Cozumel Drift - Special Edition
Hey Amigo ! - where are you?

I am here - looking for you, all the fish are too! The island has been open for almost 3 weeks now. The opening here has been slow and controlled. There is still a curfew, but we are having a blast! It's so nice to be back in the water again.
How are the reefs you ask?
Wow.... they look GREAT !
The reefs are teeming, just teeming with fish, especially juveniles. Yes, there are some lionfish now. But local divers have been doing their part to reduce those numbers as well. And there are so many lobsters... all over all of the reefs. It is really beautiful !
I have been diving at Chankanaab reef twice this past week, per the guests requested it. Lobster, squid, ginormous crabs, eels, splendid toadfish, highhat AND spotted drumfish, even an octopus - in daylight. This break really is doing the reefs good. Yucab is just running full of lobsters. Palancar and Colombia are just beautiful. It may be a bit of a bummer when you come here when your favorite reef closed... but it will make it better for the next time you come! And all of the reefs are benefiting from it all.
Please don't touch the starfish !
El Cielo is now open for the summer, with shallow crystal clear water. It is the perfect place to stop for a surface interval, or to sit back and relax a bit. BUT PLEASE - do NOT touch or pick up the starfish.

The Red Cushion Sea Stars like to eat algae, small crustaceans and mollusks. The algae is the important part, helping keep it in check so that it does not smother the reefs. In the past 5 years that El Cielo has become most popular, the starfish population has declined 20%. People love taking pictures holding them. So please discourage this. We all benefit from more starfish in the ocean.
Clean, Clean, Every Day!
Clean, clean, every day, multiple times a day. In order to be open and stay open at the governments recommended capacities, we have numerous new cleaning protocols. From simple things like wiping down the counter (Notice the blue tape marks for maintaining social distancing too) to more complex sanitation procedures for gear and the hotel rooms.

We want to make sure you feel safe and enjoy time with us!!!
How much water is in the ocean?
Over the past few weeks and months as I've been researching various topics for these newsletters I've come across some interesting articles and facts about how much water is on the planet. So if you like trivia, facts and figures, this one is for you.

By now, you've heard the stat that 70% of the earths surface is water. WOW! but what does that really mean?
  • Well, that statistic includes the oceans (salt water) as well as fresh water (lakes, rivers and frozen fresh water)
  • Of all of the water on earth 97% can be found in the oceans.
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that there is 321,003,271 cubic miles of water in the ocean. A cubic mile is the volume of a cube measuring one mile on each side.
  • NOAA estimates that there is about 352,670,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water* in the ocean. Or to pronounce it, three hundred fifty two quintillion, six hundred seventy quadrillion.
  • The remaining 11,515,729 cubic miles of water is considered "fresh water" and is contained in lakes and frozen in ice. Not ice cubes in your margarita, glaciers.
  • 2.5% of all the freshwater on earth is contained in glaciers. So yes, the melting of the glaciers is a big deal.
  • 22 to 23% of all the fresh water on the planet is contained in one lake, Lake Baikal, Russia. Nearly one quarter. This is because not only is the lake large in area, but is extremely deep. Maximum depth is 5,387 feet deep.
  • CLICK HERE to read an interesting, short article about scuba diving in Lake Baikal.
  • Lake Superior ranks 3rd on the list of lakes by volume of fresh water. However by way of comparison all five of the U.S. Great Lakes together only equal about 21% of the fresh water on the planet. So still smaller by volume than Lake Baikal.

These are all fun little facts and numbers, don't worry there won't be a test on this during your next visit, but despite all this water and these massive, seemingly incomprehensible numbers these eco systems (fresh and salt water) are incredibly fragile. Pollution and centuries of neglect and abuse have left these environments damaged or endangered. But its not to late for us all to do our part to preserve our oceans and fresh water supplies.
*some statistics provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
FAQ PAGE
We now have an FAQ page on the website!

We try very hard to respond to each and every email and Facebook message we get, but sometimes, there are just so many hours in the day, and with all the extra cleaning we are all doing it's tough to keep up some days. Plus, we are finding that a lot of you have the same questions right now in regards to the situations due to COVID-19. So we decided to start an FAQ Page on the website and have seeded it with the most common questions we've been receiving. So please don't be offended if you contact us right now and we first direct you to the FAQ page. We also included a button at the bottom of the page to email us if you don't find answers to your question on the page. Who knows you may even find your question being added to the page. The FAQ can be found under the News section in the main menu, or CLICK HERE to check it out.
More Island Openings
Here is the updated list of the restaurant's that are open for eat in options -
  • Rolandi's - oceanside Italian
  • Buccanos will open Jun 27
  • Ernesto's will open sometime between Jul 1 - 15. Can't seem to get a straight answer.
  • Blue Angel restaurant - oceanside diving

More than 20 hotels that are open, including the following -
  • Village Tan Kah
  • Casa del Mar
  • Presidente
  • Westin
  • Playa Azul
  • Barracuda 
  • Fiesta América
  • Hotel Cozumel
  • El Cid - Jul 1
  • Park Royal - Sep 28
  • Occidental Cozumel - Nov 1
  • Allegro Cozumel - Dec 1

Airport transportation is operating at 50%. The movie theater just opened - 30%.

Jul 1 - Chankanaab Park and Punta Sur Parks are opening

If you don't see your favorite restaurant or bar, then check out their Facebook page.
ISLAND OPENING STATUS

All of the state of Q.ROO is in the ORANGE status, meaning we can operate at 30% occupancy. And we will remain in the ORANGE for next week as well. Hopefully the curfew will be pushed back an hour or so, so that we will be able to conduct night dives from the boat. Right now, curfew is at 9 pm, and with the sun setting at 7:30 pm, a night dive from the boat is out of the question. The crew will not finish working and get home by curfew time. AWESOME night dives are conducted from the shore right now, in front of the dive shop.

Here is a color scheme that illustrates how open we can be. You can READ MORE HERE .
Travel Information
Just like so many other things these days, the information from the airlines seems to change daily. This is making it a little tougher to get here, but with some proper planning its still very doable. I’ve already talked to several people who have booked their trips for this fall. We have moved the latest information to our website and will do our best to keep it up to date until things return to "normal". Click the button below to go to the page.
We also have some additional travel information on this page. Most importantly, despite rumors, misinformation and sometimes bad reporting by the press, THERE IS NO TRAVEL BAN TO OR FROM MEXICO! The border is not closed. The U.S. & Mexico LAND border crossing have been closed to non-essential traffic for sometime now. But this does not affect those of you wishing to fly to Cozumel. We have placed some helpful links and information on this page, so if you are looking for travel info, click on the button above.
We hope to see you and your family soon, so that we can make many more great memories!
Roberta's Scuba Shack


+52.987.872.4240 - Phone

+521.987.114-3568 - Cell and WhatsApp
Village Tan Kah


+52.987.872.4240 - Phone