Playa Del Carmen Daily Dive Report! Geofish

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

October 7, 2010

No morning dives, weather is still pretty crummy and port is closed in Cozumel. Big waves and very strong current so we sent our divers to Chak-Mool cenote. Looks like the port will be closed in the afternoon, wind is blowing at 15knots/17mph from the North and there are 2.3m/8ft waves. Temperature is currently 27C/80F. The weather should be getting better tomorrow.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

October 17, 2010

Tortugas and Sabalos

The weather was great today. The temperature at the start of our dive was 26C/77F. The wind was blowing from the NNE at 9knots/11mph and the waves were 4ft/1.2m.

Tortugas was awesome today. We saw 3 turtles and at the end of the dive we saw the school of Tarpon. There were around 8 Tarpon all were about 4-6ft long. The visibility was great today at at least 100ft. This is the best we have seen it in a long time. A lot of people thought it might be murky because of Paula, but honestly the hurricane didn't even hit Playa. A couple rain showers and that was it, so visibility was not affected at all.

Sabalos was very nice today as well. We ended up seeing the giant school of Mullet (Makavil), but no sharks unfortunately. Visibility was spectacular again at over 100ft. The water temp was 80F/27C at the bottom. The diving is wonderful right now and we could not ask for better weather.

Tomorrow October 18, 2010
Mama Vina and Barracuda

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

October 18, 2010

Mama Vina and Sabalos

The weather on Monday was great, with the wind coming from the NW at 3knots/3.5mph and the waves at .5m/1.5ft. The water was like glass.

Mama Vina was so nice. Visibility was over 100ft/30m, we pulled up to the dive stop and we could actually see other divers on the wreck 90ft/27m deep. We descended and right away we were met by a school of about 30 hunting Barracuda. We went into the wreck and the Galss Sweeper fish were in the second cabin. There was also a school of about 20 Atalantic Spadefish, as well as 6 huge Permit. We drifted off the wreck to the auxiliary reef where we saw a big Green Moray Eel alongside two of the biggest Lionfish I have seen. Off the reef was the big school of Yellow and Horse Eye Jack. Great dive, the diving conditions are perfect right now.

Sabalos was very nice todays as well. The visibility was over 100ft/30m and the water temp is still pretty warm at 83F/29C. We saw the nice schools of Grunts, Snapper, and Porkfish. My brother found a little Striped Elisa, but the highlight of the dive as it has been for a couple weeks now was the giant school of Makavil (Mullet). If I were to estimate the amount of fish in this school I would have to say there was over a thousand. We were really hoping to see the sharks in the school, but no luck. We did see a big Grouper in the middle of the school, as well as a school of big Crevale Jacks. Wonderful day of diving.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

October 20, 2010

Tortugas and Barracuda

Today the weather was perfect again. The temperature at the time of our dive was 81F/27C. The wind was blowing from the North at 8knots/9mph and the waves over the Cantil were 2ft/.7m. The diving area water was like glass in the morning.

Tortugas was very nice today. The current was moderate, which made for a very pleasant dive. We ended up seeing 6 turtles all Hawksbills, 5 big Rainbow Parrotfish, 2 Southern Stingrays, and 2 big Green Moray Eels. Visibility was great today at around 100ft. Our max depth today was 72ft/21m.

In Barracuda our max depth was 45ft/13m and the visibility was awesome at 90-100ft. We saw two Hawksbill Turtles and I think I counted at least 10 Eels (Green and Spotted Morays). We followed an Electric Ray from one of the sand jumps all the way to the other reef section. We also saw 2 huge Crabs in a cave in the Horseshoe and towards the end we spotted two Scorpion Fish. Great day of diving today and tomorrow is another day in paradise.

