I was down in Cozumel to teach an underwater photography workshop in conjunction with Blue XTSea Diving.  The owner of this shop, Christi Courtney, had attended one of my workshops a few years back, and we decided to put one together at her location.  It went great, and we’re already planning the next one.  She didn’t ask for a plug, but after diving with her operation, she’s going to get one!  Blue XTSea is simply the finest dive operation on the island.  Her fast boats are big enough for 15, but she limits the #’s to 6 passengers and 2 crew.  There was plenty of room for the cameras, and the crew knew how to handle the big rigs.  The crew are among the most experienced and friendly I’ve seen anywhere, and they know where to find the critters.  Its no wonder Scuba Diving Magazine gives this operation a perfect 100% score in their ratings!  Okay, advertisement is over!

For the workshop, we would do two dives in the morning, and then head back to do the classroom session, and then sometimes do another two dives!  I did a few dives without my camera, and a few dives shooting HD Video.  Conditions were very favorable until the day after the workshop when Hurricane Dolly (still a tropical storm while passing over Cozumel) sent the island’s government into a panic.  Not having dove Cozumel before Hurricane Wilma, its hard for me to make a comparison, but I can easily say that the diving here is better than most of the Caribbean, and if no one had told me that the island was devastated a few years back, I would have never guessed.  I guess what I’m saying is that the reports of the reef’s damage from Wilma in Cozumel seem awfully exaggerated.  The massive cavern and swim-through formations at depths of 60-120’ are among the most dramatic I had ever seen, and with visibility always over 100’, safety stops were stellar, as we drifted over a labyrinth of ancient coral deep below.  The reef in the shallows had good sponge and coral growth, and there was even a “muck dive” section (although its hard to call it muck when you can see clear across the reef), and there were turtles on almost every dive.  And Christi promised seahorses and splendid toadfish - check and check!  All in all, a great environment for a photography workshop, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Images from the below gallery were shot with the Nikon D2x, Aquatica Housing, Ikelite DS-125 strobes, and either the Tokina 10-17 fisheye zoom lens, or the Nikon 105 micro lens.  I also shot u/w HD video with the Sony HC-7 in the Ikelite housing.