Hurricane damage - recovered yet?

[jepuskar]

Thinking about going to Coz to dive, but am leery since there was a hurricane their years ago. Are the reefs ok?

 

[ggunn]

If you've never been there you won't know the difference.

Hurricane Wilma hit Cozumel nearly 20 years ago. Some of the damage will take hundreds of years to completely recover from, but hurricanes are part of the cycle of life for the reefs. The sponges and soft corals recover quickest, and they are doing fine. The huge towers of coral along the wall on the south end are still there and the walls are as well. The hurricane washed a lot of sand up onto the reefs, but it is mostly gone and/or grown over by now.

I have been diving there at least once yearly since 1987, so I have seen the ebb and flow of reef conditions. I still very much love the diving there to this day. Go; I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I'm pretty sure Coz has some of the best diving in the world. Definitely not THE best but better than a lot of places I have dived like Malaysia (Pulao Tioman) and Thailand (Koh Tao).

 

[ReefHound]

What coral reefs haven't been touched by a hurricane/typhoon in the past few decades?

 

[ggunn]

What coral reefs haven't been touched by a hurricane/typhoon in the past few decades?

True dat, but the reef structure at Cozumel is unusual in that it is protected by the island from wind and waves from the east, the water gets very deep very close to shore, and the channel between the island is only 12 miles wide and 30 miles long; it's a pretty small target. To do significant damage to the reefs a hurricane has to get into the channel and the southern eyewall has to hit or pass very close to the west side of island; it doesn't happen very often.

 

[jepuskar]

True dat, but the reef structure at Cozumel is unusual in that it is protected by the island from wind and waves from the east, the water gets very deep very close to shore, and the channel between the island is only 12 miles wide and 30 miles long; it's a pretty small target. To do significant damage to the reefs a hurricane has to get into the channel and the southern eyewall has to hit or pass very close to the west side of island; it doesn't happen very often.

I'm actually disappointed in you Gordon. Perhaps I should call you up again so we can discuss this. Ring a bell?

 

[ggunn]

I'm actually disappointed in you Gordon. Perhaps I should call you up again so we can discuss this. Ring a bell?

If you are the guy that kept PMing me and called me up to argue about something (I don't remember what) a few years ago, please don't.

 

[jepuskar]

Yes, that's me...and I think that was 2005 or so...more than a few years ago...lol