Just returned from dive trip

[deeper thoughts]

Happens everywhere, here in the keys many foreign tourists are not complying with local mask ordinances. Our friends in the hospitality industry has confrontations everyday.

 

[Sallygirl]

It is a shame about that group in the airport!
Please tell us about your dives. Reef health? Lion Fish? So glad that you had a great trip!!!

 

[Lori May-Malone]

[QUOTE="Please tell us about your dives. Reef health? Lion Fish? So glad that you had a great trip!!![/QUOTE]

the dives were awesome! We saw turtles on 4 of 8 dives, nurse sharks, spotted eels, scorpion fish, Lots of barracuda, but only one lion fish. And of course just thousands of all the beautiful colored smaller fish. There was one gargantuan trigger fish, never have seen one this large in over 30 ocean dives, but I’m still fairly new! The reefs looked very healthy to me. There were surprisingly lots of dive boats out this week, I counted over 20. We had my 14 yr old diving with us so we dove the “easy spots” ( Tormentos, Paso de Cedral, Yucab, Delilah, Palancar Gardens, white house). Visibility was not as insanely clear as March but still absolutely awesome. ‘we use a small dive crew (We B Divin) and they are just the best group of guys. Hope to return in December!

 

[Sallygirl]

Wonderful!! Glad to hear that you didn't see many lion fish.

 

[rick00001967]

this is disturbing. but as someone above already said.....not surprising.

it certainly is unfair to paint all americans with the same brush, but i can tell you that up where i live, most people have a very negative view about how parts of your country have been behaving. that is putting it mildly. quite frankly, most people here think you guys have all lot your minds. and that is not just referring to covid.

to travel to another country (especially a small island) and ignore their requests to follow some simple rules that can help them recover from all of this is just plain selfishness. ("my rights are more important")

i don't care what their personal beliefs are. my personal beliefs do not matter either. if you are not going to follow their rules then stay home.

glad you had a nice trip. lets hope when i can finally travel that i have some where to go.

 

[ggunn]

We’ve experienced the first part of your journey and fortunately not the negative side, but oddly enough those that refuse to wear mask were predominantly from Texas. I have no idea as to why, but when I asked those not wearing mask where were they from, the majority, like 90 % said Texas!

In the interest of fairness, I would point out that one thing to consider is that by virtue of its population and proximity, Texas provides a large percentage of the visitors to Cozumel. You could ask any tourist you see there where they are from for whatever reason and there's a very good chance they will say that they are from Texas. That's especially true now because of the dearth of cruise ships and the reluctance felt by many to take long plane rides.

That said, there are people who live in Texas and there are Texans, and they are not always the same thing.

 

[GameChanger]

In the interest of fairness, I would point out that one thing to consider is that by virtue of its population and proximity, Texas provides a large percentage of the visitors to Cozumel. You could ask any tourist you see there where they are from for whatever reason and there's a very good chance they will say that they are from Texas. That's especially true now because of the dearth of cruise ships and the reluctance felt by many to take long plane rides.

That said, there are people who live in Texas and there are Texans, and they are not always the same thing.

It was all Texas dive customers on our boat today (myself & son included).
Very mild currents and good visibility. On our first dive at Palancar Gardens, we spotted 3 large reef sharks and a couple of nurse sharks. On our 2nd dive at Cedral, we saw the biggest grouper I have ever seen, a reef shark, a small lionfish, and a spotted ray.

 

[ggunn]

...and a spotted ray.

Was it an eagle ray?

 

[cozcharlie]

In addition to what GGunn said , we had a discussion a few months ago where I noted that Texans aa a percentage of Cozumel tourists is usually highest around August since it isn’t really hotter here than back home. People from northern states and Canada are more likely head to Cozumel in winter when our weather is nice but theirs is cold. That dynamic is even more pronounced now with quarantines upon return to Canada (and possibly some states )

Of course Texas isn’t only place that is hot during summer—people at table next to me (8+ feet away and outside, but still covered ) at Le Chef 30 minutes ago were from New Orleans I finally tried lobster bacon sandwich (mmmm good . )

 

[GameChanger]

Was it an eagle ray?

Yes