Possible southern reef closure

[islanddream]

How bad is it now?

Does anyone have recent and past reef pictures that would give us a visual comparative sense of how much change the Cozumel diver might expect to see if they returned.

We are currently in Coz and having a great time! We've dived reefs in the north and the two ship wrecks in the north as well as opened reefs in the marine park. The diving has been excellent! Warm water, gentle current, good weather...can't ask for more. All five of us are experienced divers and in the past have dived the reefs that are closed. We haven't missed diving them at all this trip. So people who are cancelling their trips are going to miss out on great diving. We come to Coz once or twice a year and there's no way we're going to stop diving here. Have we seen bleached coral....yes. Is it more than we've seen in the past...yes. But it's only a very small portion of all the lovely marine life on the reefs. People have commented here that they worry that the opened reefs would be crowded. We've been diving five days and only saw one other group on the reef we were diving. All of the people who are giving up on Coz are making a big mistake. There are plenty of beautiful reefs to dive regardless of the closure! Can't wait until tomorrow to dive, dive, dive! Cheers!

 

[Damselfish]

I posted on it so I’d see other posts, wondered why it was quite - whom evers boat that is has some explaining to do

All you need to do is click the "Watch thread" link near the top of the page.

 

[DandyDon]

All you need to do is click the "Watch thread" link near the top of the page.

On FB, you use this....

 

[Damselfish]

Oops, missed that it was facebook

(If I owned a group on facebook I would have a rule to delete all comments that said “f” or similar.)

 

[ChuckP]

Oops, missed that it was facebook

(If I owned a group on facebook I would have a rule to delete all comments that said “f” or similar.)

Can’t watch a thread that is deleted either, that topic was posted numerous times and kept being deleted

 

[Prop Joe]

Whats a Facebook???

 

[JohnWoods]

We are currently in Coz and having a great time! We've dived reefs in the north and the two ship wrecks in the north as well as opened reefs in the marine park. The diving has been excellent! Warm water, gentle current, good weather...can't ask for more. All five of us are experienced divers and in the past have dived the reefs that are closed. We haven't missed diving them at all this trip. So people who are cancelling their trips are going to miss out on great diving. We come to Coz once or twice a year and there's no way we're going to stop diving here. Have we seen bleached coral....yes. Is it more than we've seen in the past...yes. But it's only a very small portion of all the lovely marine life on the reefs. People have commented here that they worry that the opened reefs would be crowded. We've been diving five days and only saw one other group on the reef we were diving. All of the people who are giving up on Coz are making a big mistake. There are plenty of beautiful reefs to dive regardless of the closure! Can't wait until tomorrow to dive, dive, dive! Cheers!

That's a great summary and thank you !! I'll be there Nov 22 for a week and relieved reading your post. Don't drink all the beer before I get there

 

[islanddream]

That's a great summary and thank you !! I'll be there Nov 22 for a week and relieved reading your post. Don't drink all the beer before I get there

Don't worry...we saved some for you!

There is a bleaching on the reefs we visited. The staghorn coral seemed to be victim to much of it. I only saw one brain coral that had bleaching, but we didn't seem to be on reefs that had very much brain coral to begin with. However, there is still so much beauty on the reefs and that's what continues to draw us back to Coz every year. For the sake of all marine life, I really hope scientists can accurately pinpoint the reason for the bleaching. I truly don't believe it's the fault of scuba divers. My best guess is warming ocean temperatures and pollution. Have fun and enjoy the great diving in Coz!

 

[ggunn]

Don't worry...we saved some for you!

There is a bleaching on the reefs we visited. The staghorn coral seemed to be victim to much of it. I only saw one brain coral that had bleaching, but we didn't seem to be on reefs that had very much brain coral to begin with. However, there is still so much beauty on the reefs and that's what continues to draw us back to Coz every year. For the sake of all marine life, I really hope scientists can accurately pinpoint the reason for the bleaching. I truly don't believe it's the fault of scuba divers. My best guess is warming ocean temperatures and pollution. Have fun and enjoy the great diving in Coz!

The only staghorn coral around Cozumel I have seen in the past 20 years or so is one sprig of it on top of a coral head at Colombia Shallows and some that they now have roped off right next to shore at Playa Corona. Maybe there's more, I dunno. There used to be lots of it over on the mainland side that stuck out of the water at low tide, but that was before all the development over there. It may all be gone now. It's definitely endangered.

 

[ibj40]

Coral damage more catastrophic than sargassum says biologist