Cousteau's documentary of Cozumel

[El Graduado]

What year did you see the photo?

 

[scubafree]

It would have been either 1997 or 1998. The picture was hanging in the Aqua Safari shop next to Plaza Las Glorias. I remember commenting to Freddy about how young he looked. Freddy has a good memory though and could maybe help. I like how you are pursuing this. It makes for interesting reading.

 

[boulderjohn]

This may not be much help....

I started diving in Cozumel in 1999, staying at the Coral Princess and using Pepe's dive operation there. One of the DMs--I think his name was Domingo, but I could be wrong--was an older gentleman and a native to the island. One day we were returning from the dives and passing some nice villas, and someone jokingly asked Domingo which one was his. He gave a little "I wish" smile and then told a little story. He said that when he was young, there was pretty much nothing but utter poverty on the island. No one had anything. Then Cousteau came, and suddenly divers were coming. The people who owned property, worthless before, were able to make a lot of money. "Other people"--he shrugged--"we don't know how they made their money." (His smile indicated he had a pretty good idea.)

 

[El Graduado]

It would have been either 1997 or 1998. The picture was hanging in the Aqua Safari shop next to Plaza Las Glorias. I remember commenting to Freddy about how young he looked. Freddy has a good memory though and could maybe help. I like how you are pursuing this. It makes for interesting reading.

Freddy says he has never been in a picture with Jacques Yves Cousteau. He said he did work with Jean Michael when the new Carnival pier was being built. That may have been the photo you remember. Another false lead to a false story.

---------- Post added July 11th, 2014 at 09:34 PM ----------

If its the Domingo I think you are talking about, he is our current Chief of Traffic Police. He would have been a very young kid in 1960.

Many people here like to spin yarns for the tourists. The other day, I was walking by the Comercial Joaquin on the plaza, and a I heard a tourist sitting at one of the tables in front ask a moto rental guy "who is that statue of?" indicating the statue of Benito Juarez across the street in the park. The salesman said "Oh, that is the biggest, baddest bandito Mexico ever had. Pancho Villa" Why did he make up this lie? Boredom? Just to see if the rube would believe it? Who knows; but he did it and they swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

Regardless of why you were told the tall-tale that the property values in Cozumel went up because of JYC (and that's a new one on me!), I am finished looking for proof of a negative. If someone has a copy of the supposed documentary, please share it. "I know somebody who may have seen it" does not constitute reason enough to keep chasing down these rumors. I firmly believe it never existed, and this exercise on Scubaboard has only strengthened that belief.