Cozumel, Mexico.

This week, Anne Sandler of Slow Shutter Speed challenges us to focus on water. Now that’s certainly a diverse topic with lots of potential for variety. She writes, “Water enhances our photos, adding impact. Photographing it is also fun and sometimes a challenge.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

In my library, I’ve got many photos with water as a background, or a body of water as a subject of a travel post. For this challenge, I decided to focus on water as a life source. Every creature on the planet needs water to live in some way, but there are creatures that depend upon the water surrounding them and water provides for their daily existence.

When I think of lakes, rivers, and oceans, and the creatures that live there, I think mostly about fish or the few mammals like dolphins and whales that call the undersea world their home. Living underwater, though, are a wide variety of plant and animal life forms. There are entire ecosystems in our oceans and seas, the largest of which are coral barrier reefs. The Great Barrier Reef in coastal Australia is the world’s largest, but off the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras you will find the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest reef system in the world, and the largest in the Americas. For my challenge-response, I feature the tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea and its inhabitants.

Views of the coral reef that is almost 700 miles (1126 km) long can be viewed by glass-bottom boats, but the best views are from a submarine similar to the Atlantis in the opening photo. In February 2020, we visited the reef via a glass-bottom boat at Isla Roatan Honduras, and again off the shore of Cozumel, Mexico where we boarded the submarine.

Obviously, humans can survive but moments underwater without some form of mechanical breathing apparatus, but with the aid of a submarine, we can get a glimpse of life in the reef ecosystem. With the pandemic, the Atlantis Submarines Expedition was closed for a time, but I see that people can now purchase tickets online to view the reef and its inhabitants. There is a reference to covid protocols on the site, but I would have to decide whether or not I want to be in such close proximity to strangers right now. But I digress from the photo challenge.

The variety of fish that depend upon the reef is wide and the relationships between fish and coral help to keep them both healthy providing places for fish to hide from predators while there are fish that feed on the algae that could harm the reef.

As we descended into the depths of the Caribbean, we were accompanied by many of these colorful striped damselfish. The sub went to a depth of about 50 feet (15 m) to view the ecosystem and then dived further to our maximum depth of 100 feet (30 m).

A minesweeper from the Mexican Navy (formerly bought from the United States Navy) was scuttled near the reef to provide a safe place for divers to explore while keeping them away from the fragile reef system. The ship lies at about 82 feet (25 m) below the surface of the Cozumel Underwater Marine Park that is responsible for protecting the reef and its valuable ecosystem.

Thanks to Anne for this week’s challenge topic. It reminded me of that day that we first visited the world under the surface of the water in a real submarine. You can view these images in 2K HD and some additional images of the reef on my Flickr site here.

John Steiner

Before we started our cruise to the southern Caribbean, I hadn’t heard of the Mesoamerican Reef system. I’m still no expert, but I’ve seen the northern and southern ends of the reef up close and personal. Readers of last week’s Travel Tuesday post “rode along” with us in a glass-bottom boat. This week, we go as low as 100 feet (30 m) underwater in the submarine Atlantis. As I noted last week, if you wish to visit the reef only once, my recommendation would be via this submarine. For more on the specifics of the reef and its treasures, and view some more undersea images of the Mesoamerican Reef, my original post is here. This post is all about the excursion.

The excursion started with a ride to the dock where, after a briefing on basic submarine safety procedures, you will board a ferry boat that will transport you to the submarine which is on-site near the Chankanaab underwater park. They load the front half of the ferry with up to 40 passengers. The rear of the ferry has room for forty more passengers. Those guests will be returning to shore from their submarine excursion.

As we neared the location of the submarine, we could see another boat in the area. This boat is the support boat for the submarine and is in constant communication by radio with the submarine below. You may note that in the image above, there is an area in the water that is a lighter blue than the surrounding water. This was our first underwater view of the submarine. It won’t surface until the support boat confirms there are no vessels or other obstructions in the water immediately above the submarine.

On the 15-minute ride to the submarine, our tour guide gave us more background and information on boarding the sub and briefed us thoroughly on what to expect when it came time to board.

As the sub pulled alongside the support boat, two of the three-man submarine crew came topside to prepare to disembark the passengers who had just finished their tour of the underwater park.

As you can see in the image above, the ferry boat on the left first allows passengers exiting the sub to board the ferry and have a seat in the rear seating area. The support boat on the right is also attached closely to the other side of the sub to provide more stability during the passenger transfers. Once all of the passengers from the sub are loaded, it was our turn to board.

After climbing single-file down a 7-foot (2.1 m) ladder, each passenger, in turn, sat on a bench with form-fitting seats each in front of their own viewing window. Though not spacious, it felt far roomier than the glass-bottomed boat we were on at Isla Roatan. Once everyone boarded, the ferry headed back to port with their load of returning passengers, the support boat moved away and the sub started the journey to the underwater park.

Guests, cellphones and cameras at the ready, look intently as the tour guide describes the sights outside the sub. If you enlarge the image, you’ll see the red depth gauge readout showing the sub at 52 feet (16 m) below the surface. That was the nominal height for viewing the reef at its base. At one point, we reached a dropoff that marked the undersea edge of the island of Cozumel. From there, the depth was described to be about 2000 feet (600 m) below the surface.

The last minutes of the tour found us at 112 feet (34 m) below the surface. This depth marked the lowest descent on our excursion. We went that deep to see a scuttled ship that was purposely placed in the underwater park to act as a home for the reef dwellers. For this and all of the underwater attractions, the sub was maneuvered so that people on both sides of the sub could see. Of course, wildlife swimming nearby might not be visible from both sides, nor could the sub turn fast enough to allow both sides to view. Still and all, there were enough attractions on either side so that I don’t believe anyone felt like they missed out because they were “seated on the wrong side” of the sub.

Too soon, it was our turn to disembark. We climbed up the ladder, one by one and each found a seat at the rear of the ferry for our ride back. As the cruise ship dock was closer to the sub’s working area, the ferry took us directly to the cruise ship dock saving us a shuttle ride back from the sub’s home terminal. Looking online, I see the major travel review sites all give the excursion at least a 4/5 rating. I would certainly have given it a 5.

As this was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, please check to be sure this attraction is available before making specific travel plans.

John Steiner