After daily diving Cozumel reefs for the last 30 years. Being an eye witness of the evolution and change of the reefs under the action of time, nature and human impact, the idea of building a testimonial of this grow up in me. Thanks to Adrian Toledano, Alejandro Cardenas and Biologist Javier Pizaña, I'm very pleased to present you this testimonial about the Cozumel Reefs.

                                                                                                     Ing. Sergio Sandoval Vizcaíno.
                                                                                                                    Aquatic Sports

         This presentation it is coming from a practical and methodic observation of the Cozumel coral reefs during 30 years diving almost daily and saving all these observations in well organized photographic files.

          If someone has some information that can help to improve this work it will be welcome with the idea that we are working to protect and to keep the good health of the coral polyps and their magnificent formations.

Even though there are photos from the 1960s, we will be  starting our work with hurricane GILBERT September 13, 1988 when this natural phenomena  destroyed almost all of the soft corals like Gorgonian fans and sponges.  At same time many hard coral formations were damaged and remaining ones  were  sand blasted over its 99 % of their exposed surfaces.

      The above  video presentation shows how the cold and hot water masses moved during a two year time period in the Mexican Gulf and around the Yucatan Peninsula. When a tropical depresion pass over one of this hot spots it incres his power so it can be transformed in a new hurricane.

Hurricane Gilbert 7 hours before it hit Cozumel Island, during this time it increased in power and the speed of its winds reached 320 Km/hr near to the hurricane eye, when it passed over Cozumel. While we are ruining the weather conditions warming up the global temperature, we will be under the effect of more and more strongest hurricane phenomena's. So if you  do something bad God is good and always forgive you, but Mother Nature if you do something against her she never forgive you and will charge you her invoice.

Above is a world diagram of flow of water masses  that were working to regulate global temperature.  With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 1890s, excessive burning of hydrocarbons, broke the balance of CO2 production by plants, living beings and natural phenomena. Before the balance were broken oceans were capable to  eliminate yearly 100 thousands millions cubic meter of CO2. And they were producting  9.0 grams of oxygen per square meter of the oceanic surface.

In this video presentation during a period of  two years, we can see how the currents are being born in a cyclical way near Cuba and Jamaica and how some of them travel north to New York and anothers are going south to the Gulf of  Honduras. Plankton and algae drift with the currents.

The above video shows how the currents are drifting  many metric tons of algae over the bottom of the ocean on a day with strongs currents.  This video was taken on June 2, 2003, the first day of strong currents before summer solstice, at a depth of 92 ft  over the sandy bottom in between Punta Sur and Maracaibo, in Cozumel Mexico. This algae is coming from the Caribbean Sea and  is not Cozumel production.

Accumulations of algae ( type Dictyota ) on the bottom of the ocean are  trapped in the sandy bottom dunes.  They remain there until a thin jelly  film covers all the algae and  makes them suspend being deposited later  over the corals on the reef formations by the movement of the soft currents

Above video shows to, how Cozumel under water currents  are drifting over the sandy sea bottom so many algae. This video was filmed at horseshoe in Palancar June 5th 2002.

Turtles grazing like cattle over the bottom of the ocean at a depth of 150 feet  in front of Ixcaret Playa del Carmen.  All these sea turtles were eating " algae " for lunch at  12 .30 PM. It tells me that with blooming of the Phytoplankton (algae) we have to the blooming of Zooplankton effect the marine life in cyclical manner.

       The next  four pictures were taken in the same reef spot in different years

September 2002 after hurricane Isidoro passed near to Cozumel. The bottom of the ocean was modified by moving mountains of sand.

The movement of sand buired many reef formations; The base of the statue of Jesus Christ; in Palancar was not the exception, but was cleared to mark the location.

With this hurricane a large amount of algae was transported and accumulated over Cozumel reefs. This algae came from Caribean Sea.

As you can observe, the original conditions of this reef in May 1987 at this particular reef spot was totally different before; hurricane Isidoro in September 2002.

The Cycle of nitrogen show us how the algae can be  produced  in natural or industrial manner. So in natural form the algae blooming  is  in response to a particular sequence of environmental triggers like changes in temperature, salinity, light duration, light intensity, and nutrient availability.  The human and animal waste will produce the ORGANIC NITROGEN that together with the ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN can be transformed into AMMONIA by the action of phytoplankton, then the AMMONIA will be transformed in  NITRITE & NITRATE. by the action of nitrifying bacteria as you my see on the avobe diagram. NITRITE & NITRATE some part of these two will be converted again in AMMONIA  by the action of the  denitrifying bacteria and at same time the other part can be tranformed again in ORGANIC NITROGEN under the action of phytoplankton.

Above pictures  show us how the corals can be destroyed by the action of a hurricane and how they can recover its health by them self several years later  in spite of the divers impact over the reefs. the right picture was taken in may 1989 almost nine months after the hurricane Gilbert ,left picture show the same reef spot in June 2003

Above pictures show the effects of hurricane Isidoro over the fragile corals at Palancar reef, when it pass near to Cozumel in the year 2002 and how the same corals started its recovering ten months later.

For centuries parrot fishes had being eating coral, as you may see this natural destruction of the coral is part of the animal  web food that did not disappear the coral formations from the oceans. These pictures were taken in May 2003  79°F at 55 ft.

Above left picture shows hurricane Isodoro destruction effects over the fragile coral Porites in Punta Sur reef, the right picture shows the same reef spot and how the coral Porites colony has a 99% recovering on its health in more or less 8 months. In spite of the divers presence.

This type of Coral Dendrogyra Cilindricus was pulled up and fractured completely by the hurricane Gilbert in September 13 of 1988 above pictures they show how  this coral has being  recovered over the sandy bottom at shallow Colombia reef approximately in 12 years. in spite of the divers and snorkels  impact.

One of the biggest damages that suffered the corals of Cozumel was caused by the Bleaching that every four years it happens in the period of time between months  June and October, time  in which the temperature of  sea water is exceeding 78 °F in this area. In the year 2002 when the hurricane Isidoro was near Cozumel the temperature of the water reached the 89 ° F = 31.6 ° C  And by the month of June of the 2002 we already had 86 ° F = 30° C in the reefs. So when the water teperature reachs or exceeds 25°C or 78°F, the polyps in the coral formation get bleaching sicknes caused by bacetria VIBRIO AROMONA AK-1.

March 2003 80°F actual condition of  the wide variety of corals at Palncar reef, in spite of the divers impact.

September 21 of 1967 the hurricane Beulah hit Cozumel For that reason all soft corals and all kind of  spongy they were pulled out  of the reefs remaining only hard corals. So in this picture you don't see any soft coral and spongy at all.

  1968 Above picture show the first dive predators in Cozumel  reefs, drafting over the coral the spear gun. In this picture you may notice the absence of soft corals due to hurricane Beulah.

This is the pollution produced in the water by 8HP  YMAHA motor of 2 cycles in only 15 minutes. How much pollution must be produced by 115–150 and 200 HP Motors? if they work every day over the Cozumel reefs more than five  hours ? and  If the props work as mixers, producing an oil-water emulsion. The two cycles out board engines drop one liter of oil by every hour of work to the ocean water, polluting badly this water.

This Cozumel  beauty, has being recovered since  September 13 of 1988 in spite of the divers impact.