With the huge numbers of fish to catch your attention, it can be easy sometimes to overlook the vast diversity of other plants and animals. With the strong currents you sometimes encounter, it is easy to drift right past the huge variety of other sea creatures without really getting a chance to observe them. But, on those dives where there is less current, it can be really amazing to stop for a while and notice everything else that is going on. Cozumel has such a wide variety of sea life, it would be impractical to try to catalogue all of it here, so I just want to mention a few of the highlights of our latest dive trip.

Especially on the dives where you drift along the walls or swim through the pass-throughs, you get an opportunity to see quite a few crabs and lobsters. The lobsters, especially, seemed surprisingly big to us. On one dive at Colombia Deep, we were swimming between the corals with me in front and my wife right behind me, so she was able to see the whole thing better than I did. One minute I was just looking around, enjoying the sights and the next thing I knew there was a huge lobster that appeared off to my left. When we surfaced, my wife couldn't stop laughing. Apparently, the lobster had actually charged at me, but after he got a good look at the size of me, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Big as he was, I am bigger.

During the daytime, we also saw quite a few crabs hanging to the bottom of ledges on the coral reefs. A lot of them were pretty good sized, about 12 inches across, not including the legs. But the night dives were when they were out and about, so it was much more fun to see them out exploring as you shone your light across the bottom.

And speaking of night dives, that is also the best time to see octopus out and about. We saw a couple on each of our night dives, but one in particular captured our attention because it was a bright, baby blue as it moved across the corals.

There are also a lot of smaller animals to look for and observe. We saw Christmas Tree Worms and Feather Duster Worms. Both are fascinating, not only for their unusual appearance, but also because they look more like plants than animals. As you look carefully in among the cracks and crevices, there are numerous shrimp and worms and other creatures.

So, while barracuda and groupers, nurse sharks and eagle rays are scene stealers, it can also be very enjoyable to spend some time with the non-fish residents of Cozumel's reefs.