leadweight
Contributor
I have been back from Coz for about 10 days now, so it is time to reflect on what I saw.
The further south you go, the better the reefs will look. Columbia, including the shallows looked nice, so did Palancar. Yucab is a disaster and Tormentos is only slightly better. Santa Rosa is not as lush as before. San Franciso wall is OK. Soft coral is scarce everywhere.
Trumpet fish and aerohead crabs were scarce. Turtles were everywhere. On several dives we observed spotted eagle rays feeding in the sand. It was probably the longest view that I have ever had of one of these shy creatures.
Because there is less cover fish are easier to spot. The Cozumel Splendid toad fish was observed on several dives. There were many trigger fish, trunk fish, parrot fish, angels, snappers and so on. Big groupers were scarce. There were a few nurse sharks. Lobsters were way out in the open during the day.
We stayed at Casa Mexicana. It is in town and gorgeous. Dive operator was Dive with Martin. He was out of town due to his wife being seriously ill and in the hospital in Merida. His boats are in great shape and have tons of room with a maximum of 8 divers aboard. Usually we had 5 or 6. As usual I had to whip the DM into shape to get longer bottom times. A few pesos helped ease his pain.
A lot of the restaurants are going broke. An increasing proportion of people visiting the island are opting for meal plans at their hotels.
Its still worth the visit. Especially for Houstonians, who are less than 2 hours flying time away.
The further south you go, the better the reefs will look. Columbia, including the shallows looked nice, so did Palancar. Yucab is a disaster and Tormentos is only slightly better. Santa Rosa is not as lush as before. San Franciso wall is OK. Soft coral is scarce everywhere.
Trumpet fish and aerohead crabs were scarce. Turtles were everywhere. On several dives we observed spotted eagle rays feeding in the sand. It was probably the longest view that I have ever had of one of these shy creatures.
Because there is less cover fish are easier to spot. The Cozumel Splendid toad fish was observed on several dives. There were many trigger fish, trunk fish, parrot fish, angels, snappers and so on. Big groupers were scarce. There were a few nurse sharks. Lobsters were way out in the open during the day.
We stayed at Casa Mexicana. It is in town and gorgeous. Dive operator was Dive with Martin. He was out of town due to his wife being seriously ill and in the hospital in Merida. His boats are in great shape and have tons of room with a maximum of 8 divers aboard. Usually we had 5 or 6. As usual I had to whip the DM into shape to get longer bottom times. A few pesos helped ease his pain.
A lot of the restaurants are going broke. An increasing proportion of people visiting the island are opting for meal plans at their hotels.
Its still worth the visit. Especially for Houstonians, who are less than 2 hours flying time away.