Cozumel reef health

[mcohen1021]

I was a relatively new diver when we made our first trip to Cozumel 3 months after Wilma. All of my diving up to that point had been in Florida and the Bahamas.

All of the old timers at Scuba Club talked about how the reef was so bad after Wilma that they were never returning to Cozumel. To me, Cozumel had the most beautiful reef that I had ever seen, even after Wilma.

I have since been diving all over the world, and Cozumel is still my favorite. We have been to Cozumel every year since Wilma, and next month will be my third trip to Cozumel in less than a year.

My 1st CZ dive was August 1990, it was alot different there back then. Both the island and the scuba - wild!

 

[Living4Experiences]

May I ask, what dive sites were on when you saw this?

I don't remember what site that was. It was about mid-week, though, so seeing all the dead stuff was quite normal by that point. What struck me as odd was that it looked like there was a concerted effort to pile up the coral bones because there were scrape marks around the piles. It didn't look like a natural occurrence, like from heavy currents.

 

[ggunn]

I don't remember what site that was. It was about mid-week, though, so seeing all the dead stuff was quite normal by that point. What struck me as odd was that it looked like there was a concerted effort to pile up the coral bones because there were scrape marks around the piles. It didn't look like a natural occurrence, like from heavy currents.

There have been piles of broken and dead finger coral around the base of the reefs ever since Wilma. Some of them are quite large and they are not going anywhere. I don't believe that pollution/water temperature/disease damage to coral results in piles of broken coral like that, and I don't believe anyone is raking it into piles. I hope to be there in May after a two year hiatus and see for myself.

 

[mcohen1021]

I hope to be there in May after a two year hiatus and see for myself.

May 31, 2021!

 

[Janie88]

I have read that Royal Caribbean is looking at having Cozumel as a "home port". I hope not, but they have already added Bermuda and Barbados to their home ports of embarkation. Seems like they are doing whatever they can to reinstate cruising and right now cannot sail out of U.S.

 

[ggunn]

I have read that Royal Caribbean is looking at having Cozumel as a "home port". I hope not, but they have already added Bermuda and Barbados to their home ports of embarkation. Seems like they are doing whatever they can to reinstate cruising and right now cannot sail out of U.S.

Please no; the onshore infrastructure cannot handle it. Around cruise ship departure and return dates the airport, taxis, hotels, restaurants, etc. would be a hot mess. I have been going to Cozumel since 1978 but that could spell the end of my trips there.

 

[Janie88]

Please no; the onshore infrastructure cannot handle it. Around cruise ship departure and return dates the airport, taxis, hotels, restaurants, etc. would be a hot mess. I have been going to Cozumel since 1978 but that could spell the end of my trips there.

I agree. Hopefully this will not happen, but I did read about it. Maybe Royal will do something in Cancun instead. For the moment, it looks like just Barbados, Bermuda and Nassau.

 

[JFS]

I have read that Royal Caribbean is looking at having Cozumel as a "home port". I hope not, but they have already added Bermuda and Barbados to their home ports of embarkation. Seems like they are doing whatever they can to reinstate cruising and right now cannot sail out of U.S.

Yes Royal Caribbean has been in talks with the current administartion here to have Cozumel as home port.

 

[ggunn]

Yes Royal Caribbean has been in talks with the current administartion here to have Cozumel as home port.

Can you imagine 6780 people (the capacity of RC's Oasis of the Seas) above and beyond the normal traffic all trying to fly into Cozumel and trying to fly out, all on the same day? Or what the ferries would be like if they all went through Cancun?

 

[JFS]

Can you imagine a cruise ship's worth of people all trying to fly into Cozumel and another trying to fly out, all on the same day? Or what the ferries would be like if they all went through Cancun?

Would be a challenge for sure. The cruise company would have dedicated ferries to PDC and bus transport to cancun. Cozumel would be a much busier place