Showing posts with label Banco Chinchorro Mexico fisherman village Travel snorkel dive coral atoll mesoamerican reef sharks crocodiles Shipwreck bird watch tropical fish Costa Maya tours JCVdude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Banco Chinchorro Mexico fisherman village Travel snorkel dive coral atoll mesoamerican reef sharks crocodiles Shipwreck bird watch tropical fish Costa Maya tours JCVdude. Show all posts
Just a few hours south of Cancun and the Riviera Maya, life for the fishermen of Banco Chinchorro continues much as it always has. It was a special treat to spend even a little time with these fishermen and seeing a way of life that could disappear in the near future.
Many of the fishermen are older and there were no young fishermen to be seen learning this time intensive and sustainable form of fishing. That's a pity, for this might not be the most glamorous life, or give the biggest financial reward but there is more to life than that.
Getting up in the morning in this magical place and spending the day on the water, moving at your pace, at one with the elements has rewards that can't be measured by monetary gains.
Music by Alexander Blu 10 - Spider, 08 - East and 11 - After all
Although we were told that the crocodiles will jump for their dinner, the fishermen feeding this big guy were still sitting on their decks, dangling their legs over the water!!!
Our travel continued after a brief stop for some snorkeling in what can only be described as a living aquarium. First look at the Banco Chincharro fishermen's home on stilts with a large salt water crocodile free and wild, feeding between the homes. This is not a tourist area in it's strictest sense, you must make prior arrangements to stay in one of the fishermen homes so it was a real honor that we were going to experience this. Latter we found out that the Discovery Channel had a film crew here and they also stayed in the same home that we occupied. Our travel arrangements were prepared by the Port of Costa Maya.
music by Alexandr Flippov 05 - Epizode 1 and 06 - Epizode 2
Weather decides if you get to Banco Chinchorro . . . we lucked out! Our trip was cancelled 1 day only!! I've never had snorkeling like this EVER!!! It was a rough day, so it's a bit bumpy . . .
Our most adventuresome travel was like stepping back in time as we traveled 34km off shore from Mahahual Costa Maya to a small fishing village at Banco Chinchorro. Things haven't changed much here over the decades, but technology has arrived as some of the fisherman homes on stilts sport satellite TV and the fishermen are using a more labor and time intensive method of catching lobster live for transport to sea food restaurants around the world.
Banco Chinchorro is an atoll reef lying off the southeast coast of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco in Quintana Roo, Mexico, near Belize that is one of the world's premiere shipwreck diving spots. Its beauty is gorgeously showcased throughout the 2009 semi-documentary film "Alamar" by Pedro González-Rubio.
The reef, which lies in Mexican waters 35 km offshore in the Caribbean Sea, is about 80 km east of the city of Chetumal,is approximately 40.2 kilometres (25.0 mi) long from north to south, and approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) wide at its widest point. It covers an area of 800 km². The atoll has three islands, with an aggregate land area of 6.7 km.
The natural vegetation of the islands is largely mangrove near the shore shading into open woodland more than 20--30 m from the shore. There is a cayman reserve on the southernmost (and biggest) island. The islands (in common with many isolated tropical islands) are thickly populated with small crabs, which are tame and so easily trodden on inadvertently by visitors.
Some of the islands are inhabited by fishermen, who live in dwellings on stilts about 60-100 m offshore to subvert local regulations forbidding private construction.
- music is by Kammerer 07 - Sweet easy solipsism, 05 - Blue Monday Jet and 06 - Pedestrian babble
