Before starting my career in the Costa Maya real estate industry, my first trip to Mahahual was with my husband, and the sole purpose was to go scuba diving in Chinchorro Banks, a pristine coral atoll located 28 miles or 45 kms off the coast. Both being diving instructors and working in Cozumel at the time, we had heard so much about this magical place and were looking forward to going.
Unfortunately during our 3 day stay we couldn’t go out to Chinchorro due to the weather conditions. It wasn’t particulary rough, however in order to go to Banco Chinchorro the conditions must be perfect and a minimum amount of divers are required. Added to these factors there is a very limited amount of boats having the permit to go to Chinchorro (it’s a national park), hence making it harder to get all three factors in line during such a short stay. This certainly raised the mystery of Chinchorro and we were successful in diving there on our second visit a couple of months later.
However, on that first visit, we thoroughly enjoyed our local dives and were surprised to learn that the barrier reef took only 5 minutes to reach by boat. There are fingers of corals that extend out from the coast and between each finger are canyons that measure between a metre or 10 metres wide. It was such a strange experience diving with a wall of coral on each side of you with the deep blue straight ahead. Marine life was abundant and, although there was a lack of the schools of larger fish that we were accustomed to in Cozumel, the corals were so healthy it certainly made up for it. Huge barrel sponges and soft corals, moving slowly with the gentle current, reminded me of the palm trees lining the quiet beaches in Costa Maya. We were fortunate to see lots of large marine life, such as turtles, stingrays and a couple of eagle rays.
Unfortunately at the moment there is a phenomena, which is hitting the corals reefs hard; the lion fish or, in Spanish, “pez leonâ€. This beautiful looking fish with it’s fins extended, resembling a male peacock, is actually slowly destroying the Caribbean reef by eating it. As it’s home was originally the Pacific, it has no natural predator in the Caribbean (it has venomous fins) and the Costa Maya dive centres have decided to act now and destroy this pesky fish in order to protect our underwater haven. A beach barbeque fund-raising event was held recently, hosted by Dreamtime Dive Centre and attended by all the other dive centre owners in Mahahual, La Tortuga Azul, Blue Ocean Safari, La Zona de Buceo, MexDive and XTC. This is an example of how the community spirit and what it is like to live in Costa Maya, everyone takes part!
The event was open to the public and many people from different walks of life attended. A demonstration was given of how to filet the lion-fish and, after having been soaked in garlic butter sauce, was grilled and proved to be a great hit. The fact that it’s tasty and an aphrodisiac means that local restaurants are now considering offering lion fish on their menus, a great way to encourage local fisherman to catch them and provide food at the same time!
Recently an American man, Tal Bixby, who visits Mexico to dive about 4 times a year, has invented a great harpoon to catch these fish. Hopefully this, along with special reinforced nets, that can be carried by dive masters while leading dive groups, will ensure that the lion fish don’t ruin our reef and leave it as beautiful and abundant as the first time that I dove here.
Rebecca Loto is from the United Kingdom and has been traveling and living in Latin America for nearly ten years. Costa Maya has become her home residence in the past 5 years where she and her husband have settled and have become involved and active in various community organizations. Rebecca brings British business ethics and Mexico business experience together to give buyers unparalleled service. 512-879-6546
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Lion fish are prized by salt water aquarists in the states and probably elsewhere. It’s a shame to be killing them and I don’t understand how they are ‘eating’ the coral reefs. As far as I know, they eat other fish, shrimp and such.
Would like to go back there sometime….