I dove with a friend who came down from Virginia with United via Houston and met up another coming from California. We dive with Raul (owner/DM) of Bottom Time Divers (bottomtimedivers.net). I dived five days.
According to protocols, we need to wear masks on the boat and in public and practice distancing. We are in yellow status now and things are opening back up. Some that lived in Cozumel have left the island (temporarily maybe) and many here are still feeling the financial pinch.
Parking at the Fonatur marina is still closed off so in general parking there is a pain.
Diving
Weather – Mostly short rain showers with a few thunderstorms. Overcast at times. Hot and humid.
Water temps – I have not checked my computer but water was warm and I had no issues diving in surf shorts. In a few spots there is fresh water coming out at dive sites so the temps drop there. Not a big deal.
Currents - Slow and always South to North though on a couple of dives it was running out towards the channel a bit. Not a big issue.
Visibility – There are a lot of plant particles in the water but overall good visibility. There are a lot of jellyfish in the water column– combs, girdles, and those that look like a small string with black dots (I haven’t identified these) and even a few sea nettles. They generally are not a bother but I do have wide angle photos where it’s blurred due to a jellyfish in the frame. I did not get stung much and get stung more around April when the thimble jellies are here.
We dove mornings and others did do a couple of three tank dives on few days. No night dives by boat allowed.
Sites
Palancar – Open sites
La Francesa and Dalila
Santa Rosa
Punta Tunich
Cedral Wall
Yucab/Tormentos
Cedral Pass
North sites
There were quite alot of free swimming large Green Morays, quite a lot of Brown Spotted and Goldentail eels. Good fish life – Snappers, Margates, and such. Not many juvenile spotted drums as most were adult with one very large spotted drum that was turning dark. Lots of Splendid Toadfish. We saw hawksbill turtles but not as many as other times of the year. Lots of lobsters and channel crabs. Less scorpionfish on the sites we were on.
Photos (split into two posts)
Anemone
Balloonfish
Banded Crab (Anemone crab)
Banded Coral Shrimp
Brown Spotted Moray Eel
Goldentail Moray Eel
Green Moray Eel
Green Razorfish
Harlequin Bass
Horse Eye Jacks
According to protocols, we need to wear masks on the boat and in public and practice distancing. We are in yellow status now and things are opening back up. Some that lived in Cozumel have left the island (temporarily maybe) and many here are still feeling the financial pinch.
Parking at the Fonatur marina is still closed off so in general parking there is a pain.
Diving
Weather – Mostly short rain showers with a few thunderstorms. Overcast at times. Hot and humid.
Water temps – I have not checked my computer but water was warm and I had no issues diving in surf shorts. In a few spots there is fresh water coming out at dive sites so the temps drop there. Not a big deal.
Currents - Slow and always South to North though on a couple of dives it was running out towards the channel a bit. Not a big issue.
Visibility – There are a lot of plant particles in the water but overall good visibility. There are a lot of jellyfish in the water column– combs, girdles, and those that look like a small string with black dots (I haven’t identified these) and even a few sea nettles. They generally are not a bother but I do have wide angle photos where it’s blurred due to a jellyfish in the frame. I did not get stung much and get stung more around April when the thimble jellies are here.
We dove mornings and others did do a couple of three tank dives on few days. No night dives by boat allowed.
Sites
Palancar – Open sites
La Francesa and Dalila
Santa Rosa
Punta Tunich
Cedral Wall
Yucab/Tormentos
Cedral Pass
North sites
There were quite alot of free swimming large Green Morays, quite a lot of Brown Spotted and Goldentail eels. Good fish life – Snappers, Margates, and such. Not many juvenile spotted drums as most were adult with one very large spotted drum that was turning dark. Lots of Splendid Toadfish. We saw hawksbill turtles but not as many as other times of the year. Lots of lobsters and channel crabs. Less scorpionfish on the sites we were on.
Photos (split into two posts)
Anemone
Balloonfish
Banded Crab (Anemone crab)
Banded Coral Shrimp
Brown Spotted Moray Eel
Goldentail Moray Eel
Green Moray Eel
Green Razorfish
Harlequin Bass
Horse Eye Jacks