Akumal trip report June 2015
I had the opportunity to dive Akumal while there for a wedding towards the end of June. This was right after a tropical storm. I had not dived Akumal before and normally dive in Cozumel but had heard good things.
When we arrived we discovered that there was by report a one in 75 year Sargasso bloom that covered the beaches in North Akumal in two to three feet deep and five to ten feet wide with Sargasso. The bloom did not extend too far out to the dive sites. They were trying to clear the sargasso but is is a losing battle. The bloom should clear on it's own I am told eventually.
I had two days of diving with Akumal Dive Adventures in Half Moon Bay who at the time were not very busy and went out with my wife and me. The water was a bit rough and the visibility down. The entry to the boat was from shore through the sargasso which managed to get into everything. The boat is a panga style boat with a cover and cross wise benches. Unfortunately there is no under bench storage or a camera bucket. I ended up holding my camera anyway while going out due to the waves. Standard procedure was to return to the shop for the SI and then do the second dive. The DM and captain (also DM) were competent. They have a rinse tank at the shop for gear.
The sargasso was thick enough in some spots the boat had to stop to clear the propeller. Once we got past the certain spots the water was less rough and no sargasso. The coral looked healthy with quite a lot of fish.
We were there during turtle mating season and were not disappointed. The sites we went to had mostly Green turtles. I was told that other sites were where loggerheads were mating but we did not have enough dive days. The turtles were nesting on the beach which had quite a lot of markers over the nests. We did not see any at night thought we did not look. We did see turtles very close to shore during the day coming up for air.
The sites we dove were mainly in front of Central Akumal and not too far off shore. The topology was mostly ridge and sand channels some fairly deep. At the edges for the ridges were sand flats. We experienced quite a bit of surge with low current and was easily manageable. We were told that the waves, low vis, and surge were not typical.
We found groups of Green turtles, a few Hawksbills and one Loggerhead. This trip was mostly for turtles.
The particles in the water caused quite a bit of back scatter as you can see in some of the photos though I posted the most clear and did clean them up a bit.
At the end of this trip we went up to Play Del Carmen to catch a ferry (Mexico waterJets) to Cozumel where we dove for another week. Not having been to Play Del Carmen in 12-15 years I was surprised at how large it had become. I did not recognize it. We found North Akumal (Half Moon Bay) to be very quiet and friendly almost quaint.
Weather was hot and humid. Walking the road behind the behind the buildings was very hot no breeze.
Photos
I had the opportunity to dive Akumal while there for a wedding towards the end of June. This was right after a tropical storm. I had not dived Akumal before and normally dive in Cozumel but had heard good things.
When we arrived we discovered that there was by report a one in 75 year Sargasso bloom that covered the beaches in North Akumal in two to three feet deep and five to ten feet wide with Sargasso. The bloom did not extend too far out to the dive sites. They were trying to clear the sargasso but is is a losing battle. The bloom should clear on it's own I am told eventually.
I had two days of diving with Akumal Dive Adventures in Half Moon Bay who at the time were not very busy and went out with my wife and me. The water was a bit rough and the visibility down. The entry to the boat was from shore through the sargasso which managed to get into everything. The boat is a panga style boat with a cover and cross wise benches. Unfortunately there is no under bench storage or a camera bucket. I ended up holding my camera anyway while going out due to the waves. Standard procedure was to return to the shop for the SI and then do the second dive. The DM and captain (also DM) were competent. They have a rinse tank at the shop for gear.
The sargasso was thick enough in some spots the boat had to stop to clear the propeller. Once we got past the certain spots the water was less rough and no sargasso. The coral looked healthy with quite a lot of fish.
We were there during turtle mating season and were not disappointed. The sites we went to had mostly Green turtles. I was told that other sites were where loggerheads were mating but we did not have enough dive days. The turtles were nesting on the beach which had quite a lot of markers over the nests. We did not see any at night thought we did not look. We did see turtles very close to shore during the day coming up for air.
The sites we dove were mainly in front of Central Akumal and not too far off shore. The topology was mostly ridge and sand channels some fairly deep. At the edges for the ridges were sand flats. We experienced quite a bit of surge with low current and was easily manageable. We were told that the waves, low vis, and surge were not typical.
We found groups of Green turtles, a few Hawksbills and one Loggerhead. This trip was mostly for turtles.
The particles in the water caused quite a bit of back scatter as you can see in some of the photos though I posted the most clear and did clean them up a bit.
At the end of this trip we went up to Play Del Carmen to catch a ferry (Mexico waterJets) to Cozumel where we dove for another week. Not having been to Play Del Carmen in 12-15 years I was surprised at how large it had become. I did not recognize it. We found North Akumal (Half Moon Bay) to be very quiet and friendly almost quaint.
Weather was hot and humid. Walking the road behind the behind the buildings was very hot no breeze.
Photos
