Cruise Ship Damage?

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I used to enjoy mooning them in Cozumel. As we passed them on the way to the southern dive sites, there were always a few people with such boring lives that they would stay on board in port and watch life pass them by from the stern. Then I decided I was being cruel to sad people.

Are you sure it’s the cruise ship people that have a problem, and not the guy with his pants down around his ankles? Because if you stand back and look at it it sure looks like it might be the other way around.
 
We used to be cruise ship haters.................................. then I had to have major heart surgery to repair a defected valve (from birth) that was suddenly getting worse. It wasn't in the plans for us to take a dive vacation for several months, then my husband, Ron, had to have major hip surgery due to an injury. Once again, no way to do a dive trip. We went a whole year without diving!!!! So we wanted to go somewhere, and thought about all the islands we had never seen, that we might want to visit, but not necessarily for a whole week. We aren't rich enough to go island hopping, so a cruise came up in discussion. We did the first one Oct 2014 just a lark, figured we would try it out and if it wasn't for us (we were sure it would be horrible) then we at least got a week vacation and would be back to regular dive trips again. Well, from Day 1 onboard we had a great time. We got home (cruise went to Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan) and couldn't stop talking about it. We booked another cruise for 4 months later. We are up to #10 now coming up in April and #11 is already booked in Sept.

So here's what happened to US.... we are getting older, and just don't have the dive dive dive energy for a 7-day dive trip like before. We have both had a couple more surgeries, too. So we have found that cruising gets us out to see new places, do new things (went cave tubing, ziplining, and such) as well as occasionally diving and snorkeling excursions at different ports. So its a vacation with a little diving, and a little other stufff...we get to visit NEW places, not just Cozumel year after year. It is budget friendly, too. We don't have to drag luggage yet we get to visit a new place every day. I like it.... no, I LOVE it.

Yeah, I miss my dive dive dive trips, but they are behind me now. I have medical issues that take priority and cruising gives me the chance to still visit places, have fun, and why not? We might do a land trip again sometime in 2020, but for 2019 we have 2 cruises planned, and 4 camping trips planned (our other passion).

robin
 
: ( left matched right... Now mowed flat.
PANO_20190315_194608-01.jpeg


Closeups typical of the area of fresh destruction:

Dozens gone:
received_423085761792888.jpeg


Thousands snapped off:
received_582574592216895.jpeg
 
Hundreds of years of growth, destroyed in minutes.
Perhaps some of the pieces would be suitable for transplanting.
I know there are various groups on the Island that are already doing some experimental work.
Perhaps the pieces could be epoxied to some of the concrete rubble or the wrecks up north.
I would be willing to provide some funds for the epoxy if anyone can get a program together.
Maybe one of the dive ops could run special afternoon dives to collect and relocate some of the pieces.
Maybe the photos can be presented to the port captain by a representative from Annoat to seek funds from the cruise operator for restoration.
Maybe the photos can be presented to the press. Por Esto has covered the event.

If not us, who?
 
The couple of times I've looked at large-scale grounding damage to a reef from a ship or anchor, we tried shooting an overhead mosaic using frame captures from video. It was a bit difficult because both cases involved damage along a wall, but it still provided a good overview of the scope of damage. In both cases we could also identify the different types of damage done to the reef; in the one case we could see where the anchor had been dragged back through the coral as well as where the chain had "cheese grated" the reef as it swung across the relief.

With the macro closeups like those posted it's very hard to tell you're looking at damage; if a cruise ship anchor got dragged through there you should see large, relatively fresh chunks of busted coral and rock. What stuck in my head after the one job was seeing large Orbicella heads that had gotten knocked down the slope and been shattered on impact; the limestone skeleton under the corallites had separated like a bunch of soda straws.
 
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