6 year anniversery of Wilma...

[Darol]

Went there in Jan after the storm, they treated us like a King. They were glad to have divers coming back. Dove the wrecked Cruise Ship Pier with Dive Paradise, we could keep anything we found, junk everywhere. Over the years it's been interesting watching the reefs recover, it's a natural cycle. Ya can't help but love that little island. Next month heading back, can't wait.

 

[Gdog]

Went there also a couple months after. Had tried to get the airlines to refund our tickets, but they wouldnt so we went anyway. Very glad we did. What we saw was the local people out rebuilding, repairing, and cleaning. Quite different than lets say...New Orleans?!! It has also been interesting watching the reefs come back. Cozumel is an amazing place!

 

[tom_n_tacoma]

You know, my wife and I first did a Cozumel trip about 8 months after Wilma. We don't know what it was like before but though the diving was awesome. We've seen a steady improvement in the diving since then. Awesome enough to keep returning several times a year and eventually buying a house there. We're about a five minute walk to the Ched or Mega and our neighborhood is quite and typically only see locals, or occasional expats walking dogs, the water or gas or garbage trucks. We shop a lot at the mercado, sometimes the ched or mega. The only time I really feel americanized is on Melgar where the ships are or around there. We use pesos for everything. I love that island and the people I've met there.

 

[ggunn]

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)

IIRC, Margaritaville came to town after Wilma. They acquired the property when Acuario could not recover from the storm. Acuario had just spent a boatload of money on renovations of the patio area on the water, and then along came Wilma and destroyed it.

 

[sharky60]

IIRC, Margaritaville came to town after Wilma. They acquired the property when Acuario could not recover from the storm. Acuario had just spent a boatload of money on renovations of the patio area on the water, and then along came Wilma and destroyed it.

oops! time line blooper!! :shocked2:

...i don't know what happened anyway, I was just going to mark the hurricane anniversery and broke out into an editoral!!!

 

[Mawg]

yeah, just like there's a demarcation line in human history (B.C versus A.D.) Cozumel's reef health is marked by B.W (before Wilma) and A.W (after Wilma).

blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah .. Wilma ..blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah..

 

[AggieDiver]

The anniversary of Wilma starting is actually tomorrow! MMM says it feels like it's been longer - to me, I still remember that horror very vividly! The 50+ hours of non-stop wind and horrifying noise will never escape my mind!

I remember the same things Christi. Just seemed like a neverending shriek of wind, debris hitting the building, the breaking of glass, and the feeling of the building being shaken by waves hitting the bottom floors.