I had a chance to do two fantastic dives in Cozumel yesterday.
The first was at Columbia Deep which has 50 foot coral pillars resting on a sandy bottom about 90 feet deep. After that the reef slopes into an abyss extending up to 1,200 feet deep.
The second dive was at the Felipe Xicotancatl C-53 wreck. The ship has an interesting history. It was built in 1944 by the US Navy as a minesweeper for World War II. In 1962 she was sold to the Mexican Navy and converted to a gunboat. After 55 years of service C-53 was decommissioned and later donated to Cozumel underwater park where it was sunk in 1999 as an artificial reef and dive attraction.
There are a lot of videos here, but they do a great job of showing what it’s like to dive around and through a wreck. It’s pretty amazing to see how much coral has grown on the ship in just 20 years. As a bonus we even saw a tourist submarine swim by!
Columbia Deep
C-53 Wreck Dive