A small squad of squid came to visit us on a recent shore dive. Seeming curious about my camera gear, the squid were nice enough to stay around.

Blackwater diving requires a great deal of coordination, a tolerance for ambiguity, and luck. The boat departs from the port south of San Miguel after the sun sets when there are enough divers and the conditions are right.

At the north edge of San Miguel de Cozumel, a few hundred yards off the shore from Hemingway’s, sits a collection of manmade structures covered in coral and teeming with sea life. The Downtown Wrecks are the name I know for this site, and it’s an easy dive of about 35 feet just minutes from Puerto Abrigo.

Cat, Cynthia, and I descended down the algae covered ramp into choppy seas at sunset.

“Urchins and fire coral on both sides, so watch out,” pointing to the trough through a rocky underwater cliff that we used to make it to deeper water.

Crabs, Turtles, Sharks, and Fish. A macro weekend in the shallows from both the boat and shore.

Today, I took Avenida 5 to the gym and Avenida 10 back home with a little jog down through Punta Langosta before cutting back to the roads off the ocean drag. I set a goal to shoot all of the murals, graffiti and anything else that looked interesting, and I ended up taking 172 photos in about 40 minutes. For this trip, I used the Nikon D850 with a Sigma 18-35 Art lens, which is made for a crop sensor.

Blackwater diving is like floating in space, surrounded by tiny, sentient galaxies, each with its own agenda. Most of the time, it’s not necessary to go any deeper than 60 feet, but occasionally, some exotic creature or playful squid will call you deeper into the void until you realize that you have traveled lower than the guide lights and have to turn around, finding some shallower being willing to connect for a few moments.

The locals and expats who have been diving here for decades tell stories of schools of grouper, unimaginable biodiversity, and perilous exploits performed with the rudimentary gear available during the nascence of scuba diving.

In ten days, I’ll be back in Dallas-Fort Worth for a layover on the way to Cozumel. My energy-concerned travel companion will be long gone from Texas, the stimulus of travel a recent memory that she brings up in line at the Dollar General just five minutes drive from her house in the cornfields.

The days of cheap coffee are fading. Coffee is an expression of geopolitical cooperation and logistical miracles, a multisensory newsstand if you treat it with respect it deserves. With a bit of ritual and some time for a morning routine, it might be possible to see part of the world from a coffee station next to a kitchen in Orange County.

Hermit crabs and jazz go together.

Blennies are a faithful companion to the underwater macro photographer. Tiny and expressive, this category of fish are both physically and behaviorally fascinating.

Few ocean creatures as alien as the octopus. Here, a Carribean octopus lets me follow it during a bit of its night hunt.