Palancar Gardens
- Date of dive: 11/3/2015
- Maximum depth: 83 ft (25.3 m)
- Average depth: about 45 ft (13.7 m)
- Total dive time: 46 minutes
One of the largest and best known dive sites around Cozumel Island is Palancar. This southern dive site is made of four main areas: Palancar Gardens, Palancar Caves, Palancar Bricks, and Palancar Horse Shoe. We have gone diving at all four sites, this blog post will be about the Gardens.
The Palancar Gardens, like the rest of Palancar, has varying depths with large coral formations covered with life. The days we have gone diving at the gardens, the visibility has been excellent and the current has been moderate to light off of the shallows along the wall. Around the different coral formations there were ample opportunities to see a wide range of life. For invertebrate life, we have seen brain coral (D. strigosa), Staghorn coral (A. cervicornis), sea fans, Giant Barrel Sponges (X. muta), Purple Vase Sponges (C. plicifera), Strawberry Vase Sponges (C. plicifera), Yellow Tube Sponges (A. fistularis), Dark Volcano Sponges (P. zeai), Green Finger Sponges (I. birotulata), and Horned Feathered Worms (S. giganteus). In addition to this array of invertebrate species, there are several types of vertebrates that call this reef home. The type of fishes you can find here are Yellowtail blue damselfish (C. parasema), Four eyed butterflyfish (C. capistratus), Blue Striped Grunts (H. sciurus), Great Barracudas (S. barracuda), Porkfish (A. virginicus), Scrawled Filefish (A. scriptus), Queen Triggerfish (B. vertula), a variety of Parrot Fish, Black Triggerfish (M. niger), Green and Spotted Moray Eels (G. funbris and G. moringa), Spiny Lobsters (P. argus), Hawksbill Turtles (E. imbricata), and many other species.
Throughout this dive we swam along the sides of massive formations, down the sides of walls, and through some small swim-throughs or archways. These were exciting features to dive around and they were good practice to maintain proper buoyancy.
We highly recommend this dive to divers of all skill ranges as a first dive of the day, although if you are more on the beginner’s side make sure to watch your depth. It is very easy to get caught up with the scenery and end at 100+ feet (30.5+ m) without realizing it. This is also one of the most common dive sites for dive operations in Cozumel, so it can be a little on the busy side if you are there during a high time of year. We also recommend bringing a dive light with you because there are many little cubby holes through the coral formations where tons of life can be seen with some extra light.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this dive site or any others. Thanks!
<3 B. and Meliae Quad