p4
Palancar reef, pre Wilma
Cozumel - Dive Destination? by Dan Schwartz 
"I've never seen a reef like that!", exclimed my obnoxious mid-western America dive buddy as we dried off on a six pac after a dive on San Juan reef.
"Yeah," I replied. "Because the whole fucking thing's dead."
" Really?'
I had a week between my old job and my new one. For me one week ain't much. So I thought I'd hit a place I'd been to before so I wouldn't leave with that "what did I miss feeling."
The place I knew was Cozumel, it had been hit last October by Hurricane Wilma
In case you don't remember Wilma:
"Wilma briefly strengthened to Category 5 and became the most intense hurricane recorded in the Atlantic Ocean with 882 millibars of pressure, breaking the record low of 888 set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Lower pressure brings faster winds. On Friday, October 21st, the storm struck the Mexican states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo -- the so-called Mayan Riviera -- with Category 4 force. The island of Cozumel, one of the busiest cruise ports in the Caribbean, was battered for more than 36 hours, suffering massive damage. Damage to hotels and resorts is being estimated at up to $1.5 billion," - I forget what website I borrowed it from or I'd give it it's props. What they don't tell you is what happened to the reefs.
This pic came from Scuba Club Cozumel's website, to show you how great diving is post Wilma. Yep, there's turtles, and sharks (nurse, sleeping under rocks) and rays if you look closely at the reef... sand.
Lots of sand. Whole reefs and walls covered in sand.
yup, that's sand
I'll cut to the chase,
I was fucking pissed! You lying bastarads telling me things are OK "Come on down !" and charge my ass 9 bucks American for a club sandwich from a regular restaurant and I'm diving in S-A-N-D?
F-U.
Hurricane Wilma caked over everything. I was at walls 90 feet down (Santa Rosa) and still only barrel sponges made it through OK One shallow reef (40 to 50 ft) Paraiso was actually ok, but probably nothing like it was before the 25 ft waves crashing on it for 36 hours. . I was there 10 years ago and I don't remember that specific reef. All I know is I did whole dive sand maybe I took 10 pics. My camera can do 80 on a charge (digital) and believe me I would have wasted shots if it seemed at all interesting I have Photoshop 7.
I headed over to Playa del Carlen and checked out what ceneote diving was all about.