Cozumel closing part of marine park until January

[Mauidiver]

I just read that Cozumel is closing off a large section of their marine park for research until at least January.  They suggested that people who are diving check with their dive operators to see what impact that will have on them.  I haven't a clue as to how this might effect dive excursions this fall, but wanted to mention it so that if your dive or snorkel excursion gets canceled you'll have a reason why.  We have a dive excursion booked for our late January cruise and at this point not counting on it happening, but will be pleasantly surprised if it does.  🙂

Edited September 28, 2019 by Mauidiver

[ABQrobin]

5 hours ago, Mauidiver said:

I just read that Cozumel is closing off a large section of their marine park for research until at least January.  They suggested that people who are diving check with their dive operators to see what impact that will have on them.  I haven't a clue as to how this might effect dive excursions this fall, but wanted to mention it so that if your dive or snorkel excursion gets canceled you'll have a reason why.  We have a dive excursion booked for our late January cruise and at this point not counting on it happening, but will be pleasantly surprised if it does.  🙂

 

Yes, they are closing PART of the reef system, from Palancar south on the island which includes Columbia and El Cielo.  This is the deeper dive sites.  Will it affect your dives?  Probably not.  Most dive ops will still choose to dive in the other half of the dives sites.  Most cruise ship divers won't be impacted as the dive op servicing the ships rarely goes that far south, due to distance anyhow.  Will the other dive sites be crowded?  Possibly, this will happen.  

So... don't panic yet.  The dive operations on Cozumel are a huge industry and they are NOT happy about this.  How long will it last?  Who knows.  It is going to impact divers who fly into Cozumel for scuba diving vacations more than cruise ship 1 day visitors.  

[smokinmike]

The brief that I received from Aldora states that the closure is from Punta Palancar to Punta Chiqueros and begins 7 October with an indefinite duration - but with tests being done in December and January  to measure the impact of the closure upon the reef system.

 

There will be a huge impact on the reefs that are still open in that more folks, divers and snorkelers will be concentrated in a smaller area.

 

I'm heading to Coz the first week of November and will be there for five weeks so I'll report my observations later.

[cruisin 07]

From Scuba Board just posted

Breaking official news: reefs will close from
October 7 and will re-open on December 15

This was the result of a meeting today with members of the dive community and the council that made the decision to close last week.

More information about the closure, enforcement plans, etc will be revealed in another meeting on Friday.

This is all of the information I have at this point.

 

Christi
Blue XT~Sea Diving

 

[smokinmike]

Wow - I get to Coz on 4 November and leave on 10 December.  Don't want to sound the way it sounds but godalmightydamn!  At least I'll be where it's warm, the people are nice, and the food is good.  I'll be trying the dive site out up on the north end of the island.

[ABQrobin]

23 hours ago, smokinmike said:

Wow - I get to Coz on 4 November and leave on 10 December.  Don't want to sound the way it sounds but godalmightydamn!  At least I'll be where it's warm, the people are nice, and the food is good.  I'll be trying the dive site out up on the north end of the island.

 

Over half the regular dive sites are still open.  Punta Tunich, Cedral, Tormentos, Yocab, Paradise, Chankanaab, Bolones, Villa Blanca wall... all great dives.  Santa Rosa is also open and is world famous for its swimthroughs.  

Edited October 4, 2019 by ABQrobin

[smokinmike]

Yep - I'm very familiar with all those reefs.  Got hundreds of dives there.  My beef is that a lot off folks are gonna be crammed into a much smaller area.  This will give me an opportunity to see the stuff up north though and heck, I'll still be on Coz.

 

. . . and that ain't bad.