sharky60
Contributor
...can you believe it's been 6 years since our little rock got a 52 hour pounding by Wilma?!
From my yearly Springtime assessments, the reefs keep improving and looking better with every visit.
I love diving in Cozumel and enjoy documenting the changes that come with every passing year
on the reefs.
Many friends ask why we don't go somewhere else and see "something new", I just tell
them I'm not done with Cozumel yet. After over a dozen visits to the island, I am just beginning to
really "learn" the reefs to the point where I can think, "ok, we are 'here' on the reef,
'this' is coming up next".
The jungle still shows signs of the beat down it took, then several months of very little rain to
wash the salt deposits off the plans, after the hurricane, but it continues to recover as well.
This past Spring "Tree", the huge Ceiba tree near Punta Sur, which to me is the symbol of the
island, looked better than had since Wilma. There were a couple years there I thought we had
lost it.
A buddy of mine who has had a 2 year absence from the island got back from a Labor Day
trip and commented on how "Americanized" the island had become. Stating that he didn't see
ANYONE using Mexican currency. Everyone he saw was using U.S. dollars. Of course in all fairness,
he stays at an AI and doesn't get off the grounds much.
Topside continues to grow and expand, despite us old timers wishing time, and progress, would stand
still.
I've been listening to the new cozumel radio online radio station and have heard of a lot of new
restaurants & places to shop, and that at least one old favorite has a new owner.
It seems to me the island is going through a transitional period, again, the last one was just before
Wilma, when we got more than one gas station and stop light, Margaritaville came to town and one day
a week we had up to SEVEN cruise ships!! (Wilma took out the Maya pier and slowed that down for
a little while anyway)
Again, most of us old timers would say the new changes are not for the better, but we are only part-timers
there and we can't stop it anyway.
The truth is, a lot of the changes that we think are taking the charm from the place are changes that are
improving the quality of life of the folks that live there 24/7.
So, don't fight it, just go with the flow and know that they can build as many hotels, shopping centers,
condos and beach clubs as they want, but we will always have the reef...
From my yearly Springtime assessments, the reefs keep improving and looking better with every visit.
I love diving in Cozumel and enjoy documenting the changes that come with every passing year
on the reefs.
Many friends ask why we don't go somewhere else and see "something new", I just tell
them I'm not done with Cozumel yet. After over a dozen visits to the island, I am just beginning to
really "learn" the reefs to the point where I can think, "ok, we are 'here' on the reef,
'this' is coming up next".
The jungle still shows signs of the beat down it took, then several months of very little rain to
wash the salt deposits off the plans, after the hurricane, but it continues to recover as well.
This past Spring "Tree", the huge Ceiba tree near Punta Sur, which to me is the symbol of the
island, looked better than had since Wilma. There were a couple years there I thought we had
lost it.
A buddy of mine who has had a 2 year absence from the island got back from a Labor Day
trip and commented on how "Americanized" the island had become. Stating that he didn't see
ANYONE using Mexican currency. Everyone he saw was using U.S. dollars. Of course in all fairness,
he stays at an AI and doesn't get off the grounds much.
Topside continues to grow and expand, despite us old timers wishing time, and progress, would stand
still.
I've been listening to the new cozumel radio online radio station and have heard of a lot of new
restaurants & places to shop, and that at least one old favorite has a new owner.
It seems to me the island is going through a transitional period, again, the last one was just before
Wilma, when we got more than one gas station and stop light, Margaritaville came to town and one day
a week we had up to SEVEN cruise ships!! (Wilma took out the Maya pier and slowed that down for
a little while anyway)
Again, most of us old timers would say the new changes are not for the better, but we are only part-timers
there and we can't stop it anyway.
The truth is, a lot of the changes that we think are taking the charm from the place are changes that are
improving the quality of life of the folks that live there 24/7.
So, don't fight it, just go with the flow and know that they can build as many hotels, shopping centers,
condos and beach clubs as they want, but we will always have the reef...