Tomorrow October 21, 2010
Pared Verde and Cueva Pargo
Going North and a little bit deeper tomorrow, max depth should be around 90-92ft hoping to see some Turtles and some nice Pelagic's. Happy Diving everyone.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

October 27, 2010

Tortugas and Sabalos

Today the water was a little rough, but we were still able to dive. The waves were around 1.5m/5ft and the wind was blowing from the NE at around 15knots/17mph. The temperature at the time of our dive was 27C/81F.

Tortugas was nice today. Pretty strong current with the visibility at about 75ft/22m. We ended up seeing 4 turtles, all Hawksbill, 2 Green Morays, 2 Southern Stingrays, about 5 big Rainbow Parrotfish, and 2 Tarpon. Nice dive, our max depth was 75ft/22m, for 45 minutes, and the water temperature was 82F/28C.

Sabalos was amazing today. The current was strong, but it wasn't a difficult current. We ended up seeing all of the regulars that Sabalos offers, tons and tons of fish, great coral structure, but the highlights of the dive were, 1) A beautiful Decorator Crab, pretty rare sighting. 2) A big Seahorse attached to a piece of coral swaying in the current, super rare sighting. 3) But the biggest highlight was the school of Makavil (Mullet) at the end of the dive with Bull Sharks. We got to the school which is impressive on its own and there is a smaller Bull Shark darting in and out of the school feeding (AWESOME), then the school shifts and in the middle is a 2.5m/8ft Bull Shark. So amazing to see them in their natural environment like this. Just a really great day of diving here in paradise. Happy diving everyone.

Tomorrow October 28, 2010
Mama Vina and Barracuda

 

[RU4SKUBA]

Keep 'em coming! I would be very interested to see you describe the daily weather during the storm. I fly out in about 90 minutes... and my gf in 5 days.

I would imagine the conditions are deteriorating?

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

Hurricane Tomas, which is now Tropical Storm Tomas is Heading WSW right now at 14 mph, but it looks like it is going start heading straight North on Thursday. It won't be close to Playa or the Riviera Maya at that point so we should not be affected by it. Right now the weather is perfect. The wind is blowing at 10knots/11.5mph from the East and the temperature is 83F/29C. The only day this week that looks like will be ugly is Saturday.

November 1, 2010

Tortugas and Barracuda

Tortugas was nice today. Moderate current and about 80ft of visibility. We ended up seeing 5 turtles all Hawksbill, 1 big Southern Stingray feeding, the school of about 6 big Rainbow Parrotfish and 1 nice size Green Moray Eel. We are seeing less and less Tarpon which means the Bull Sharks are going to be here regularly soon.

Barracuda was very nice today with the visibility at around 75ft. There was the typical thousands of fish, but we ended up seeing 3 Pipefish and one turtle at Barracuda. The school of Mullet was not there so that means they were at Sabalos.

Tomorrow: November 2, 2010
Mama Vina and Sabalos

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

November 3, 2010

Today the weather is perfect. The water is flat and the wind is blowing at 4mph from the North. The temperature right now is 82F/28C.

So we decided to go check for the Bull Sharks today on a fun dive. We drove out to the Cantil and dropped down to about 90ft/27m and no more than 20 seconds of being down we saw our first Bull Shark. It was smaller one, around 6ft/2m, but still awesome to see the first ones of the year. We ended up seeing three in total and the last one we saw was around 8ft/2.5m. Awesome dive and now we can say, THEY ARE BACK!!!!!!! We will be doing Shark Dives every day now at 12pm. Happy Diving everyone.

 

[warmwaterturner]

Thanks for the on-going reports. Can't wait to get back there in January. I really, really miss 82F water. Last weekend I dove in 70F fresh......somehow it's not just the same.:cold:

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

November 4, 2010

Shark Point and Jardines

Yesterday the wind was blowing from the North at 12knots/14mph, which causes the water on our side to be super flat. The temperature was pretty chilly at 79F/26C.

The Shark Dive was great today. The visibility was around 90ft/27m and the current was pleasant. We ended up seeing 3 Bull Sharks about 30 seconds into the dive. It is always an awesome experience when you see them no matter how many times you dive with them.