My friend Paul picks me up at 3:45 a.m. for my 7th Cozumel adventure. It is cool and crisp this morning in Maryland. An on time Continental departure from DCA, as was all four flights this trip. Saludos Continental. Check out all the cars on 66 and 495. It makes me glad I live in the country.

This is my Weight Watchers trip. 3 weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers to lose some tonnage. I generally go all out on food in Coz but I am going to try and stick to the program. Good tequila is 2 points, by the way. Tortas and tamales are out, as is cochinita. Grilled chicken, seafood, fruit and yoghurt are in. Chedraui has a yoghurt factory!

Suites Bahia is my hotel this solo trip. After an 11:30 a.m. arrival I have a 2 p.m. scheduled two tanks with Aldora. I am with Aldora again in the morning then with Jeremy and Living Underwater the rest of the week.

Here is the report on that dive: It was my good fortune to have booked an afternoon dive with Aldora divers November 7, 2007. Continental arrives 11:30 a.m. daily from Houston and Aldora offers afternoon trips for their divers. A quick trip through customs and a quick check in at Bahia and I am talking with Julian from the shop by 1 p.m. As we chat next to the taco vendor, who should walk by, Copilot Ron Lee, a long time Aldora customer. Knowing so far I was the only diver, outside of students accompanied by Instructor Leeann, I quickly convince Ron to go with us. Our dive master that day was Memo Mendoza, a longtime Aldoran. Memo usually has too much to do, running the business, to be a dive master. However, having dove with him before I knew we were in for a treat.

It was blowing 15-20 kts, so it was decided we would keep it easy and do a long, leisurely dive on Paraiso. The instructor and her clients do their thing and Memo, Ron Lee and I roll back in. We settle in and begin checking things out. Eels and Splendid Toadfish are out in force. Memo can see things I would go right over. He points out this and that and we go on and on. Did I say on and on? Aldora's steel 120's on a max depth of 44fsw lead to a 2 hour nine minute dive!! We could have gone on but we needed to go home some time! It was something else. The humidity was low and it is cold on the boat after the dive. Aldora's parkas come in handy. Thanks Memo, I'll remember that dive a long time!

After a shower its time to see Tony Rome. Talk with Tony and his family for a good while. Dinner at La Chef. As far as I can tell, it is 6 points for the tortilla soup and 10 points for the turkey pita. Walk to Chedraui for water, yoghurt sin graza and cereal multigrano. Day one over already.

Day two and it is blowing. After some coffee that the Bahia provides each morning, along with fruit, yoghurt, toast and pastries. I hop in the Aldora truck so we can load the boats at Caleta. Miscommunication leads to a 9:15 departure. Not good as I have a 2 p.m. boat with Living Underwater. We back roll onto Palancar Bricks for a leisurely dive. 80fsw for 67 minutes. Turtles, as they did all week, and grouper highlight the dive. Surface interval at Playa Palancar with the Aldora Cyber Divers. They've been coming to Cozumel from the USA and UK for 10 years. A great bunch.

Second dive at Punta Tunich. Current strong and steady with lots more turtles. 68fsw for 68 minutes. We surface at 2:05 p.m. and head for Caleta.

Jeremy Anschel's new boat, Jewfish, meets us off the Fiesta Americana and I grab my gear, say so long to Ron Lee, and get on board. Two very fun guys are awaiting my arrival, Ted and Tad from Houston. Jewfish is an outstanding boat. Lots of room and set up perfectly for diving. Twin 115 hp four strokes are fast and quiet. Due to our late departure we back roll onto Santa Rosa at 2:53 p.m. Strong, steady current and much better viz than my last dive here in the spring. Beautiful juvenile drums, eels and the biggest puffer fish I have ever seen. 85 fsw for 62 minutes on Nitrox 32.

My second SI of the day at Playa Palancar. Our second dive is at Paraiso. We back roll into a setting sun at 5:07 p.m. a perfect time to start a night dive as you adapt from twilight to darkness. Several octopus, lots of crabs, and much, much more. Night dives are becoming a favorite of mine, what a great dive. DM Gustavo was very good, always searching for stuff. He lured a Splendid Toadfish with his plastic baby octopus lure. 42 fsw for 75 minutes on Nitrox 36 and ca-r

a 7:30 a.m. departure on Jewfish. Palancar Bricks again, the wind and waves are dictating our agenda. Hopefully, it will lie down before long. It is, however, providing low humidity and sunny weather which I am sure the locals appreciate. Last year this time it rained 5 of 7 days-go figure. Today at Palancar Bricks was a fairly benign dive. The luck of the Irish does not shine on us this morning. 95fsw for 78 minutes. 90 minute SI at Palancar. Four Aldora boats, Blue XTSea and a local cattle boat tie up along side us. Fish Tacos- 3 for 9 bucks, not a great deal but good tacos.

