Greetings from Cozumel. Here is my preliminary trip report...
First off, no offense to detriotdiver (I believe that's who it was that said it), but the report that San Miguel is a disaster area is total BS. A block or less back from the seawall, one cannot tell that a hurricane ever happened. All the shops and restaurants are open and it's business as usual.
On the waterfront, damage is spotty, ranging from inconsequential to total devastation, as I saw a few minutes ago as I walked here to the Calling Station from Chedraui. The naval station stands in ruin, as does the dolphin adventure place next to Acuario. The patio behind Acuario is completely blasted, along with the little tequila bar next to it, and the cruise ship terminal is torn up pretty badly.
But the Barracuda is open for business, as is Costa Brava, Rockin' Java, and the first floor of Punta Langosta. Casa Mexicana is up and running, as well as (obviously) the Calling Station. Just about everything from here up to and including Palmeras has been repaired almost to the point where it was before.
The reefs... so far I have been to Palancar Caves, Paseo de Cedral, Colombia, and Punta Tuniche. Tunich has a lot of sand on it in places, and we saw one pretty big section of coral at Palancar that had broken off and fallen to the bottom, but overall (and so far) I'd have to say that the diving was mostly unaffected by the hurricane.
South of town... Here's where you'll really see the damage. What struck me most was the defoliation of the landscape, but as you all know, the destruction of the pier at Villablanca was total, and the area around La Ceiba is hit hard as well. The Presidente, my god... I don't know how to describe it. Talk of a total rebuild does not now seem all that far fetched to me now.
But as I said, the destruction of the vegetation is something one can't ignore. If it were black instead of brown, it would look like a fire zone. A lot of it is coming back in the form of tufts of new growth on all the bare sticks that have been mowed down about six feet off the ground, but there are miles and miles of it.
And Chankanaab... jeez, from the water I didn't even recognize it. The big entry palapa is gone without a trace. The dolphin pens are gone, the beach palapas are gone, and the rest of it is mostly concrete shells.
Anyway, that's all I have time for now. I have many stories of how folks survived the hurricane, and there's still a couple of folks I haven't been able to find.
OH! The high point of today's dive was a wild dolphin encounter. On the way to the second dive, we came upon a pod of 30 to 40 dolphins. The boat captain circled around in front of them and we all jumped in. We saw a mama and baby in the group, and they swam all around us for about 10 minutes. It was cool beyond belief!
Anyway, more later...
First off, no offense to detriotdiver (I believe that's who it was that said it), but the report that San Miguel is a disaster area is total BS. A block or less back from the seawall, one cannot tell that a hurricane ever happened. All the shops and restaurants are open and it's business as usual.
On the waterfront, damage is spotty, ranging from inconsequential to total devastation, as I saw a few minutes ago as I walked here to the Calling Station from Chedraui. The naval station stands in ruin, as does the dolphin adventure place next to Acuario. The patio behind Acuario is completely blasted, along with the little tequila bar next to it, and the cruise ship terminal is torn up pretty badly.
But the Barracuda is open for business, as is Costa Brava, Rockin' Java, and the first floor of Punta Langosta. Casa Mexicana is up and running, as well as (obviously) the Calling Station. Just about everything from here up to and including Palmeras has been repaired almost to the point where it was before.
The reefs... so far I have been to Palancar Caves, Paseo de Cedral, Colombia, and Punta Tuniche. Tunich has a lot of sand on it in places, and we saw one pretty big section of coral at Palancar that had broken off and fallen to the bottom, but overall (and so far) I'd have to say that the diving was mostly unaffected by the hurricane.
South of town... Here's where you'll really see the damage. What struck me most was the defoliation of the landscape, but as you all know, the destruction of the pier at Villablanca was total, and the area around La Ceiba is hit hard as well. The Presidente, my god... I don't know how to describe it. Talk of a total rebuild does not now seem all that far fetched to me now.
But as I said, the destruction of the vegetation is something one can't ignore. If it were black instead of brown, it would look like a fire zone. A lot of it is coming back in the form of tufts of new growth on all the bare sticks that have been mowed down about six feet off the ground, but there are miles and miles of it.
And Chankanaab... jeez, from the water I didn't even recognize it. The big entry palapa is gone without a trace. The dolphin pens are gone, the beach palapas are gone, and the rest of it is mostly concrete shells.
Anyway, that's all I have time for now. I have many stories of how folks survived the hurricane, and there's still a couple of folks I haven't been able to find.
OH! The high point of today's dive was a wild dolphin encounter. On the way to the second dive, we came upon a pod of 30 to 40 dolphins. The boat captain circled around in front of them and we all jumped in. We saw a mama and baby in the group, and they swam all around us for about 10 minutes. It was cool beyond belief!
Anyway, more later...
Glad to hear that Coz is recovering well. Wilma knocked the snot out of us when were down there.
