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Several articles have been penned recently which
talk about the virtues of the Banco Chinchorro, so much so that we're only
able to present a small handful.
Below is a representative sampling, with links to the full articles:
From www.islandream.com - Chinchorro Reef is a 30-mile long atoll, as wide as 9 miles at certain points, and surrounded by a barrier reef. Inside Chinchorro's barrier reef, the clear waters average about 10 to 20 feet deep, creating the perfect environment for the maze of coral heads that stretch from the north islands to the southernmost part of the reef. Outside the barrier, the reef starts as shallow as 30 feet, and continues down as a steep wall. All along the edge of this atoll lie uncounted shipwrecks of all ages. You can dive on the wrecks of contemporary steel hull ships, or swim amongst the anchors, chain, and immense bronze cannon of actual Spanish galleons. Outside the barrier reef, on the leeward side, can be found walls, slopes, and canyons of coral reef. Large sponges are prolific in Chinchorro - perhaps the largest selection and most spectacular sizes in the Caribbean. Black coral is found everywhere from depths as shallow as 30 feet, and continuing down to the bottom of the deepest walls.... The full article can be found here.
From www.mensjournal.com - It didn't take long to see why Chinchorro is special. As we dropped down to 90 feet on the first dive, we were greeted by a school of black-and-yellow French angels, which I've seen travel only in twos. Fifty feet away, a navy of barracuda hunted for their next meal. As we reached the bottom, an underwater forest appeared, with giant seafans and black coral, barrel sponges big enough to hide in, and sea rods branching out like candelabra. Each coral head held a different surprise. I saw a timid spotted drum hiding in one, a green moray eel staring menacingly at a longspine squirrelfish in a second, and a fully inflated porcupinefish in a third.... The full article can be found here.
From www.mayanstar.com.mx - A two-hour boat trip or 30 kilometers offshore is Chinchorro, Mexico's largest coral atoll, 240 square miles of jagged reef lying at a depth of two to 25 meters below the surface. Beyond the reef the depth of the water plunges dramatically and a 1000-meter-deep channel separates Chinchorro from the mainland. Spectacular coral formations and abundant marine life aside, Chinchorro offers divers excitement few other reefs can match: it's a veritable ships' graveyard. The sea floor is littered with the wrecks of vessels that have foundered on the corals over the centuries. Divers can explore Spanish galleons and the rusting hulks of modern cargo ships such as the 120-m-long, 12-m-high Glenview, which ran aground in 1960.... The full article can be found here.
From www.scubadiving.com - For our surface interval on this day Jorge took us down to see the new canal connecting to Chetumal Bay then we were off to another dive site. This site doesn't have a name--it was a small wall dropping down to about 50 feet. We cruised along the wall with the current but had trouble with sediment and halocline at many of the canyons. I'm wondering what the new canal is going to do to the coral at this site. Nevertheless, we say two big rays, the first a spotted eagle ray and the second an Atlantic sting ray, plus lobster, trunkfish, and all the usual reef inhabitants. At every dive site I saw good diversity of coral and reef inhabitants... The full article can be found here. |
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