Islas Marietas

Hola! We are still hanging out here in La Cruz and wifi is more of a rare commodity since we are in the anchorage, which is out of range from most hotspots. Sorry for the delay in postings for those of you who are wondering how we are and what we've been up to lately!

Last week we visited the Islas Marietas to do some SCUBA diving and sight seeing. These islands lie in the northern entry to Banderas Bay and have been designated a national park area by Mexico. We hooked up with some new friends in the anchorage, Chuck from s/v Katy and Megan and Johna from s/v Orion to share the cost of the ride out to the islands since the anchorage is too chancy for a larger boat. Many rocky reefs ring these islands and there are numerous tour boats running around as well, so we left our boat anchored off Punta De Mita for the day.

Arriving around 9am we were excited to make the dive before all of the tourists arrived, but were thwarted by an official who demanded to see all of our dive cards and wanted to know who our "guide" was for the dive. Our boat captain was perplexed and a lengthy conversation in Spanish followed with Megan and Johna jumping in from time to time. Knowing that arguing with officials here is about as productive as arguing a bone away from a dog, Chris and I kept quiet and prepared to fork over a few more pesos. But the official was insistent about one of us having a dive card with us, so back to our boat we went for that. Our boat captain complained all the way over this piece of bad luck since apparently the officials don't always come there, and he neglected to inform us of the need for our cards on the dive site.

Back to the islands we returned in about 90 minutes, but by then we were inundated by tourist boats, so we motored farther around the island for a bit of privacy. The dive was in about 70 ft of water over sand and the rocks rose straight up to the surface to provide a nice wall dive in light current running northwards. We drifted along and saw an abundance of fish and small eels. The coral seemed stunted in areas though, probably due to the influx of people inadvertently touching it. There were no larger fish or sharks either, so the reef is surviving, but not thriving under the pressure of the visitors, no doubt the reason for the new regulations. When Chris and I last dove here 20 years ago it was a completely different place with a pristine reef system and fewer visitors, still it was wonderful to be diving again. We are really looking forward to diving in the bays south of Cabo Corrientes, the southernmost tip of Banderas Bay, where it is said the diving conditions are much more favorable.

Shawna diving Islas Marietas (Thanks Megan for the photo!)