Few pics from Monday and Wednesday

[FLturtle]

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Nice pics of some juvenile fish. I’m always on the lookout for the really small juvenile yellowtail damselfish, before their tail turns yellow.

 

[GameChanger]

Most of what you asked has been covered pretty extensively in other threads but here are the highlights



3). Dive boats are allowed to operate at 50 percent of listed tourist capacity (6 pax boat equals 3 pax now )



The general takeaway is that you can visit Cozumel relatively safely if you follow the protocols as required by law If you ignore the local rules and act like virus doesn’t exist there are plenty of chances to catch the virus

With a few exceptions, most of the dive boats I have seen this past week are not operating at 50% capacity. Most have 6 divers plus DM and Captain. Some have private DM's or Instructors as well. YMMV

 

[cozcharlie]

Nice pics of some juvenile fish. I’m always on the lookout for the really small juvenile yellowtail damselfish, before their tail turns yellow.

The true juveniles dart around (and are obviously small)--makes them hard to photograph. I have 30 blurry pictures of them. Below is best I could do (plus crab thrown in just as an extra).

 

[cozcharlie]

With a few exceptions, most of the dive boats I have seen this past week are not operating at 50% capacity. Most have 6 divers plus DM and Captain. Some have private DM's or Instructors as well. YMMV

Sorry to hear some operators pushing rules. I think the park/navy had busted a few boats a couple of weeks ago for being over capacity, so thought they were getting better compliance. I usually dive in the afternoon so I don't see that many other boats. The snorkel boats are the ones where the biggest problem is, same size as dive boat but rated for substantially higher number of people so that 1/2 full is still a lot (they look really full).

 

[Rose Robinson]

Most of what you asked has been covered pretty extensively in other threads but here are the highlights

1). The island and state governments do take Covid very seriously. They had a 2 month hard lockdown (including a 5 pm curfew at one point ) that ended in June and then gradually did a partial re-opening. Curfew is 10 pm now , restaurants are still operating at reduced capacity. They have extensive mask wearing, social distancing and sanitation rules. They check your temperature, give you a squirt of hand sanitizer and require a mask to go into the grocery store for instance. Compliance at most tourist oriented businesses is pretty high, but there is still Covid on the island and in the state in general.

3) Mexico in general has only been testing the very sick. This has kept the top line case counts somewhat low , but the positivity on tests is sky high meaning it is obvious they are missing most cases. The total death count is actually 3rd in the world behind the US and Brazil and the death count here has been shown to be understated when press organizations have looked at actual death certificates

3). Dive boats are allowed to operate at 50 percent of listed tourist capacity (6 pax boat equals 3 pax now )

4). Planes are rather full. There has been extensive discussion on this. High air turnover rate and HEPA filters keeps virus from building too much in the cabin air , but if you are literally sitting right next to a person with Covid risk has to still be there. Bottom line on planes is risk is way lower than you would think , but not zero.

The general takeaway is that you can visit Cozumel relatively safely if you follow the protocols as required by law If you ignore the local rules and act like virus doesn’t exist there are plenty of chances to catch the virus

Thank you very much Charlie,

It certainly does sound as though all of the Cozumel local businesses in conjunction with local Government are doing everything they can to mitigate risk.

It also appears that you would have this information on good authority being a part time resident.

Thank you very much.

Rose.

 

[Sallygirl]

The true juveniles dart around (and are obviously small)--makes them hard to photograph. I have 30 blurry pictures of them. Below is best I could do (plus crab thrown in just as an extra).

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I love the juvenile yellowtail damsels. Those spots!!!!

 

[doogisar]

Nice. We missed the sharks, but swam with 5 spotted Rays...

Spotted Rays or Eagle Rays? We were there 8/4-8/16. Dove almost everyday. Did not see any Eagle Rays. Say the Black Tips a few days. We always love to see the Eagle Rays but this time of year we usually don't get to see them. But we did find a pretty rare species. The Batfish.

 

[Redfoot]

@doogisar

Great picture of the batfish!