Cozumel makes "No" List for 2020

[Doctor Rig]

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.)

@Kmart921 What Coz area/sites did you dive?

 

[Doctor Rig]

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.

@Lewis88 What Coz area/sites did you dive?

 

[ggunn]

Fixed for you.

The truth is that most divers cannot tell the difference between Favia, Trachyphillia or Pseudodiploria. Heck, I doubt that many could even ID Millepora accurately.

Guilty as charged, but so what? Most people don't know what I know about chemistry and electrical engineering.

EDIT: Perhaps a more apt analogy - most people who go to concerts cannot correctly identify a Les Paul, a Stratocaster, an SG, or a Telecaster, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be going or that they cannot enjoy the music.

 

[GameChanger]

"I am a marine biologist..."

 

[Lewis88]

@Lewis88 What Coz area/sites did you dive?

Dalila, La Francesca, Paso del Cedral, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, & Cedral Mountain.

 

[kelemvor]

Fodor's travel? Isn't Fodor a character in the Game of Thrones series?

LOL

 

[tridacna]

Guilty as charged, but so what? Most people don't know what I know about chemistry and electrical engineering.

EDIT: Perhaps a more apt analogy - most people who go to concerts cannot correctly identify a Les Paul, a Stratocaster, an SG, or a Telecaster, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be going or that they cannot enjoy the music.

If you can’t ID Millepora, you better wear a full wetsuit!

 

[deepsea21]

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

Belize isn't immune either... Just a matter of time.

 

[Kmart921]

@Kmart921 What Coz area/sites did you dive?

Pretty much every reef from Dalila to Paradise. Cedral (wall and shallows), Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Punta Tunich, San Clemente, Yucab, Tormentos, and a couple others.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

The loss of the brain corral definately sucks. I can spend an entire night dive feeding the worms to the brain corral and anenomes. We did find a couple of brain corrals that were not affected, but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time. On the bright side, the closure of the southern reefs has opened up new reefs on the north end other than just San Juan and Barracuda. I doubt we would have ever done those if not for the southern closures.

While I live, breath, eat, and sleep Diving, my Cozumel is so much more. The people, the food, the island, the food, the weather, the beer, the food, and of course the diving is why we go. Avoiding Coz because of the loss of a minor portion of the reef is like refusing to go to the circus because the midget clown retired. Its definately a loss...just not a big loss....

See yuse guys on the reefs.
Jay