| Costa Maya diving, also known as "Mahahual"
offers great opportunities to dive the excellent local dive
sites. Banco Chinchorro is the largest atoll in the northern
hemisphere. Located about the 30 kms off shore shore it is well
known for the fauna and flora and the lots of wrecks that are
found mainly on the east side of the atol.
The diving
is fantastic on the Meso-American Barrier Reef System
which stretches from Cozumel in the north to Honduras in
the
south. It is the largest barrier reef system in the northern
hemisphere and sections of the reef are said to be aged between
2-4 million years old..
Most
dive sites can accomodate beginners as well as experienced
divers and there is very little current northward which makes
diving easy.
You can expect visibility of about 25 meters/80 feet and
water temperatures of 27°C/78°F.
The marine
life is composed of a variety of tropical Carribean reef fish
like butterfly fish, damsels, parrot fish and
wrasses. Also common are turtles, moray
eels, stingrays barracuda and lobsters.
Finger
formations characterise this section of the reef fringing Costa
Maya which creates canyons and swim throughs.
There are very many types of hard and soft corals. There's healthy
plate coral all around nestled in between cactus corals and
ancient boulder corals.
The
Chincorro Banks are approximately 31km/19miles off
the coast of Mahahual. It consists of an expansive coral reef
formation and covers an area of approximately 144,000hectares/346,000acres.
It is the largest atoll in the Northern Hemisphere, and the
only atoll in Mexican Waters. It is approximately 15km/9miles
wide and nearly 48km/30miles long. There are 95 different species
of coral and over 200 different species of fish.
Visibility
here is usually 25 to 30meters/80 to 100feet with light currents
but which bring a lot of nutrients to the reef.
The
Chincorro is made up of vertical and sloping walls.
The reef is home to endangered sea turtles, giant barrel
sponges, elephant ear sponges, elkhorn coral, brain coral and
conch. The rare to see bat fish and
the goliath grouper can also be seen at Chincorro.
If you're lucky you may spot dolphins.
There
are numerous dive sites some of which are Mahahual Reef, Rio
Bermejo, Sea Witch, San Antonio and La Chiminea just to name
a few.
Grouper
Point south of Costa Maya is particular because in
the months of February and March, the grouper spawn, from about
three days prior till three days after the full moon. It's amazing
to see so many groupers assembled. The chances
of seeing sharks on this dive are high because
the spawning attracts white tips and lemon sharks.This
dive is at a depth of between 16-30 meters/52-98 feet.
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