Cozumel, Q.R. — Another not-so-common weather related sighting has been made, this time in Cozumel. Island fishermen located what is locally referred to as an Ojo de Mar or Sea Eye due to the chaotic weather.
Fishermen spotted the unusual “ojo” near the San Miguel pier Wednesday where they saw a section of what appeared to be bubbling, churning water. The water that appears to be churning at the surface of the sea is actually cenote water under the seabed.
Cozumel fisherman José Luis Méndez was the person who first saw the Ojo de Mar. He explained that the impressive scene is large amounts of water escaping from the depths — as the result of intense rains — seeking their natural outlet through underwater caves.
Due to the torrential rains experienced across the state over the last five days, underwater rivers and cenotes have become filled to capacity. Once full, the excess water escapes to the cenote surface, which in this particular case, is the seabed.
That very cold cenote water being pushed to the seabed is then pushed upward to the surface of the warm sea where it appears to bubble and churn.
The scene was also captured on video by divers who documented how rainwater makes its way through the state’s underground formations. Civil Protection released the video recorded by expert divers Wednesday showing the presence of an “ojo” (eye) caused by the natural runoff of rain from recent days.
In the photos (above), a dark hole on the seabed under the churning water is where the excess cenote water escapes as a result of the torrential rains. The size of the cenote escape hole corresponds to the size of the churning water at the surface of the sea.
Germán Yáñez Mendoza, the Cozumel Deputy Director of Ecology said these these processes are called upwellings which are caves in the island that drain into the sea.
“Most of the caves that are inside the island have an internal drainage system. They capture rainwater and drain it into the sea, therefore, in these cases some holes are covered by sediment, rocks and sand, as is the case of the “ojo” of water formed in front of the pier.
“The gush that can be seen in front of the dock is a perforation hole, which reached a vein, so the water looks for an exit when there is very heavy rain, which causes them to unclog and the water to come out,” he explained.
This week, due to the weather chaos caused by now Tropical Storm Alberto, state residents also saw spectacular waterspouts and cloud formations.
