Villa Blanca Wall

Villa Blanca Wall lies along the west coast of Cozumel, an island off the Yucatan Peninsula in Quintana Roo, Mexico, named for a hotel that once stood onshore nearby. The site sits within the reef system that runs along Cozumel's leeward side, an area served by dive operators out of San Miguel de Cozumel. It is a reef wall reaching a maximum depth of around 37 metres, rated an intermediate dive over a reef bottom. Eagle rays are a regular sighting here, and divers have also reported nurse sharks, sea turtles, seahorses, French angelfish, French grunt, giant anemone, yellow stingray, West Indian fuzzy chiton, and reef fish such as Atlantic blue tang, Atlantic sergeant major, and Caribbean bluehead wrasse along the wall. Current can shift quickly at this site, and divers have noted that strong currents and sudden changes can catch them off guard, so conditions are worth checking before descending.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Nurse SharkGinglymostoma cirratumReported here · unconfirmed
• Sea turtleSea turtleReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Sergeant MajorAbudefduf saxatilisReported here · unconfirmed
• French AngelfishPomacanthus paruReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Blue TangAcanthurus coeruleusReported here · unconfirmed
• Yellow StingrayUrobatis jamaicensisReported here · unconfirmed
• West Indian Fuzzy ChitonAcanthopleura granulataReported here · unconfirmed
• Caribbean Bluehead WrasseThalassoma bifasciatumReported here · unconfirmed
• French GruntHaemulon flavolineatumReported here · unconfirmed
• Giant AnemoneCondylactis giganteaReported here · unconfirmed
• Eagle rayEagle rayConfirmed present · 2 independent sources
• SeahorseSeahorseReported here · unconfirmed
• Nurse sharkNurse sharkReported here · unconfirmed