Blog from Cozumel

[Pinkpadigal]

My husband Tom and I are loving this vacation. Cozumel seems the same as always with
very few visible reminders that 2 devistating Hurricanes blew through here
less than a year ago. There are many new docks and a few new places but
the island has recovered nicely.

The reefs have taken a horrible beating. All the purple fans are gone and
the hundreds of Conch that once were everywhere have been replaced with
dead shells. The beautiful basket coral the Island was famous for are now
in warped shapes and in many cases, non-exsistant. Many of the reefs are
now completely covered with sand or twisted dead pieces once-living rocks.
Large fish are gone and it is common to only see 1-2 Queen Angelfish on a
dive, compared to hundreds 2 years ago. In Devil's Throat, the Coral
Cross has been destroyed. Evidence of Emily and Wilma still remain in
large areas where the sand looks poorly swept across the ocean floor. It
breaks my heart to see this devistation.

However, the reefs are recovering. There is a lot of rays and sharks,
more than before. The deeper reefs look untouched and the amounts of tiny
fish are helping clean up the sand and coral. In the next 2-3 years,
things will be back to normal but because of the efforts of the people of
Cozumel and the Mexican Government, the reefs will be healthier and more
beautiful than ever. For the most part, all the debris has been cleaned up although occassionally we come across a piece of wood or car bumper.

We have had some great dives. Yesterday, we dove Punta Sur, on the
southern tip of the Island. Many people call it "Devil's Throat" because
of the dangerous swim thru caves. We were able to do this dive and it was
amazing. Columbia and Santa Rosa Wall were even more beautiful. Today, I
hit 115 feet and as I ascended to about 70 feet, a large seaturtle swam
around all of us. It was so beautiful and close enough to touch. We have seen sharks, eagle rays and spotted moray eels and a very large green Moray!

Everyone is having a great time and it has been so fun diving with
everyone. Michelle and I dove together last night and found spotted moray eels and
the biggest crab you have ever seen. The night I arrived, we dove the
wrecked cruise ship pier (by hurricane Wilma) and saw and octopus, a small
reef shark and the largest lobster I have ever seen.

My best find was a bottle of French Congac, under the old pier today in
about 40 feet of water. It was a casualty of Wilma. I brought it up and
it will be a great show piece for the dive store. I can't wait to show
everyone.

Tomorrow we are diving Cenotes. I will keep you all posted.

[sparky]

Grate to hear your haveing a good time to bad the storms did so much damage

i have never been there yet but would love to go some day

A trip to warm water is the only way I will ever get my wife to try scuba diving

make sure you take lots of pictures for us to see
enjoy your vactaion and thanks for the up date

Sparky

[Tangfish]

That's awesome! Thanks for the trip report. I thought the cross was made of sponge, not coral ??? I love Palancar Gardens, the Devil's Throat, Maracaibo, Tormentos and Santa Rosa. If you're doing the Cenotes, make sure you see Dos Ojos or Chac Mool. Those were my favorite. Playa is a very fun town if you like a little nightlife.

[thelawgoddess]

i'm so jealous! my boyfriend and i would like to go to cozumel/tulum in the not too distant future. can you post some pics to further entice us?

[Tom Nic]

Thanks for the report! Looking forward to pictures! And yes, I am VERY jealous!

Was the cognac bottle full?

[diver-dad]

Sounds like it will be years before things get back to normal underwater. (on the shallow end, anyway)

Sounds like a great time you're having!

[diver-dad]

My best find was a bottle of French Congac, under the old pier today in about 40 feet of water. It was a casualty of Wilma. I brought it up and it will be a great show piece for the dive store. I can't wait to show everyone.

Hey, I'll tell you what - I hereby volunteer to taste-test that very bottle for you! I wouldn't want you to take any chances - after all, we NWDC folks need to look out for each other!

A serious thought: Just don't try to hand-carry it back on the plane. I'd be a real shame to have to discard it with the new security regs!

[Pinkpadigal]

We are now home safe with lots of new memories and photos to share. I will post a few in the next few days. It was a great vacation, but it is going to be nice to get into my own bed.

We dove Cenotes yesterday. We took the ferry over to Playa del Carmen. This place has grown up a a lot and many of the shops on 5th Street and around have become quite upscale. Our guide whisk us into a van and we headed south, about 10 minutes north of Tulum to do 2 dives.

The driver took us about 3-4 miles into the jungle. We parked and hooked up our gear. We walked down a small set of steps to a large cenote called the Eyes. Our max depth was 20 feet. We jumped in and WOW, it was cold. Now, when I say cold, it is in comparison to the 84 degree ocean water. It was 75 degrees. However, it was nice and even in my 3mm shorty, I was comfortable doing a 40 minute dive.

The visibility was perfect, even more clear than my dive recently on Mt Rainier. I thought it would be closterphobic feeling but the caverns were very large and so much to see. No real life but the rock formations were beautiful. I saw a few fosselize conch shells and it is amazing to see the bubbles hanging at the top of the cave. The 2nd dive was the Bat Cave. Halfway into the dive, we popped to the surface inside a deep cenote. Looking up, very closely, you could see bats hiding inside the formations. Very cool.

If any of you go to Cozumel, doing a cenote dive on your off gas day is worth the money. Max depth is 25 feet and it really gets your gear clean! If any of you want more info about the company we used, PM me.

Lastly, while the island is recovering, there is still a lot of fantastic diving, even shallow. It is still one of the best values in warm water diving and the people of this region are some of the most friendly and warm. One of the divers in our group lost his camera from shore. The dive operators came down, helped us look and even took us out on the boat to look for it. They will do everything to make sure you are having a good time.

Now, I need to get back into our water...

[thelawgoddess]

that is so cool. i really want to dive cenotes! looking forward to the pics!!!