After spending a few days hanging out in Mahahual, I knew I had to do at least a few dives. One of the main reasons I put Mahahual on our trip plan was because I wanted to visit the Barro Chinchorro but also knew the ride was long and expensive. There are several dive shops all along the beach so I asked around to determine my options. Everything changed when the folks at Pepe told me they were doing a lionfish hunt with two other divers from Mexico City. For the same cost of the trip to BC, I was able to get 3 tanks and dive all day. To be honest, I was sold at the idea of hunting lionfish alone but why not get some value out of the transaction too. The dives were a lot deeper than I expected with the second dive reaching a max depth of 85 feet but the average was around 50 feet for the day. The reef was gorgeous with many walls and hiding spots for the lionfish. I spotted a turtle cruise by me and another diver saw a ray and large Barracuda cross his path. The views alone would have made for a fantastic day of diving but there was more to this trip Each dives consisted of 4 hunters and one person holding the stringer. Once a fish was on a spear, the fish was transferred to the stringer and the hunter went back to work. After three dives, there were over 15 fish in the boat and smiles on every face. That count doesn’t include a couple of really small fish that were killed but fell off the stringer. Since the dive sites were only about 10 minutes from the beach, we were back to the dive shop in short order. The restaurant next to the dive shop was able to cook up some fantastic ceviche that everyone from the boat enjoyed. It was so much fun that is a highlight of my diving experiences.
I might have missed out by not visiting Banco Chinchorro but this is what happens when you have a budget. I will say from speaking with others, the diving in Xcalak was fantastic at the reserve. That dive is only an hour away by boat and Pepe offered that trip as well. More than one shop said that the diving was not exceptionally better at BC than the local sites. However, one of the fellow divers made a great point that, “Not diving Banco Chinchorro when in Mahahual is like not visiting the Eiffel Tower when in Paris.” For the record, we did climb the Eiffel tower when we were in France. We took a cheaper ballon trip to get the city view.
Here are the lionfish filets before and after being transformed into a delicious ceviche.
*Many people don’t realize that the Lionfish is actually an non-native species in the Carribean, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. They are and very bad for the reefs they live on. They have no predators and kill anything they can get their mouth around.
Many thanks to the folks at Pepe Dive Mahahual for one great day of diving: http://pepedivemahahual.com/
