Isla Mujeres Diving Adventure By Local Adventurer Andre Navarro of Ocean Earth Green
The amazingly gorgeous Isla Mujeres of the Mexican Caribbean ! I fell in love with this enchanting island approximately 5 years ago on my first visit. I was especially intrigued with it’s underwater environments and diverse marine life. And it doesn’t hurt that almost every view on the island looks like paradise, especially on the north side of the island at the famous Playa Norte and Hermosa Caleta. So after 5 years of planning and anticipation, I finally returned with a full agenda of ocean life exploring and underwater videography goals.
I planned to focus on two areas of the island, Mia Reef which is on furthest north side of the island and Isla Tiburon which is on the west side of the island. Mia Reef is the location of the Mia Reef Resort which was built on the reef and requires crossing a short bridge to get to. Hermosa Caleta is a shallow inlet of ocean water between Mia Reef and Playa Norte. Hermosa Caleta and Playa Norte are popular with beach goers for their shallow warm turquoise blue to emerald green water. Surprisingly though, this area is not known for it’s coral reefs or abundant ocean life.
Upon my first visit to Isla Mujerers, like most people, I took a snorkeling boat tour which lasted several hours as they drove us all over the island to several reef locations. However, the largest reef of the island, the Mia Reef was not on the agenda. And the second largest reef, Isla Tiburon on the open ocean side was only visited for a few mintues. From the areas I did experience on the boat tour, it was clear this island has many awesome reefs abundant with diverse corals and thriving ocean life. This is all the motivation I need to begin my own in depth exploring of the areas that were ignored or too hard to access or too dangerous for the normal tours.
Hermosa Caleta has several points of interest with hundreds of fish, diverse corals, abundant sea stars, beautiful shallow reefs and even unknown underwater caverns with swim throughs. This description of Hermosa Caleta, even to those who have been there, is usually shocking. I often get comments to my footage of these areas as “fake” and “I was just there and didn’t see that.” I also get constantly told that Isla Mujeres’ reefs are dead and all the fish are gone. I capture all my footage first hand so If I have video and photos of it, I have current proof it exists. Getting constant backlash to capturing awesome videos has turned into a twisted version of my best compliments, in a goofy way.
I began my exploration of Hermosa Caleta at the east end where the ocean waves enter over a rocky shallow reef. This shallow reef is only a few inches to a few feet deep, limiting most people’s access as it’s not easy to navigate in. This area has a wide variety of fish including Parrots Fish, Barracudas, Snappers, Grunts, Chubs, Damsels and many others that take refuge behind the bigger rocks from the incoming waves and current. There are also hundreds of Sardines that share this shallow reef.
From here, I made my way to the Mia Reef Bridge where there are usually hundreds of fish relaxing in the shade in the morning. On my short swim through the very shallow water to the bridge, I came across a cool and confusing looking Flame Box Crab. At first it looked like a baseball rolling around on the sand, until I saw it had legs and was walking sideways. This crab had a confusing looking shell and claws and was not scared to walk along side of me as I was capturing video of it.
When I got to the Mia Reef Bridge, which is the only access to the resort, I was astonished on how many fish were under it ! And they were one of my favorite fish to swim with, Bermuda Chubs. These large light blue silver fish are usually not afraid of people and quite often will come up close if they think there is a snack involved. This day, under the bridge looked like a Bermuda Chub traffic jam with hundreds of fish slowly swimming back and forth under the length. At the end of the bridge attached to the Mia Reef Resort, there were swarms of Sgt. Majorfish with their cute yellow and black stripes. These fish are also very friendly and don’t mind being close to people. At the other end of the bridge connecting the main island, there were hundreds of juvenile French Grunts and a variety of Snappers. It’s an amazing feeling to swim among so many fish in nature as they accepted my presence and we shared the shade.
After hanging out under the Mia Bridge with all the Bermuda Chubs, it was time to move on to the west end of Hermosa Caleta where the shallow reefs begin with Corals, Sea Stars, Caverns and lot’s of Marine Life. This also involved a short swim through very shallow sections of water, some only a few inches deep at low tide. These shallow areas are where most of the people from the resort and nearby beaches hangout. It’s also the reason why most people don’t see much ocean life other than a few fish swimming by. On the way to the Hermosa Caleta’s west shallow reefs, the underwater environment slowly changes from sand, to sea grass and then to a huge variety of life. I’m not sure why this area is not explored more often. It’s easy access and shallow and the experience reward is huge.
My favorite are the Underwater Caverns with swim throughs in the shallow reefs. Often people don’t believe these even exist here as they are little known of. The underwater caverns are hard to see from the surface and appear as dark shadows at the bottom of the reefs. This is the hint to dive down and get a closer look. Once you’re almost in it, do these underwater caverns reveal themselves. They look so beautiful and mysterious from within. Usually there are several opening where the sunlight shines in from above. And there are always lots and lots of fish. I love to hold my breathe and dive down into the caverns and just sit there with the fish swimming around me. it’s a surreal experience and heart touching connection with nature. I also love swimming in and out of whatever openings I fit through.
Amongst the many other marine life attraction is this area are the abundant and diversely colored and patterned Caribbean Cushion Sea Stars. Ranging from red, orange, yellow, green and different combinations of these colors and patterns. I also enjoy all the different Sea Whips and Plumes which resemble land plants with branches but are actually animals. There are also many Fire Corals in this area among other hard corals which are also animals. There are many empty and taken large concha shells around. Some have huge Caribbean Hermit Crabs living in them. At first pass, they get scared and hide. But if you float calmly, they come back out and wander around in their huge cool shell.
After spending days exploring and capturing the beautiful and diverse marine life of Hermosa Caleta on video, it was time to move on to the next location. Every location I explore, I always discover something new. I always view the world in a different way that I would have never done before. Especially the underwater world. it's so amazing and unique, like being on another planet below the surface. It changes the way I think and the way I see myself in life. I'm thankful for the opportunity to do these explorations and connect with all the different ocean life.
Andre Navarro
I am Andre Navarro, Southern California adventurer and freediver. I was born in San Pedro California and grew up in Long Beach California where I graduated Millikan HS class of 93 and attended Long Beach City College for Art, Drawing and Painting. After obtaining an Associates Degree for Art and a semester away from transferring to Cal State Long Beach to continue in Art, I joined the LA County Sheriff's Department as a Custody Assistant (County Jail Guard). Approximately a year later I promoted to Sheriff Deputy where I worked custody and patrol assignments. After working law enforcement for roughly 9 years and having a son and daughter during this time, I came to the hard decision that long term this career was not for me. Shortly after ending the law enforcement chapter in my life, I began a new one in industrial machinery and conveyor belting distribution where I worked for 14 years in several positions including: fabrication and installation, purchasing, business development and sales management .
Recently in June of 2019, I left this position for another major direction change in my life. During my management years, I was sent to Mexico and the Ukraine to help recruit and train international employees. This is where I fell in love with traveling and experiencing different cultures. And this is also when I began freediving exotic locations on the weekends. I have always loved being in the ocean since a child and began bodyboarding young. Way later I began snorkeling on the downtime when there were no waves. This morphed into freediving which I do today. I also love to hike, camp and explore. In the last 3 years I began making videos of my explorations on land and now mostly in freediving. After leaving my last job of 14 years, I made the decision to spend approximately 1 year traveling, diving and making videos of my adventures while trying to figure out a possible way of making a living at this. I have realized there is an immediate and important need for ocean conservation and education while there is a major lack of understanding about our local coasts, ocean and it's life. Through my videos, my goal is to take everyone with me over land, air and into the ocean to experience all its beauty, life and importance.
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