Sunday February 21, 2010

We went for a Lion Fish hunt with Freddy Contreras, our favourite dive master in Cozumel.

Freddy has his own dive operation and dive boat.



Unfortunately I cannot disclose our very secret dive sites.

Lion Fish are an invasive species from the Pacific and Cozumel is trying to control their population by hunting them.


A Lion Fish

Freddy used a small spear to get the Lion Fish.



On the first dive we got 3 Lion Fish and fed them to a spotted eel.






On our second dive we got 13 Lion Fish (Pez Leon)



We also enjoyed visits from 6 Eagle Rays



We took this picture of a turtle that shared our dive




A great morning of diving, total count 16 Lion Fish.

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www.mestizodivers.com

Tuesday Feb. 23

We dove along the top of Cedar Wall and then Bolognes

We saw 3 lion fish on Bolognes and got one of them, then Louise spotted an eagle ray swimming away from us.  It turned to the left and I was able to parallel its course behind the coral heads. I actually got ahead of it and it turned 180 degrees so I was able to approach it from behind.   It tolerated my presence right behind it and I shot at least 10 photos from  8 feet away.





Sunday Feb. 28/10

Cozumel held the first annual Lion Fish hunt.  My brother in law Ed and I were the only Gringos in the hunt.  I think, we were also the oldest guys involved. Our dive masters, Freddy and Carlos, were the Lion Fish spearers, Ed was the scout and I was the bag man.  We got 11 Lion Fish.  We figured we could have done better and the competition would probalbly be won by someone who got 20-30 Lion Fish.   Several boats did score in that range but the overall winners produced over a hundred Lion Fish at the contest conclusion. Everyone was suspicious, the first prize was about $700 US.  They also produced the biggest Lion Fish for an additonal $350 US.


PEZ LEON in bucket


Freddy checking in our catch



Pez Leon grande

Sunday March 7/10

Today we did the eagle ray dive and saw more rays than ever before.  I shot some video and you can view it at U Tube    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIMN4ogyy0s

(Click on the Link)