Underwater Statues in Cozumel – Ramón Bravo

Today, let’s cover the last installment of the statues located just off the coast of Cozumel and just to the right from Cozumel Marine World. The first statue we discussed was that of none other than Jacques Cousteau. The Second statue was none other than Sylvia Earle. Finally, the third statue is Ramón Bravo. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or beverage of choice, and let’s learn about Ramón Bravo.

Underwater Statues in Cozumel

Ramón Bravo

Ramón Bravo was a Mexican SCUBA diver, photographer, and underwater filmmaker who was born October 21, 1925. Bravo got his claim to fame initially being a famous Mexican swimmer who competed in the 1948 Olympics at just 23 years old.

This love of the water soon brought him to the sport of SCUBA diving. Once he was hooked, he became an underwater photographer, gaining both fame in American and Europe as an oceanographer. An oceanographer is involved in the study of the oceans physical and biological features.

Soon (like many of us) he became fascinated with the shark. This lead to him spending a lot of time studying and filming these incredible creatures. Through his studies of sharks, he discovered and became known for discovering the “sleeping sharks.” These “sleeping sharks” are tiger sharks that appeared to be “sleeping” on the ocean floor.

Bravo was the dive guide in the caves off Isla Mujeres for none other than Jacques Cousteau to see the sleeping sharks.

Among his Olympic career and his underwater photography/videography, Bravo was a well-known journalist. He wrote many novels and shorter stories in the 60’s and 70’s. If you have heard of a film called Tintorera (1977), well you’ve seen one of his novels turned to film. He was also the go-to man for filming and directing the underwater scenes in none other than the James Bond movie, License to Kill (1989).

On February 21, 1998, at the age of 73, Bravo passed away in his home due to a heart attack caused by an electric shock from his home in Isla Mujeres.

Statues in Cozumel

From doing my research to see who these three statues were, Deb and I learned that the goal was to place more statues underwater to feature other famous divers. So far it just seems like these 3 have “made the cut” but hopefully soon there will be another statue. Another statue means another feature so stay tuned, you never know….