Cozumel makes "No" List for 2020

[WetInPortland]

Citing, "Sickly coral reefs in need of healing," Fodor's Travel has added Cozumel, along with the Florida Keys, to it's 2020 No List.

While the article makes it sound like the entire park is currently closed instead of only the southern sites, one has to wonder what the traveling public will make of this? Surely the cruise lines would attempt to address any drop in bookings with lower prices in order to fill ships? It will be interesting to see what, if any, reaction comes from the local tourism authorities.

 

[flyboy08]

Good for those in the know...less tourist....bad for the local economy though...I’m there in three week!

 

[Kmart921]

I just got back from a week of diving there and I was honestly impressed with the overall condition of the reefs. They're gorgeous and many are in really great shape IMO!

"Sickly coral reefs in need of healing" seems like a really alarmist headline. I suppose you could use that to describe the entire Caribbean at this point, so why bother calling out Coz specifically? (Though I do hear the Keys are worse.)

 

[Lewis88]

I just got back from a week of diving there and I was honestly impressed with the overall condition of the reefs. They're gorgeous and many are in really great shape IMO!

"Sickly coral reefs in need of healing" seems like a really alarmist headline. I suppose you could use that to describe the entire Caribbean at this point, so why bother calling out Coz specifically? (Though I do hear the Keys are worse.)

Really? I just returned from a week there, and I disagree. Brain corals are basically gone, fire coral bleached almost everywhere, and tons of algae and sargassum piles all over. Seems like only the soft corals are surviving.

Distinct lack of sharks, eagle rays, etc. A decent amount of juvenile sealife though leaves me hopeful.

It was my 8th visit to coz in the last 19 years, and the continued decline in reef health is scary and sad.

 

[scrane]

I've been to Cozumel lots of times too, and I thought things looked pretty good. Obviously having a lower standard, I was happy to see the amount of conch crawling around. I was there a couple of weeks ago and didn't see any sargassum. Algae nowhere near as bad as seen in Roatan two years ago.

Not up to exotic locations standards, but lots to see on a cheap week away from home.

 

[Kmart921]

Really? I just returned from a week there, and I disagree. Brain corals are basically gone, fire coral bleached almost everywhere, and tons of algae and sargassum piles all over. Seems like only the soft corals are surviving.

Distinct lack of sharks, eagle rays, etc. A decent amount of juvenile sealife though leaves me hopeful.

It was my 8th visit to coz in the last 19 years, and the continued decline in reef health is scary and sad.

Which sites did you dive? The amount of marine life we saw on our dives was astounding. We encountered something like five eagle rays, at least a dozen sharks, lots of morays, southern stingrays, splendid toads everywhere, huge lobsters, crabs and octopus on night dives (edit: not to mention SEA TURTLES, big loggerheads)... the diving was even better than last year.

Plenty of bleaching to be sure (like everywhere), but I still saw a lot of brain corals surviving and many parts of the reefs were absolutely beautiful to me compared to other places I've been so far. Then again I've only been diving for just over 2 years so I was unfortunately born too late to experience the Caribbean before it started dying.

 

[Charred]

Really? I just returned from a week there, and I disagree. Brain corals are basically gone, fire coral bleached almost everywhere, and tons of algae and sargassum piles all over. Seems like only the soft corals are surviving.

Distinct lack of sharks, eagle rays, etc. A decent amount of juvenile sealife though leaves me hopeful.

It was my 8th visit to coz in the last 19 years, and the continued decline in reef health is scary and sad.

I was in Coz the first week of Nov and your assessment matches my assessment 100%. The brain corals are wiped out, bleached fire coral, many other heat stressed/bleached hard corals, etc. Way too much algae and now there are sunk sargassum piles everywhere. The sargassum is going to decay and feed the algae.

We saw only 3 turtles on 14 dives.

I am really curious what people are seeing that leads them to say this reef is in good shape.

 

[Stoo]

I had friends with me in Belize two years ago. After the week with me, they went straight to Coz for a second week. I asked them to compare (since I haven't been to Cozumel for probably 20+ years) and the answer was "There is no comparison"... and not in a good way.

You can't expect to dump massive numbers of divers onto reefs continuously for decades and expect the reefs not to show it. Hats off to the authorities for taking steps to give some areas a chance to recover. I guess the question is whether they will recover. Divers, development, pollution, fertilizers... all the stuff associated with (over) development has a bearing, not to mention warming temperatures.

 

[Kmart921]

I was in Coz the first week of Nov and your assessment matches my assessment 100%. The brain corals are wiped out, bleached fire coral, many other heat stressed/bleached hard corals, etc. Way too much algae and now there are sunk sargassum piles everywhere. The sargassum is going to decay and feed the algae.

We saw only 3 turtles on 14 dives.

I am really curious what people are seeing that leads them to say this reef is in good shape.

I guess I just don’t know what a healthy reef looks like... I thought the diving was excellent regardless.

 

[Damian G. Finch]

I had friends with me in Belize two years ago. After the week with me, they went straight to Coz for a second week. I asked them to compare (since I haven't been to Cozumel for probably 20+ years) and the answer was "There is no comparison"... and not in a good way.

snip

Belize you say? Where in Belize? I am starting to get concerned about my beloved Cozumel.