Post Isidore Coz Report

[Bill Walton]

Coz was great as usual. Lots of sand on the shallow sourthern reefs. i.e. Columbia shallows and Palancar. Paradise is in great shape. The storm did some damage to the sponges and such but I guess that is mother nature for you.

The dock at Nachi Cocom partially colapsed as sand was washed from under its legs.

Ist dive-Fri 9/27-3:30pm Paradise 93mins. Great dive, very slight current. Reef looked very healthy and weathered the storm well. Tons of fish everywhere, looked like they were celebrating.

2nd Dive-Fri 9/27-7:40pm Paradise 54mins. Best night dive ever. Saw 6 octopus in the first half hour, several eels as well. Also saw some kind of lobster I have never seen before, think it was a lobster--looked like a 10inch cockroach. Very Strange.

3rd Dive-Sat 9/28 Palancar Horseshoe--very deep dive-saw several huge schools of grey angels--100-150 in each school--starting at around 120'. Even shallower we were seeing groups of 40-60, really cool. Saw two huge grouper, both trailing behind the angels. Biggest turtle I have ever seen, he was down deep as we were coming up.
Shallower there was a lot of sand on the reef. No real current

4th Dive-Sat 9/28 San Fransico--reef and sponges looked very healthy and faired the storm well. Saw more groups of angels and a nice nurse shark. No real current

5th dive-Sun 9/29 Columbia Shallows--slight current out of the north. Entire reef covered in sand, looked like it had snowed. Saw all the wonderful little fish and couple turtles we usually see here.

6th dive--Sun 9/29 Chac Balloons, little current, good dive.

Say more later.

The weather was great and had a wonderful time.

Bill

 

[sealskin98]

Bill Walton once bubbled...
Coz was great as usual. Lots of sand on the shallow sourthern reefs.
Also saw some kind of lobster I have never seen before, think it was a lobster--looked like a 10inch cockroach. Very Strange.
Bill

Wow...hope there was not too much damage. Was wondering; keepin' track of Lili now, and G.C.

Hmmm...could the cockroach be a slipper lobster? Sea bugs?

Great report!

 

[TCDiver1]

Yup, yup .... i was gonna guess slipper lobster also. They barely look like your average bug!

 

[Dee]

Wow!...I've never seen more than 4-5 together. Are you sure they were angels and not tangs? Sure wish I'd been there with ya!

 

[Bill Walton]

I have a few pictures of one of the SMALLER schools that I took at San Fransico. It has probably 45-60 in the group, mostly all Gray with a couple French. The really big groups we saw were below us at about 200ft off palancar horsehoe. We saw three really huge groups all over 100 fish in each, closer to double that number, super cool. My DM also said that he had never seen anything like it either, they all think it has something to do with the storm.

Another really cool thing about the trip was that I had the boat all to myself, each dive with the exception of the first night dive with ScubaDu was with just me and the DM.

Love Living-Underwater!

I will try to post a few of my pics I took with the new digital camera. Please keep in mind that these were my first with the camera.

There was some damage on the reefs and shore, but less than I expected. Generally, the currents were mild and the vis very good. Not sure that everyone is in any shape to be hit with another storm, so I hope Lili is kind. They were starting to ration gasoline, from what I heard, due to road destruction in the mainland making the supply chain difficult.

I hope the reefs bounce back. I am sure they will. Still lots of life, the fish are all like busy farmer ants tending their gardens. Cant wait to return in November.

Best Regards,

Bill

 

[Dee]

I can only imagine what a school of Angels like that would look like. Can't wait to see the pictures of it!

I got an email from Tony today. He said the same thing, that there was minimal damage to the reefs. He did say that part of the pier at Nachi Cocum collapsed because of sand washout under some of the pilings. He and Brenda are having a ball and waiting to see what this other storm is gonna do. Lucky bugger is there until Sat.!

Glad you had a great time and got your water fix! =;^)