cjames
Contributor
See earlier posts for context...
For the land portion of our trip, we stayed at the Occidental Grand. I like to stay on that side of the island since that is where most of the diving is.
The first thing that struck me as we landed was the damage to all the trees. As you would expect, getting thumped by a hurricane for that long did tremendous damage to flora of the island. Its a shocking site, but one that you get used to pretty quickly, so its really not that bothersome. The next thing that struck me was how well the island had been put back together. For the most part, if its not rebuilt, its going to be soon. The area around the plaza looked great, the cigar bar was open, everything was good. If anything after all the dust settles, I think the state of the hotels on the island actually will improve, since many of them are rebuilding and rennovating. The Grand was completely functional, all restraunts running, pool full of kids for spring break, Palancar Divers dive shop running full boats every day. I want to give those guys a plug, becuase even though we weren't diving with them, they were friendly and pleasant. We did our one dinner out at Pepe's which is my favorite restraunt on the Island. Their food is excellent and their service is phenomenal. We walked down to the Iberostar to check out their status and it looked like they were pretty much back in action as well. I'll post pictures in a day or two after I get them uploaded to the web.
In conclusion...
If you're worried, don't be. Cozumel is ready for action and is still a great dive destination. We had five turtles on Palancar Bricks plus two nurse sharks swimming around. If you're a veteran, expect some damage topside and below and be ready for it. Its still fun and the diving is still good.
Hope these posts are helpful.
For the land portion of our trip, we stayed at the Occidental Grand. I like to stay on that side of the island since that is where most of the diving is.
The first thing that struck me as we landed was the damage to all the trees. As you would expect, getting thumped by a hurricane for that long did tremendous damage to flora of the island. Its a shocking site, but one that you get used to pretty quickly, so its really not that bothersome. The next thing that struck me was how well the island had been put back together. For the most part, if its not rebuilt, its going to be soon. The area around the plaza looked great, the cigar bar was open, everything was good. If anything after all the dust settles, I think the state of the hotels on the island actually will improve, since many of them are rebuilding and rennovating. The Grand was completely functional, all restraunts running, pool full of kids for spring break, Palancar Divers dive shop running full boats every day. I want to give those guys a plug, becuase even though we weren't diving with them, they were friendly and pleasant. We did our one dinner out at Pepe's which is my favorite restraunt on the Island. Their food is excellent and their service is phenomenal. We walked down to the Iberostar to check out their status and it looked like they were pretty much back in action as well. I'll post pictures in a day or two after I get them uploaded to the web.
In conclusion...
If you're worried, don't be. Cozumel is ready for action and is still a great dive destination. We had five turtles on Palancar Bricks plus two nurse sharks swimming around. If you're a veteran, expect some damage topside and below and be ready for it. Its still fun and the diving is still good.
Hope these posts are helpful.
