Hurricane Wilma Recovery
I got this from Aldora this morning regarding the damage from the hurricane. I will post more as I get them. Kathy in Texas
October 24, 2005
I talked to Memo Mendoza at 8am today and have the following partial report:
General Damage of note (from south to north):
While there was much rain, it was not as much as tropical storms that we frequently experience and flooding from rising water was not anything out of the ordinary.
All waterfront hotels to the south have suffered catastrophic damage but the extent is not known at this time.
Day beach resorts where our surface intervals have been taken are certainly damaged if not gone.
Chankanaab Park has disappeared.
Caletta Harbor suffered severe damage to many boats. The Living Underwater boat is sunk and lies underneath a huge Dive Paradise boat which is upside down. Most if not all of the Dive House boats are wrecked/sunken, as are most of the boats in the harbor.
Puerta Maya has disappeared. That includes the buildings and the pier. Paradise Reef is now safe from Cruise Ships.
Car and Truck Ferry Pier is damaged limiting the arrival of supplies.
The International Pier (for years the only cruise ship pier) is damaged and missing a section in the middle.
The dry marina (boat yard) next to Caribe Blu (still standing but seriously damaged), where many boats are stored on land, had a collapse of the boat hanger roof which crushed the owner's giant catamaran and the travel lift which is used to launch and retrieve the large dive boats. This means that it will be quite some time before the large dive boats in dry storage there can get into the water.
The dry marina boat yard protected about 30 boats, and about 5 of them were damaged by flying debris or collapsed walls. All six of the Aldora Boats in the dry Marina are not damaged and using the forklift, can be placed in the water as soon as the authorities allow such activity.
The new cruise ship pier downtown, Punta Langosta seems to be completely intact but the adjacent buildings and mini mall are seriously damaged.
The Aqua Safari pier is gone as well as the remains of the Pro Dive Pier. The Aldora Pier seems to be ok and usable.
The hotel Casa Mexicana is open and running on a generator. The Bahia and other downtown hotels seem to be OK and given electrical power and guests seem to be able to accommodate guests.
The Aldora office and shop on Calle 5, just ¼ block from the water's edge remained undamaged.
All waterfront shops on the main street (Rafael Melgar) suffered wave damage and burst open storm doors, with the contents spread out over the street. Some people have been picking up items from the street but it is not "wild looting" and the police are now patrolling the street where no one is allowed. To the north side of town the waterfront damage seems less and Pancho's Back Yard and Cinco Solis seem intact.
The airport runway is ok and can support flights but the control tower is damaged as is the terminal building.
The Villa Aldora suffered some water in the beach level rooms but since we had moved all furniture into the Cameron Suite (furthest from the water and no ocean view) that all stayed dry. The Barracuda Suite had a broken window behind the hurricane shutters and the North Suite has a cracked sliding glass door. On the Villa Aldora Beach, the only thing left is the rocks that god placed there. Gone is the dock, palapa, retaining walls for our beach sand, the huge palms trees and the wall on the south side of the property.
Puerto Abriggo, home to many of the larger boats, suffered many casualties too but we did not have time to survey them. Maybe 50% were damaged.
Hotels to the north and structures on the east side could not be surveyed.
Synopsis
The major impact has been to the following:
Cruise Ship
It is unknown how long a time will pass before a cruise ship can land in Cozumel. And if they could there is no infrastructure to entertain them. Of course they can revert to using a lighter to bring passengers in, and the shops may be able to sweep out their stores and replace the merchandise, but it will be a long time before the streets are crowded with them again.
Power
The restoration of power is a key for renewal of the Cozumel economy. Without power there will be no tourists so I am sure that the government will apply all energy that they can to get power up and running. Complicating that effort will be that Cozumel will be competing with Cancun for support and it may be difficult to get done as quickly as we have in past hurricanes. The good news is that the Governor of the state is a former President (mayor) of Cozumel and much of his staff is from here. With their friends and family in Cozumel I don't think we will be ignored. My best guess is that we should have power restored to most of the island in less than one week.
Diving
There are two aspects to this, one is the quality of dives and the other is availability of dive boats.
The dive quality will be reduced by very poor visibility for about one week. After that the current should have carried all the light debris toward Cuba. The heavy stuff may litter the bottom for a while, but given that there is not much development near the dive sites that should be minimal. The shallow dive sites may have been scoured but we have found that the fish life returns rather quickly after such an event. Expect finger coral and lettuce coral to have been hard hit. The deeper sites such as Palancar, Columbia and Punta Sur should not have been effected. We are very curious to see if the hurricane has mover the wreck of the C-53.
As for our surface intervals which have normally been taken at a day beach resort, we will just have to revert to the ways we did things before there were piers down south. That is we will nose anchor out, backing in and raising the outboards in the shallow water. Lunch and drinks will be provided for a quiet beach picnic, blowing off the accumulated nitrogen. Many have longed for the way it used to be-here it is!
The availability of dive boats will be an issue. All of the Aldora Boats are ready to go diving as we speak. However more than 50% of the fleet is now damaged or completely destroyed and it is difficult to determine how long it will take to get them all back in operation. Prior reservations may be a must do for divers coming to Cozumel in the coming months.
Another consideration is the availability of power for the compressor shops. That should be going within a week. However, given the focus on "recovery" it is possible that the authorities may ban commercial activity for some time, and that usually includes dive boats.
Given the problems with infrastructure in Cozumel the diving may, for some time, be just it was in the 70s and 80s--not very crowded and with a scarcity of cruise ship people roaming town. There are some among us who don't see that as bad.
Hotels
Most of the large hotels are severely damaged and some may not be reopened at all. My guess is that some may make it to reopen by Christmas. The smaller hotels around town should be able to accept guests as soon as the power is restored. The Villa Aldora is operating on a generator now and could accept guests.
This will be updated as more complete information is received.
Dave Dillehay Aldora Divers
