Newsletter - Mar 2019

Deep Blue Newsletter

Issue 3 - March 2019

Meet the crew at Deep Blue

Paulo Macarico is a full-time PADI Master Instructor.
Paulo’s love of scuba diving started many years ago in his native
country, Portugal. Born in Lisbon, after many years spearfishing around the reefs of Sesimbra, where his family kept a holiday home, Paulo became a certified diver in 1981. He eventually progressed through the ranks to his current PADI professional rating. Paulo immigrated to London, England where he studied and lived for over 19 years with hiswif e Claire. He worked as a photojournalist, a legal interpreter and a film subtitle translator putting to good use the five languages that he speaks fluently. However, a love of scuba diving brought him to Mexico in 2005 where he completed his diving instructor course. In 2006 Paulo and Claire immigrated to Mexico where Paulo dived into a career as a full time scuba instructor. Settling first in Playa del Carmen, then moving to Cozumel and its world class reefs in 2014.
After working as a freelancer for several local dive centers Paulo was invited to join Deep Blue full time in 2015 where he enjoys teaching a wide range of PADI dive courses and specialties. Paulo also loves guiding divers and his current favorite reef is Palancar Caves especially on a quiet day of clear, flat water and sunshine.
In his spare time he enjoys photography, playing tennis and making furniture. He lives with wife Claire and their three beloved rescue dogs.

The splendid toadfish

Here in Cozumel we are not only
blessed to have some of the best reefs in the world, we are also lucky enough to have our very own unique species of fish: The Splendid Toadfish! The splendid toadfish also sometimes referred to as the coral toadfish is entirely endemic to our island.
The main reason why this fish has not spread to other parts of the Caribbean is because both the eggs, which are guarded by the male, and the larvae remain attached to something on theseabed rather than drifting in the current.

With its bright yellow fins and stripped head it is unlike any other toadfish in appearance. However, it does share a particular skill with other toadfish and that is its ‘singing.’ The splendid toadfish produces a sound not dissimilar to a phone vibrating. This sound can be heard quite clearly underwater and can even lead to some divers thinking that their scuba gear is producing the sound. These sounds are used as warning signals and to entice females to nesting sites.

An endangered species, this illusive fish can be found inside crevices atthe base of coral heads, under coral
outcroppings or at the bottom of long sloping sand patches. Reefs such as Paradise, Yucab and Paso del Cedral are good places to spot a splendid toadfish. During the day they may be seen peeking out from their dens and by approaching slowly and staying close to the bottom you can lessen the chance of them retreating completely into their hole. However, like most fish they are nocturnalpredators so you will increase your chance of seeing one by taking part in a night dive.
 

Carnival time!

Carnival, or Carnaval in Spanish, is the biggest event of the year here
on our little Island. As soon as one carnival is over the streets are
cleaned of ticker tape and glitter and plans are afoot for the following
year’s extravaganza.
This year’s carnival which ran from the 27th of February until the 5th of March comprised of many events including the election of Cozumel’s carnival king and queen, masked balls, live music, a 5k paint and run and even a pet’s costume competition. But the main attractions were, as always, the parades along the seafront consisting of many and varied floats and vibrant groups of dancers and drumming bands.
This year’s carnival was once again a great fiesta! Besides the three evening parades with more than 80 floats there were numerous streetby-street displays by individual Carnaval collectives. After the last
parade, revelers gathered at Cozumel’s Municipal Park in their thousands to watch 90’s Pop Tour “mega concert”, dance and party until the early hours. Here are some pictures which give you some idea of the vibrancy and joy of this occasion: