Recently back from Cozumel 'aka' the 'Hiroshima of the Caribbean' !

[ggunn]

I'm trying to figure out if the original poster has some hidden agenda. Ok, you had a bad week of diving for whatever the reason. But I get concerned why the orginal post focused so much on how bad Cozumel is now, how bad it will always be and the seemingly intent to disuade others from going. I have no axe to grind and I will be in Cozumel diving in two weeks. So, I will come back and post my objective observation. I will say, if the intent of the original post was to harm someone's business or hurt the businesses in the area, that would be disgusting.

Consider the situation:

Person A (whom I have never heard of prior to this) posts in here with some extremely pessimistic and unflattering observations about Cozumel, but immediately assumes a persecuted "oh, poor me" attitude at the first sign of disagreement. Over the next couple of days all the regulars here weigh in with an argument of who should be able to post what and how we should respond to it, ad nauseum, whereupon a mediator gets tired of the whole acrimonious mess and locks down the thread.

A couple of days later Person B (who is also at least infrequent if not totally new to this forum) comes in and after a friendly salutation expressly and exclusively to Person A, proceeds to offer up even worse "observations", whereupon the whole mess starts up again.

Now, I don't know either of these people or what their agendae could be, but it certainly appears to me that it is within the realm of possibility that we are being trolled by these guys. Successfully, I might add.

 

[redacted]

If you have in fact had such a bad experience in Cozumel, and are focusing in on flower garden banks, you may want to do a little research on the conditions there as well. I seem to recall a rather nasty hurricane in the gulf this past year.

I've seen large (10ft diameter) coral heads that have been broken off by severe wave action but FGB is probably much less susceptable to the type of damage experienced in Cozumel. It grew up in the rough seas rather than under the protection of an interveaning island. There is very little sand in or around FGB that can cover coral. The is little diversity of coral or sponge species and those that are there are not very delicate like many of the corals and sponges in Coz. I'm not sure, but scubafanatic may be on his way out to check the FGB right now -- first trip to make it this year. If so, I'm looking forward to his report.

 

[paulmila]

Hi,
I was in Cozumel recently but saw quite a lot of sealife. Teh shallow reefs like Yucab are pretty badly damaged but deeper ones like Palancar and Columbia are in pretty good shape. Also saw a lot of eagle rays, sharks & turtles, lots of very big grouper, etc.
You may want to use Alison next time. Check out www.scubawithalison.com
She seems to find good stuff and if you don't suck up your air she takes the rest up and comes back down & let's you stay as long as you want. Very good service.
Paul

 

[Divingnthedark]

Consider the situation:

Person A (whom I have never heard of prior to this) posts in here with some extremely pessimistic and unflattering observations about Cozumel, but immediately assumes a persecuted "oh, poor me" attitude at the first sign of disagreement. Over the next couple of days all the regulars here weigh in with an argument of who should be able to post what and how we should respond to it, ad nauseum, whereupon a mediator gets tired of the whole acrimonious mess and locks down the thread.

A couple of days later Person B (who is also at least infrequent if not totally new to this forum) comes in and after a friendly salutation expressly and exclusively to Person A, proceeds to offer up even worse "observations", whereupon the whole mess starts up again.

Now, I don't know either of these people or what their agendae could be, but it certainly appears to me that it is within the realm of possibility that we are being trolled by these guys. Successfully, I might add.

Gordon, Uncle Pug posted this link check it out http://hometown.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
Don't let anyone jerk your chain or mess up your serenity. We are all going back to Coz to make our own assessments...Peace to you
Loretta

 

[Moodiejeff]

Obviously this guy is entitled to his opinion but I want to know one thing? Why did he go out with Emerald Dolphin when he has used Liquid Blue in the past? Liquid Blue is rated as one of the top operators on Coz consistently on this board and others, it doesn't make sense to choose Emerald Dolphin which is a (mostly) unknown dive op with a slow boat.

When we were there in Feb. some people we met were using Emerald Dolphin who took them diving to Tormentos, Yucab & Chankanaab... All of which were closed at the time!!! Why? Because they were close to the caletta so they could save on gas. It's widely known that these are the 3 reefs that sustained the most damage, what purpose does it serve to bring your customers to the most damaged reefs? MONEY. I'm not sure what reefs scubafanatic did with them but they took his money, gave him subpar treatment and now he's mad (as he has a right to be). Just don't condemn all of Cozumel because of it.

He obviously had a short trip but, if it were me, i would have changed dive ops after the second day of diving (if not the first!). If he had been there for a longer trip, his rant may have been a bit different... then again, maybe not. :14:

 

[ggunn]

Gordon, Uncle Pug posted this link check it out http://hometown.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
Don't let anyone jerk your chain or mess up your serenity. We are all going back to Coz to make our own assessments...Peace to you
Loretta

SERENITY NOW!!!

Just kidding, of course. That's a good link, and the advice it gives is exactly what I was trying to do - remind folks not to feed the trolls. My chain is not jerked; don't worry. I've been back once after Wilma (in January) already, and I will be going again in May. I know what to expect, warts and all. ;^)

 

[archman]

The Flower Garden Banks have already had their first battery of post-hurricane coral surveys. They did okay.
http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1981

 

[Rooster1]

I just did a bunch of dives in Cozumel
Palancar horse shoe
santa rosa wall
san francisco Reef
las palmas
paradise reef
cedral pass
columbia shallows
punta sur
tormentos
Palancar gardens
dalila
san clemente

and I am not sure exactly where the original poster did his dives but the diving in Cozumel is STILL REAL GOOD and improving daily.

 

[Giggi]

Some people would gripe if you hung 'em with a new rope.

 

[archman]

Rather than call scubafanatic (who's been a member since 2002) a troll and discount his claims about his diving experiece, we should find someone who's been to those diving sites and get a second opinion. If all his diving really was to crappy spots, his opinion was quite justifiable.

There's no reason to be hostile towards this fellow and make accusatory remarks. Lots of people visit uncharacteristically poor dive sites and infer their experience to be true for the region.

Just correct him, politely.:14: