Chinchorro Crocodiles

[donsilcock]

Last year I made the marathon journey from Sydney to south-east Mexico, near the border with Belize, to photograph the American Crocodiles of Banco Chinchorro. It was what you might call an intense experience, but one that I really enjoyed!

I documented the whole thing in an extensive six-page article that has just been published in the global dive magazine X-Ray who did a nice job of laying it all out.

If you are interested in learning more about these interesting creatures and what it's like being in the water with them you can read more and download the article on this link to the American Crocodiles of Banco Chinchorro

 

[drrich2]

Very nice. Snorkeling photo opportunity with good-sized American crocodiles, and pretty close up photos. You mentioned the area coral reefs were good; did you do any general reef diving? Just wondered how viable the area is for a 'mixed trip' with coral reef diving, and some people would have an interest in diving with a side-trip to see the croc.s.

Just as some people go to Cozumel for reef diving, but take a day to go dive one more more cenotes.

Richard.

 

[horn34]

Swimming with those guys is a serious adrenaline trip. Awesome beasties. The diving at Chinchorro is fantastic too, near pristine reefs and super friendly nurse sharks.

I didn't see it mentioned in his article, but I assume his trip was with XTC in Xcalak. Not sure there are any other reputable tour operators.

Richard, here's a couple of related videos. Diving with XTC in Xcalak should be on your list if you like diving in Mexico. I'm headed back to Cozumel in November for a week, then 10 days in Xcalak.


Banco Chinchorro

 

[horn34]

and after the reading the fully linked article, there's a picture of Matthias sitting at the XTC bar, so Don obviously went with XTC to see the crocs.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Last year I made the marathon journey from Sydney to south-east Mexico, near the border with Belize, to photograph the American Crocodiles of Banco Chinchorro. It was what you might call an intense experience, but one that I really enjoyed!

I documented the whole thing in an extensive six-page article that has just been published in the global dive magazine X-Ray who did a nice job of laying it all out.

If you are interested in learning more about these interesting creatures and what it's like being in the water with them you can read more and download the article on this link to the American Crocodiles of Banco Chinchorro

View attachment 482235

I have an underwater video I took of a big crocodile, but I was on a dock with a long selfie-stick.

 

[donsilcock]

Very nice. Snorkeling photo opportunity with good-sized American crocodiles, and pretty close up photos. You mentioned the area coral reefs were good; did you do any general reef diving? Just wondered how viable the area is for a 'mixed trip' with coral reef diving, and some people would have an interest in diving with a side-trip to see the croc.s.

Just as some people go to Cozumel for reef diving, but take a day to go dive one more more cenotes.

Richard.

Thanks for the comments Richard!

Yes, we dived some of the reefs of Banco Chinchorro as part of the trip - it's a huge area, so there are a lot of site... But what we did was dive in the morning and then snorkel with the crocs in the afternoon. What I saw of the reefs was impressive and well worth diving.

I went specifically for the crocs but would go back to dive the reefs now that I know they are good!

Don

 

[donsilcock]

Swimming with those guys is a serious adrenaline trip. Awesome beasties. The diving at Chinchorro is fantastic too, near pristine reefs and super friendly nurse sharks.

I didn't see it mentioned in his article, but I assume his trip was with XTC in Xcalak. Not sure there are any other reputable tour operators.

Richard, here's a couple of related videos. Diving with XTC in Xcalak should be on your list if you like diving in Mexico. I'm headed back to Cozumel in November for a week, then 10 days in Xcalak.


Banco Chinchorro

Hi, yes confirming the trip was with XTC and that Mathias is a really good guy to have behind you with the stick when you are in with the crocs!

Don

 

[Joneill]

Swimming with those guys is a serious adrenaline trip. Awesome beasties. The diving at Chinchorro is fantastic too, near pristine reefs and super friendly nurse sharks.

I didn't see it mentioned in his article, but I assume his trip was with XTC in Xcalak. Not sure there are any other reputable tour operators.

Richard, here's a couple of related videos. Diving with XTC in Xcalak should be on your list if you like diving in Mexico. I'm headed back to Cozumel in November for a week, then 10 days in Xcalak.


Banco Chinchorro

Geez - that is crazy and just an accident waiting to happen! Hopefully, they won't take it out on the crocodile when it eventually bites someone.

 

[drrich2]

This reminds me of the write-up in the Nov. 2015 Undercurrent, XTC Dive Center, Xcalak, Mexico. Wonder if anything's changed between now and then?

Richard.

 

[horn34]

This reminds me of the write-up in the Nov. 2015 Undercurrent, XTC Dive Center, Xcalak, Mexico. Wonder if anything's changed between now and then?

Richard.

XTC has renovated their hotel rooms, but they're still hot (like all of Xcalak) from May - August. a/c is pretty much non-existent wherever you decide to stay down there. Electricity is expensive, scarce and mostly solar generated in that area.

Still no padded seats on the dive boat. I've yet to ride on a single dive boat anywhere in Mexico with padded seats.

The XTC restaurant has a new Jamaican head chef. He's expanded the menu and makes great food, especially the different lunch specials.

The road was paved from Mahahual to Xcalak a few years ago, so the drive from Cancun to Xcalak is only about 4 to 4.5 hours now.

Sargassum continues to be a problem everywhere.

Mathias still comes back for croc trips, but he's mostly DM'ing Socorro liveaboard dive trips these days. The current head crocmaster is Ernesto (from Majorca). He's a badass.

The rest of the article is pretty accurate. The croc trip is not a Club Med excursion. It's a 3 hour round trip on a boat with no padded seats. You will stay in a crappy fisherman's hut and you'll need a lot of DEET spray (bring Deep Woods Off). You will probably sweat a lot and not get a ton of sleep, but I have yet to meet anyone who regretted going.




and this is courtesy of Ken Kiefer