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Reefs in cancun The
Chitales Reef, marked with a flag in the lmage, off Punta Cancun and the shallow reef at Punta
Nizuc on the southern tip of Cancun are just right for beginning snorkelers. The Laguna del Amor, just inland from the western
shore of the Nichupte Lagoon, is another interesting snorkeling
site; the Lagoon is fed by one of the Yucatan Peninsula’s
underwater springs. Many hotels on Cancun rent gear, and most
marinas feature snorkeling on snorkel/dive combination trips.
Elk Horn coral formation at chitales reef.
Reefs in Cozumel
With the purpose of creating
artificial reefs two boats where sunken in Cozumel; the
ceremony was made in the Beach zone. The island of
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, counts already on two more
attractions for diving lovers. One of the military boats is
"Lagoon of Mandinga", picture below,
 and the other is the "Lagoon of Pátzcuaro" already sunk and already in the marine bottom of
Cozumel. The objective is to preserve the reef wealth of the
seas of the island. This great natural submarine scene has
turned into one of the more important destinies for diving in
Mexico and in the world. The great amount of divers that daily
carry out immersions to the zones of reefs has forced the
authorities to offer diverse alternatives to the divers of
Mexico and the world. The major of Cozumel, , mentioned: "the
sinking of this boats after the Wilma hurricane was with the intention of lowering the
pressure to the attractive reef zone and the creation of 2 a new ones". For that
reason the sunken of the two boats was decided. "the boats
reached that limit on which, was not cost effective to
repair, gave its time of operability and an advantage that the
sunk ships give us is that life is generated". The two boats
were donated by the Secretariat of Navy: the "Lagoon of Mandiga",
that measures 27 meters in length and weight 20 tons and, the
"Lagoon of Pátzcuaro", 19 meters and 7,6 tons of weight. The two
entered service 1965 in San Juan de Ulúa, in the state of
Veracruz. They gave to service to Mexico in patrolling actions
and monitoring of the Mexican seas from Chetumal, to Isla Mujeres. The ceremony of sinking was
done in the bay of Cozumel to 11 meters of depth and 300 meters
of the well-known North beach coast "Las casitas".
The
Spectacular Deep Dives of the
Cozumel Island
COZUMEL CARIBBEAN ISLAND
DEEP DIVE SITES.
Maracaibo Reef - The most challenging
dive spot in Cozumel at 140 -160 feet, which is decompression
(non sport) diving. The reef features a spectacular multitude of
caves and crevices, requiring an entire day to explore. There is
also a series of very lush and rarely dived huge heads, pic
below, in 60-90
ft. of water. (Advanced)
Chun Chakab - Probably the
most difficult to find reef in Cozumel Diving this one takes
very special combination of captain, divemaster and weather
conditions, If you do manage to get there, expect a virgin
submarine fantasyland where large pelagics are often seen. For
experienced ONLY! 90-120 ft. (Advanced)
La Francesa Reef - An
excellent deep site for first time ocean divers, this reef is surrounded by sand bottom at
7~15 feet: Expect mild currents and a wide spectrum of colorful
marine life. (Novice)
Palancar Reef - The reef
most identified with Cozumel is actually a conglomeration of
many different coral formations and personalities. Stretching
over three and one half miles, this gargantuan queen reef lies
about a mile oft shore and tops a sloping wall which descends to
a maximum depth of over 3000 feet. Palancar offers such a wide
variety of profiles that she could not be seen in 20 or even 30
dives. Just to get a glimpse" of this multifaceted giant, the
diver need make at least 6 separate dives. (Novice)
Palancar Gardens at the north end
is relatively shallow and best dived between 40 and 70 ft. Often
dived, nevertheless beautiful with many large caverns. (Novice)
The Little Caves is the
area of many winding canyons, deep ravines and narrow crevices.
A labyrinth of passageways, tunnels and caves, this is best
dived at 50-70 feet. (Novice)
The Big Horseshoe where a
series of tightly packed giant coral heads from a natural
horseshoe rising from 100 feet to within 20 feet of the surface.
