| MikeRowe |
Jan 7th, 2011 02:36 PM |
More piling on with a few other thoughts. Been to El Cozumeleno in Cozumel which was pretty good but not great. The reefs off Playancar and Chabaanhar (spelling way off I'm sure) were great beach snorkels. The Marriot in Grand Cayman (we stayed at the Ritz and walked up the beach to the rock point off the Marriot, OK but not up to Cozumel standards. Cancun, Puerto Rico, Bahamas not much off the beach as they are too developed and the reefs have all receded too deep for a quick beach snorkel. St James club in Antigua equal to Cozumeleno off the hotel beach. The absolute best snorkeling we have never been able to replicate was Hanana Bay in Oahu (Hawaii) 10-15 years ago. Then this past spring we matched it in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. Besides the enormous array of fish we snorkeled with sharks, sea lions, penguins, sea turtles, and rays. Also, due to the absolute lack of development (97% of the island chain is undeveloped national park), and the remoteness to civilization (600 miles out in the Pacific), the oxygen content of the water is apparantly way above anywhere else on earth. This causes all of the fish to be much bigger than anything I've seen in the Carribean or Hawaii. Where you might get lucky and see a 6 inch yellow or blue Tang in the Carribean, we saw 12 inch Tangs in the Galapagos.
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