeous mammals. I love July in Cozumel! Of course, I love Cozumel any time of the year. Since Jacques Cousteau discovered the reef system here in the 1960s, many divers make pilgrimages to the second largest barrier reef on the planet. He made the Palancar Reef famous, and one cannot dive it in one dive...it takes several. The sites are split up into Palancar Horseshoe, Palancar Gardens, Palancar Pinnacles, and a few other Palancars I cannot remember the names of right now. Today we dove Palancar Gardens, a lovely and colorful dive, then we did our surface interval at El Cielo Cove, a shallow area south of Palancar filled with seastars, conchs, and various other sand bottom creatures. I took photos of the cushion seastars, then we headed to Tormentos (Tornado) Reef for our second dive. It was on the way to Tormentos we ran into the Pilot Whales. It was thrilling to see them, especially the one who swam with the boat for a while.

Tormentos was great as well, squid, giant parrotfish, crabs, groupers...and so much more. The diving is outstanding here with clear blue waters and colorful coral. I love diving, and I enjoy diving in different places, but I'm like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz: here's no place like home!

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