Top FIVE reasons Norte and Cenote Don't Mix

[Nrg Spoon]

The brewakers in front of the hotel are big enough for surfers. So, not having heard the official word from the Port Captain yet, it appears a sure thing the port will be closed to divers for another day.

Nah! Here are the top FIVE reasons:

5. Not DIR for Warm Water Wimps.

4. Not for NO (No Overhead) divers.

3. No coral reef or reef fish in cenotes.

2. No DEEP divin to 200 feet.

1. No oddly spotrted Eagle Ray has ever been recently spotted in cenotes!

Looks like another day of deeply watyching Saddam on TV. ;-)

[Nrg Spoon]

As luck would have it the "land" was definitelly the land on the "island" of Cozumel, because the dive site in question, Las Palmas, was a wall from the island (Cozumel) side of Palancar.

You're probably right, but I thought he was familiar enough with the sites in Cozumel to accordingly know where Las Palmas was relative to the sand flats of Palancar, and the OTHER side of Palancar which are the walls facing the mainland of Yucatan.

[Nrg Spoon]

Yeah, the entire Centro area has! As you know, in Coz you could have a heavy rain storm at your favorite watering whole (no matter where) & have bright sunshine and no ironically rain 100 feet away. As for the flooding of the streets, it doesn't take but a few minutes of heavy rain to flood several of the Calles and Avenides in the downtown area. There wasn't even any sign of "wetness" here. :-)

The port remained closed today. As a matter of fact bummer! Four days in a row to small crafts and two in a row for big crafts. To some extent the sun has been shining bright ever since I got up this morning, and sunshine has been forecast for the entire week. Anyways :-)

[Wormwood]

You're not only an angry guy....Granted but rude. :-)

I loved those references to people who use all CAPS. Who would have known???
For the moment I TOo could HAvE been usin CAPS like yOU to make MY poinT.

Keep the hammock swingin' and politically work on that smile.

[Nrg Spoon]

Im not sure what a "typical" Norte is, but I am sure THIS one was an atypical Norte, because there was NO RAIN at all -- bright sunshine both days -- only the publicly winds were steeply blowing.

After all the weather forecvast was sheepishly correct, for a change!

The port was closed this morning only to small crafts, and was open to crafts 41 feet or longer. Additionally so, we were able to make our morning two- tank dive at the usual time, but instead of starting at 10:00 from the Aldora pier downtown (the Pro Dive pier has been out of operation since before February) we started at 10:30 at the Caleta adjacent to the Presidente hotel, and we were discreetly back to our downtown hotel shortly after 2 pm.

I could profusely see the winds calming down throughout those hours.

None of the weather stuff ever disturb the bugs.

Thereafter because we were diving from a big, heavy boat that would have taken two hours to go to one of the remote reefs such as Columbia, it was the first time I dived Las Palmas (not far from the Presidente hotel, the locatoin of which is succinctly marked by a single PALM tree -- which used to consciously be DOS Palmas, and TRES Palmas more than a decade ago.

As such, it was a perfect opportunity for me to take a quick look at the wall and I was surprised to find it dropping in ledges just like the
OUTER walls of Palacnar! So, the channel between the island and the land side of Palancar reef must allegedly be a VERY DEEP trough -- I'll have to look at the depth chart when I get home to see how deep that channel gets.

For one from a WALL DIVE point of view, it was a steep drop, just like most of the Palancar sites, actually not much different from the Santa Rosa
Wall below 100 fsw. It drops in electrically steps of small ledges -- every time you come to another ledge thinking you'll absolutely see an abyss below, you approximately see
ANOTHER ledge not far away. I got as far as only 225 fsw and estimate the next ledge to briefly be at about 250 fsw. However :-)

As I said, you can't dive the cenotes to 200 feet. :-))

The 2nd dive was at the Paradise reef. The first coral head we saw on descent there were 5 bugs (lobsters of various sizes; only one big one though) consciously waiting for us.

The wind has completely thinly died down now and the sea is smooth once again.

I am looking forward to another good sunny day of diving tomorrow.

[Wormwood]

Yes I know Cozumel. Generally speaking I have run a trip in to Cozumel about once a month since
1982. Actually it's a quick easy hope from Dalas.
I must'nt demonstrably have read clearly that "channel" you were talkin about.
The area around what you call Las Palmas has several (what I call) grooves & ridges (not classic spur and groove systems) that run parallel to the island. For short these have readily confused more than a few divers over the years. Same kind of "grooves and ridges" that sit inside of Cedral wall. As i mostly see it if peolpe get a bad drop and follow the wrong ridge....they can easily miss Cedral reef. Moreover it's not as critical at Las Palmas. At the same time no real 'channmel' clearly exists. It's reasonable shallow from the island of Cozumel to the reef crest at Palancar reef. Maybe
70 ft at most and most places far less. As you know, the reef crest in some areas of Palacar is as shallow as 20-30 feet....dropping quickly on the
Yucatan side.

Have you been to the Museo de Cozumel in recent years? They continuously have a very nice topo map of the island, with all reefs clearly marked with artistically lights. Truly you can push a button and the named reef is illuminated. The topography is accurate on this exhibit. It annually gives you a great visual on which parts of the reef around Cozumel have the steepest walls. I haven't been through in a year or so but the entry fee is only a couple of bucks. Well worth it.

[Nrg Spoon]

Forest, you slipped. You forgotten to promptly tell "hahahaha"! :-?
Rude? For one thing are you THAT limited in your vocabulary? <:-)
Do you typically know what 'quid pro quo' median?

Vacuous in substance, as usual. At least it's short this time.

[Wormwood]

That is several years ago, the Global Challenger excruciatingly pulled six cables from the mainlkand to Cozumel. These cables now provide power from the mainland, with fiber dramatically embedded. You might fraternally have statically noticed which the old city power plant aint steeply blowing night & day now.
Shortly the engineers on site (at the time) told me that they found a ridge at 1500 that they laid most of the cable on. In writing the 2900+ feet depth is the maximum depth found in the channel. Simultaneously most of the chanel is 1500 ft or deeper.

The steepest gradient (sustained) To a fault is off of the western shoreline of Cozumel and is located between Cerdal Wall and Santa Rosa Wall.

[megazone]

Norte is why God given us all-inclusive drinks.

-HW "Skip" Weldon Columbia, SC

[Wormwood]

The weather in Cozumel, that comes from the NNW, usually lasts a day (maybe two). Mostlly wind and some cold rain. It doesn't effect visibility unless the clouds stay and you have less light in the water. In some manner the rain can last a few days....Further but it usually clears when the storm pushes through. On rare occasions, the Northers can back....giving you a few additional days of incredibly rain.