Former home of the Christ statue (which now stands in Chancanab
Park), this is still Palancar's busiest deep dive. Too much
broken coral here, dive well, please. (Novice)
Broken Reef or The Little
Horseshoe - just south of the big one is where you'll
find majestic coral ridges rising high from the slope - Many
windows, canyons and caverns. Best at 60-80 ft. Seldom dived and
pristine. (Novice)
Palancar Caves - still
further south, is best dived al 60-90 feet to appreciate it's
deep buttresses, tunnels, caves and immense caverns. (Novice)
Deep Palancar - Is where the wall
begins at 9O-100 feet. Rarely dived and pristine. Not for novice
divers 100-120 ft. Spectacular visibility and currents vary all
along the reef, but you can always count on stunning, exciting
dive at mighty Palancar. (Advanced)
Santa Rosa Reef or "The Wall"
- Undoubtedly Cozumel's second most popular drop-off. A wall
begins at 50 feet and drops straight away into the deep. There
is usually a brisk current and what an incredible thrill it is
to literally fly the face of the wall and occasionally frolic
with a playful grouper. Santa Rosa offers great beds of
tunicates, immense sponges, huge overhangs of stony corals and
impressive caves and tunnels best dived 60-80 ft. Awesome! (Intermediate)
Cedral Wall - A fairly flat
wall just brimming with life and color. Expect a swift ride 50-90 ft. (Intermediate)
Columbia Reef - Another impressive
drop-off at 60-80 feet. The quality of diving here is at least
as spectacular as any part of Palancar. Deep diving at its
finest. Columbia is comprised of a series of gigantic coral
pinnacles (most over 90 ft. tall) rock marked with caves,
tunnels and caverns. Here you'll experience a unique sensation
liken to floating around the Rocky Mountains. Small marine life
is a bit sparse but large creatures are frequently seen. (Intermediate)
Punta Sur - incredible
topography... huge caverns. Many divers surfaces screaming with
joy. 90-100 ft. (Intermediate)
Punta Sur II - Home of "the
devil's throat". This sequel is every bit as fascinating as the
original. 90-120 ft.(Advanced)
Barracuda and San Juan Reefs are
younger, more virgin reefs. Barracuda's Wall and the "Mountains"
of San Juan offer little exciting topography. These are
definitely not for the novice or overly confident divers.
Currents of 3-10 knots run straight out to sea and if you lose
your dive group, your next stop may be Cuba. These 2 reefs can
be dived safely only by small groups of experienced current
divers utilizing a hand held ascent line tied to float which the
boat can keep sight of and follow. Depths range from 70 -110 ft.
Cameras must be left topside. (Expert)
Villablanca Wall -
Different! Instead of the huge stony coral buttresses, so
typical of these southern deep reefs, the sloping wall here is
dominated by huge sponges, gorgonians, and big schools of jacks
and angelfish. It is recommended that novices make this one from
a boat, but this site can be dived by more experienced divers
from the beach. 50-100 ft. (Intermediate)
Virgin Wall - Due to heavy
currents preventing local divemasters from bringing large groups
of reef wreckers, this area remains pristine and lush. 2-4
different dives to see it all. If I had to choose my very
favorite dive In Cozumel, it would be one of these. Which? Thank
you, I won't tell. 40-130 ft. (Advanced)
k.
Isla Mujeres reefs.
"El Garrafon" reef; trips depart from many hotel
marinas, as well as other marinas and piers throughout the
island. Experienced snorkelers should try the offshore reefs
entering the sea at the beach end in Playa Norte. Isla Mujeres
also offers excellent diving opportunities. Book a trip from the
Cancun marinas or from a dive shop at Isla Mujeres.
The reefs called "La Bandera", "Los Manchones" and "Los
Cuevones", all at a depth of 40 feet in the bay of Mujeres,
are ideal for beginning divers and there ara shallow 7 feet deep
areas for snorkeling in Manchones reef. The Ultrafreeze is
a 110-foot dive site about eight miles east of Isla Mujeres.
Divers can also explore what remains of sunken Spanish galleons
on the way to Isla Contoy. Scuba divers should not leave Isla
Mujeres without checking out the Cave of the Sleeping Sharks; in
this cave 70 feet below the surface, explored by Jacques
Cousteau in the 1960s, you can come face-to-face with large
“sleeping” sharks that allegedly will not attac |
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Can I Dive?. Broadly speaking, you need to deal
with two questions: 1. Am I mentally ready to dive? and 2.
Am I physically capable of diving?. Mental Readiness
Diving is, at its best, a deeply relaxing activity where
one can visit an alien environment and explore the aquatic
world. Are you at ease floating in water too deep to stand
up in? This is a sport with infinite rewards for those who
love being in and around the water. However, it can also
accentuate any deeply felt fears and phobias that you may
harbor. Are you mature enough to be a buddy? This question
is geared more towards potential Junior Divers (under 15
years of age) but is equally applicable to adults. When
you get in the water with someone (your buddy), you need
to understand that you are diving as a team. This requires
a heightened sense of awareness regarding the status of
that individual during the dive. If your buddy is
experiencing difficulties (even minor ones), his/her
safety is your first priority. How do you react to
unexpected problems? Although most dives occur without a
hitch, occasional issues do arise. These issues are
generally minor and manageable, so long as one maintains a
clear head. Panic is a significant contributor to
avoidable dive accidents. Physical Requirements You need
to know how to swim. Age. For a Junior certification (for
which there are depth and buddy restrictions), the minimum
age at certain training agencies is 10 years old (recently
reduced from 12). The "adult" certification age is
generally 15 years old. There is no stated maximum age,
assuming medical fitness. Open Water training is a big
investment in both time and money. Therefore, I often
recommend that the initial exposure to scuba be through
what is commonly referred to as a "resort course" or
"discover scuba diving" experience. The resort course
(common at beach destinations and cruises) comprises
approximately a 30-40 minute lecture, a 30 minute pool
session and then a supervised shallow dive in open water.
Ask your cruise or resort concierge for information. If
you live in colder climes, then a discover scuba session
at your local dive shop can be a good local introduction.
Discover scuba is just the class and pool portions noted
previously. The cost is marginal at $25-75 (sometimes free
with promotions) and most dive shops will apply the cost
(if any) against your enrollment fee in the Open Water
course.