Second dive at Paseo de Cedral.78 fsw for 77 minutes. Cedral is a reach dived from several approaches. From my last post in April I said this may have been my best dive ever. However, current, entry point and tons of other divers dictated our entry into the reach. However, turtles, giant green moray and a nurse shark made this a good dive, just not like last time. Back to Caleta, unload the boat, and Jeremy drops me off at Bahia.

Kick back on the malceon @ Ave 3 for awhile. I saw this guy, and for whatever reason he looks like he may be related to Ron Lee. SSS and I ask a cab to take me to La Perlita. He says it is not open for dinner. I find out later that is not true. I end up at an old favorite. El Pique. Half orderen frijoles charros, which are very good, and tres tacos arrachera. I splurged and had a ice cold Sol. However, no postre. 25 points on Weight Watchers. I stop by Tony Rome's for a minute, check email and in bed by 9:30.

Saturday November 10 and it is still blowing. Since I arrived it has been a steady 12-15 knots. White caps form at 12 knots. Jeremy said it had been 10 days and counting. It does provide perfect sunny weather on shore. First dive today at Columbia deep. What a great dive. I was here in April and it was not much. Today it was beautiful. The majestic pinnacles of coral rise from the depths. A large nurse shark and several turtles highlight this dive. We finish on Columbia regular on a reef teeming with life. 98 fsw for 68 minutes. 90 minute SI at Palancar beach club.

Our second dive is at Cedral. I know, we did it yesterday. I love it so much I requested it again. We enter further north, with no other divers around, and do the same profile I did with Mario from Aldora in April. It was simply fantastic. A giant puffer fish, first Eagle Ray of the week, giant green moray, millions of fish and this octopus sleeping in the reef. Diving with Ted and Tad from Houston. These guys define fun and it was nice diving with them.

SSS and it is dinner at La Perlita. It is open at night, until 9 p.m. in fact. I have the mero con ajo, grouper with garlic, and it is nice. They also have great service. It is raining on the way to the hotel and I am soon asleep. The rain Saturday night has dropped the wind speed down considerably.

Jeremy calls at 6:50 a.m. and says meet the boat in town we are headed north. He was supposed to be off Sunday but went along to dive just for fun. It is me, diver Ross from Vancouver, Gustavo as dm and the boat crew of Francisco and Ricardo. Just going to Barracuda gives you a little giddy up in you step. We back roll into a surprisingly moderate current. We reach a maximum depth of 111 fsw for 60 minutes. Barracuda has impressive growth and giant Hawksbill turtles and grouper. What a fun dive. As soon as we are aboard, Ricardo has a towel around your shoulders and an offer of a parka and water.

We head to our SI, hotel Playa Azul. A very nice dining room with a brunch buffet. I packed my own yoghurt and fruit so I can't comment on the food. The food looked good.

Our second dive is of course, San Juan. The current is ripping here. I must of saw a thousand trigger fish. I would have liked to keep a couple as they make good fish tacos. The finger coral is growing like a champ. As we are setting up for our safety stop, Jeremy, who led this dive, starts his exaggerated flapping motion. Here they come, 3 beautiful Eagle Rays! Heading into the current they slowly pass us by. They circle us and give us another fly by. Then another one joined them. 83 fsw for 54 minutes.What a cool site. We head back to the dock and I am in my room at Bahia just after noon. The pix of those rays did not come out good. Who knows what tomorrow's dives will bring.

I spend Sunday afternoon at Kelly's, an outdoor bar/grill with the NFL Sunday ticket so all NFL games are shown. Lots of gringos watching ball and chowing down on chicken wings. A fun place. I went to Parilla La Mission in hopes of a Scubaboard meet up but no one showed. I ended up at Tacos Diaz for a light supper and a Jamaica. The plaza was jammed Sunday night and a nice family allowed me to join them in the front row by the stage. They have been celebrating Otono cultural Cozumel all week and this was the finale. A talented musician and this dancer highlighted the evening.

It is a beautiful day Monday. We make the long trek to Punta Sur Sur. We back roll onto calm seas and join up at 70 feet. We then head to the reef. DM Gustavo immediately makes the shark sign and here they come. 5 of those bad boys. I here they're Caribbean Gray sharks but our DM said they were Black Tips. I just know they looked cool. We just relax and enjoy their show. We spend two or three minutes with them and swim ahead. But with a light current we just can't resist and swim back for another look. I got these weak pictures. We also see giant groupers and Barracuda. 104 fsw for 60 minutes. Our SI is at Playa Palancar. A beautiful, sunny Cozumel day.

Our second dive is once again at Cedral, as everyone on board loves that place. Tons of fish, swim throughs and so much else. 58 fsw for 71 minutes. I head to Bahia for a 4 hour SI and get ready for a night dive.

Our boat picks up two at Occidental and we back roll onto Dahlia just before dark. We immediately observe a sleeping nurse shark. This dive featured numerous octopus, giant crabs and lobsters. However, the highlight was a free swimming spotted eel that nabbed a fish and proceeded to twist, turn and chow down on that fish as we all watched with wide open eyes. It was so cool. We must have spent a minute with that eel but I could not get a good picture with all the commotion. 63 fsw for 80 minutes. A cup of hot chocolate and a towel await us as we head back to caleta. Jeremy and his team spoil us rotten!

Only one dive day left, a three tank special on Tuesday. I can't wait. My taco vendor buddy is on the corner of Calle 3 this morning (Tuesday) but the Weight Watcher in me says no. He has great ham and egg tortas and tacos if you are in the area from 7 to 10 a.m.

Our first of three dives is to Palancar Caves. The Cozumelnos are so friendly they put a greeting on the sea floor. An unusual current is heading north to south this morning but is very slight. We head across it and go through two beautiful swim throughs. That leads us to these beautiful Eagle Rays. We swim around 73 fsw for 74 minutes in the unusual current then do our first SI at the Conch Tree pier. 90 minutes.

Our second dive is Palancar Gardens, one of my favorites. I could dive here all day. 69 fsw for 83 minutes. SI at Playa Palancar for some more fish tacos. We chat with Jeremy and find out just how a 27 year old gringo from Minnesota was able to acquire and run such a nice business. He is quite a young man, happily married father of two.

Our third dive of the day is at San Francisco. A southern ray, an electric ray, a spotted and a golden eel, a garden eel, a very tiny nudibranch and tons of fish. A great dive to wrap up the week. 17 dives from Barracuda in the north to Punta Sur in the south. Over twenty hours underwater and 75 minute average dives. I dove with Texans, Canadians, Britain's, fellow Scubaboard members and people from all over. LivingUnderwater sure delivers a great diving experience, as does Aldora.

Staying on weight Watchers was easier than I thought it would be. I missed eating out all the time but I sure enjoyed it when I did. My last evening I strolled up to 30, down to 8 N, back down to Ave 10 and to an old favorite, Tres Gatitos. The limited menu has salbutes, panuchos, tortas and chicken noodle soup. I have a torta con pollo, panucho and salbute with a Jamaica. 30 WW points.

My last morning is bright and sunny. Sorry to all you people arriving, but I like it to rain and be cloudy when I leave! Sitting on the malceon wall watching the dive boats load up drives me loco! It did give me a chance to se my old Aldora DM Luis Quintana, who is now with Deep Blue. My ultimate eagle Ray encounter was with Luis a couple years back. Looking back I need to make sure I take in each encounter as it may be the last. I have never been that close since.

I walk up to the Mercado and meet up with a most pleasant man, the butcher, Manuel. He has great English as he lived in my hometown, San Diego in the sixties and seventies. He explained Mexican beef is tougher (free range and more exercise) Check this out, he said when he gets arrachera for his family, he goes to Covi. Covi is the liquor store next to San Francisco and they sell Angus beef. $ 6.25 a pound for arrachera, but he feels it is worth it. I say pound it thinner and kick up the marinade and save the difference.

Just to torture myself, I walk up to Tacos Molina. These guys have a buffet of 15 or so choices with cactus in cream sauce, cochinita, carnes res, etc to fill your fresh tortilla with. I stayed strong and had fruit and yoghurt from the Hotel. There was even empanadas and tamales right next store! AARGH-get me out of here!

Here is my take on Suites Bahia. The front desk is quiet, efficient and friendly. The hotel is very clean and well run. They delivered phone messages promptly. Do not stay in rooms 21, 31, and 41 as the HVAC system for the stores is just outside the windows. Free internet in the lobby, as well as newspapers, books and magazines. No pool. I got the room for 35 a night as part of a package 6 months ago, or I would have insisted on moving my room, 41. The bed was hard even for Mexico. However, I would stay here again solo or with a dive buddy. The hotel also provides coffee, juice, fresh fruit, toast, yoghurt and pastries each morning at 7:30.

One last hour to soak up some sun. I am at my perch on 3 rd and the cruise ship invasion begins. The routine repeats day after day. People following their leader, jungle caravan trucks, dune buggy tours and scores of people trying to politely evade the store merchants. Oh, and not to forget the 10 % who get off the ship and head straight to Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlie's. Vive la fiesta! This was my second solo trip and the off season rates just made it that much better. Can't wait until the next time.