Cozumel post-hurricane reports & pix

[Ken Kurtis]

The short version is that Cozumel got trashed. One report has at least 50% of the dive boats sunk or horrendously damaged. The Hotel Barracuda collapsed. The cruise ship piers have been destroyed or heavily damaged. Some of the public piers are gone, others are simply beaten up pretty good.

This quote from a Reuters article probably says it all: "As Navy helicopters finally managed to fly in emergency supplies on Sunday, it looked as if a giant wave had washed over the tiny Caribbean island, leaving it largely flooded and covered in debris."

Here are some links:

Survivor story: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24154296.htm

Pictures, including sunken dive boats: http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=cozumel&c=news_photos

Reuters article: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/051024/3/29f01.html

A report from Scuba Club Cozumel: http://dive.scubadiving.com/talk/read.php?1,56955,56955#msg-56955

Photos of the collapsed cruise ship piers: http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/photogalleries.php?s=8185

From Dave Dillehay at Aldora Divers: http://dive.scubadiving.com/talk/read.php?1,56661,56661#msg-56661

 

[mickeyroi]

Thanks for the links Ken.. I am going to Coz over x-mas and I have been (and still am) concerned about our hotel / operator.
Have you or anyone heard of the Caribe Blu hotel and its affiliated operator, blue angel? I heard the Caribe Blu pool is gone..

 

[scubapro5]

I have a friend stuck in Cancun right now. He was suppose to return home Saturday but now he is hoping to make it home by the weekend.

 

[Reeveseye]

Terrible.

My wife and I were there last month, staying at the Presidente and diving with Aqua-Safari, a nice group of people who I haven't heard a thing about since all this happened. They haven't put any news on their site since the hurricane, which is making me nervous. The Presidente is closed until next year.

Cozumel was one of the most beautiful places I ever dove. I hope they can recover from this soon.