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Visit to the Nizuc reef .
Handle your own aquatic jetsky or
speedboat, for two people in an extremely exciting
route by the lagoon of Cancún (Nichupte lagoon).
Directed by a guide who took you to explore the
wonderful waters of the Caribbean Sea going by the
lagoon of the love and channels surrounded by jungle
and wild life, after the route throughout the
lagoon, we will go to the sea until arriving at the
reef of "Nizuc Point", where we will stop the
aquatic motos and we will provide snorkel equipment
(mask, fins and tube), including life jacket, we
will venture ourselves to explore snorkeling (free
diving). The wonderful reefs of Punta Nizuc and
admiring the infinite variety of fish of colors and
marine life by approximately one hour. Later the
return will be again by the lagoon in a different
route to visit another part the flora and
fauna of mangrooves of Cancun and the , returning
to the pier from where we left three hours before.
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Reef Paso El Cedral or "Oak
Pass" is a series of many reefs marked with
expansive low profile caverns at its beginning and
plenty of big fish throughout. Maximum depth 60 ft..
Cedral is another seldom dived but spectacular site.
(Intermediate)
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Santa Maria Reef begins where
San Francisco leaves off... at the south end of S.F.
restaurant, a little less coral, larger schools of
angels... beautiful diving also. (Intermediate)
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San Francisco Reef - Beginning
on the southern end of San Francisco Beach, this
half mile reef is broken into 3 sections, each
separated by about 60 yards of sand. This is
Cozumel's shallowest wall dive. Loaded with life and
best dived between 35 and 50 ft. San Francisco is a
particularly exciting shallow dive, and not to be
missed. (Intermediate)
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Yucab Reef
maximum depth 60 ft.. Yucab's dense low profile is a
cornucopia of life and color. Nurse sharks are almost
always seen here and the current is usually swift.
(Novice)
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Tormentos Reef
is a series of colorful coral heads separated by
"blue" sand valleys you can almost always visit with
a very friendly and big moray. A divemaster's
favorite. 40-70 ft. (Intermediate)
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Shallow
Palancar - An outstanding dive between 20 and 40
ft. Great for beginners but small groups of
experienced divers can enjoy an incredible tour of
long, narrow tunnels and caves. (Novice)
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There is a diversity of points of
diving with multiple depths, Cozumel is ideal to
make sport diving also diving with Nitrox and
technical diving with Trimix. The island has two
very large LINDE plants of air and preparation of
gas mixtures.
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Sunken ship to dive.
From
June of the last year this war ship the "Laguna de
Patzcuaro" is at 24 meters of depth. A
sunken boat of 50 meters of length and 14 of sleeve,
allowing to make diving of external observation but
for advanced divers only to go inside it.
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Due to the exceptional conditions
of diving and the variety of marine life,
Cozumel island is among the 10 best places of diving
of the world. One of the most famous sites is
Palancar, disclosed by Jacques Cousteau, a wall of
great colorful extension and. The walls of Santa
Rosa and Colombia are also of unparallel
beauty. The coralline formations of this
places extend to great depth
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Wall diving allows to
make multilevel immersions, through its
coralline formation in form of passages, tunnels and
cameras by where rays of the blue sun enter
the deep. Between its fauna we can find grouper,
barracudas, fish angel, red snapper, lobsters,
crabs, octopus, rays, turtles, cat shark , boquinete
, and dolphins occasionally, among others.
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Chancanab Reef is just south
of Parque Chancanab and about 350 yards offshore.
Maximum depth is 55 ft. The coral formations and
marine Life are similar to, but a little less
populated than Paradise. Chancanab is another good
location for night diving. (Novice)
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Sunken Plane scuba dive.
The nicest thing about this dive is, divers can go
from the beachline. No need to go by boat to this
one , Is like a gentle slope down to it. |
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The reefs are recovering at record
speed
Eagle rays, turtles, nurse and black
tip sharks are everywhere. The island itself has
fully recovered. Vegetation is lush and green again
and all waterfront hotels, shops and other
facilities are fully rebuilt. It’s back to the
beautiful paradise it’s always been.
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Diver report 2007 Cozumel.
Scuba diving at the walls is like diving in an
aquarium! The water is so clear. There is a crazy
amount of different wildlife, and clear water to
shot a lot of pictures. So many different fish, it
would take awhile to type them all out. Most fish
have very vivid colors. Nurse sharks,
and both Hawkbill and Green Sea Turtles, Barracudas,
Green and Spotted Moray Eels, as well, Southern
Stingrays, and Spiny Lobsters, amongst many other
things. Splendid Toad Fish can be found only in
Cozumel, so what trip wouldn’t be complete without
seeing them. Of course, there are all sorts of
sponges and coral. About the post-hurricane damage,
and according to our fearless leader, he only
noticed some changes (a lot more sand in some
places), but not much, and everything seemed really
healthy. By the way, because all diving is inside a
marine preserve, neither gloves, nor knives are
allowed.
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Local Hotels
Reservations
Check availability of Hotel
Rooms in Cozumel and Playa del carmen,
Click here
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