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Although Undersea Expeditions has been offering Gay & Lesbian dive trips to exotic destinations since 1991, this Cozumel trip was Undersea Expedition's first ever promotion of a "For Men Only" dive-trip and occurred March 10-17, 2001 at the Scuba Club Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico. You can bet your newest Speedo that it won't be the last either! (Undersea has hosted several "For Women Only" trips quite successfully in the past and will continue to do so in the future.) For me, a frequent trip leader as well as customer of Undersea Expeditions, this was my first land-based trip in many years, and it proved to be one of the most relaxing and enjoyable vacations I have ever had. Having never been to Cozumel before, it was a diving revelation, and a destination that Undersea will definitely return to again soon. Undersea Expeditions chose Scuba Club Cozumel, a private, gated diving resort, because it caters strictly to divers and it had successfully hosted two of the previous "For Women Only" Expeditions. The resort provided the Undersea group a comfortable venue for a memorable week of diving adventures as well as providing a full meal package. The food consistently met our expectations in quality and quantity, with a specialty of the local Yucatan Style cuisine offered at dinner, usually freshly caught seafood. The Wahoo was excellent, always one of my favorites when freshly caught. The kitchen will take special dietary food orders with advance arrangements. Undersea hosted an exclusive afternoon cocktail party after the first day of diving, with great service and accommodations from this gay-friendly resort. The group proved to be a wonderful and engaging group of 23 men from all over the United States, along with one Canadian and even one Aussie thrown in. The group came from various backgrounds, locations, and age groups. Doctors, lawyers, scientists, architects, government officials, military, and private industry were all represented by this stellar group of individuals. Several of the divers had been on previous Undersea trips to Cozumel, and were returning to this diving mecca without having been diving since. Several new divers joined this group, having just finished their open water certifications (Like the day before!). Most of the group were seasoned, experienced divers who shared their experiences and skills with the new divers from the get-go. For Undersea Expeditions, over half of the group were repeat clients, several of whom I had met on previous dive trips with Undersea. It was great to be reunited with past dive buddies and to catch up on what's been going on with them. Our diving program consisted of two tanks per day. Diving began after breakfast each morning, with the "Reef Diver" embarking and departing around 8:30 AM for the cruise to the dive sites, usually about 45 minutes to one hour cruising time. The entire dive group was accommodated aboard one vessel, the resort's power catamaran "Reef Diver", which featured a great crew consisting of three dive masters, two gear handlers, and one ship's captain. Our group of 23 divers was divided into three patrols to facilitate underwater crowd control and good diving practice. "Reef Diver" featured a partially covered and comfortable dive deck, dive gear shelves, and a dive entry/exit platform at the stern just above the water. The typical first dive of the day was always our deepest dive of the day, usually 80 feet, although one dive of 100 feet was performed midweek at Columbia Pinnacles. The typical second dive each day followed a safe profile with descent to 60 feet or less. The typical dive lasted 30-45 minutes or so, depending on each individual's air consumption and depth of the dive. Midweek, many of the group chose to take an optional twilight dive followed after the mandatory surface interval by a night dive. All divers reported a "thumbs up" for these two special dives. Aluminum 80's were standard fare with air fills consistently topping 3000 psi, although several of the group with appropriate dive credentials did take advantage of the available specialty Nitrox gas mix. Wind and waves occasionally hampered operations, but no dives were terminated due to weather or the sea state. The weather was near perfect the whole week of diving, with everyone glad to be away from the winter weather in the States. Water conditions were optimal, with most divers using a full tropical wetsuit or Polartec skin for protection from the 80 degree water and the corals. Underwater visibility was just incredible, the clearest water that I have seen outside of an aquarium. For me, Cozumel lived up to its legendary effortless drift diving reputation with bountiful sea life and geography for viewing in its extraordinary Marine Park. Hard and soft corals, sponges deluxe, turtles, nurse sharks, spotted eagle rays, barracuda, cleaning stations, and skads of small tropical fish delighted my vision. Moray eels, large and small spiny lobsters, queen triggerfish, and parrotfish, were present to name a few more. Tunnels and caves and swim-throughs, usually lighted from above by sunlight through the eroded limestone reef, were featured on many of the dives, always an excitement for me! There were fantastic photographic opportunities if you could handle the camera, current, and not touching the reefs! During the surface interval between dives, after stripping down from diving attire to minimalist swimwear, many worked on their tans and tan lines, others just worked on lines, as in chat lines. Getting suntan oil rubbed on your back is always helpful, especially from another man. Aboard "Reef Diver", relaxation was the first order of business after diving, with plentiful bottled water and juice drinks provided by the charter package. This group interacted more than any group I have ever been with, and I can say that they thoroughly enjoyed this Undersea Expeditions trip to the max. Once the day's diving was concluded, finding a spot in the hammock structure after lunch got to be a race for position and availability, as the cooling breezes off the water made reading or napping an exceedingly comfortable pleasure, with the adjacent sunning areas in full view and handsomely occupied by bronzing men. Most evenings after dinner, a leisurely stroll to town for shopping and then back to the resort for late entertainment afforded by one of the guests' patios, christened the Lido Deck for the week, where stories and adventures were swapped, sizes of underwater life compared, cigars smoked by those who do, and drinks of various concoction were available. There were no lies told, honest. At the end of the week on our non-diving pre-flight day, several of the group decided to visit the rest of the island either by car or scooter rental. I chose to visit the San Gervasio ruins and to view the southeastern shore of the island. I was totally impressed with what has been revealed so far by removing the dense jungle growth which had enveloped these ruins. There are areas partially unearthed, and I suspect more ruins as yet discovered A separate trip to El Cedral provided only one accessible ruin, purported by a street vendor to be a fertility temple. There are more ruins at El Cedral, but they are accessible only by horseback, and the stable was closed when we got there. Island maps indicate other ruins as well.