Good news bad news, sort of.
The damage to the island from the hurricane wasn't too bad. We got there a week after the hurricane and just got back last night. For those who are wondering about the east side, the road is closed from about a couple miles south of Mescalitos (it and Sr. Iguana's seem to open and operating as usual) all the way to Punta Sur. The damage to the hotels range from none to severe. Most of the hotels are in the none category. The two southernmost hotels are closed until Dec. 1. Based on what I saw, I would find that difficult to believe. That being said, we did our surface intervals at the Reef Club and it looked hammered pretty hard. In the time we were there, the transformation was incredible and they plan to open Aug. 19. So they may be able to get those other two open by Dec. 1.
The information about Emily being a category 4 hurricane is accurate but misleading. The official reading for the wind speed was taken at the airport and it was measured at 142 mph. However, the reading taken near the lighthouse on the southern end measured 160 mph. And those are the sustained winds. Gusts were higher than that. There's not a leaf left on a tree on the southern end. And this leads me to a report about the visibility. All the leaves and debris from both Cozumel and the mainland ended up in the channel. It'll be a couple of months before the currents clean them out.
The visibility ranged from 50-60 to 100 depending on which reef you dove. For those of you with visibility issues, get over them. On Delilah, we saw so many turtles we couldn't count them, a 6 ft. green moray, an eagle ray, nurse shark, lobsters wandering out in the open in broad daylight, and three thresher sharks. I've dived Cozumel for 15 years, and have never seen a thresher shark there. On this one dive, I saw more marine life than I did from a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef in an entire week. So, like I said, get over the visibility issue.
As it relates to the coral, the damage to the coral ranged from significant to none. The determining factor was depth. For those reefs closest to the shore and not deeper than about 50 ft. the damage was significant. A fellow diver described it as if a giant had taken a walk through the finger coral. Some was demolished and others untouched. Other reefs like Maricaibo were seemingly untouched.
All in all, it was a great trip. The town was functionally unscathed and all my favorite restaurant haunts were operating as if nothing had happened. We had family join us in three different waves, and in our case and everyone elses, the planes were no more than 2/3 full. I know of several instances where people who had reserved diving trips cancelled them. Personally, I was pleased, the reefs were less crowded and as I said, the diving as good as always (better in many ways!).
For those of you who remember what diving in Cozumel was like 10-15 years ago, the next few weeks is going to be as close as you'll ever get to reliving those days. While there are still tons of divers out there, it's not back to full throttle yet so it's not as crowded.
Bottom line, go, dive, have fun. While it may not be as perfect as you might have had 12 months ago, or it will be in 12 months more, it's still going to be better than anything else you have planned.
The damage to the island from the hurricane wasn't too bad. We got there a week after the hurricane and just got back last night. For those who are wondering about the east side, the road is closed from about a couple miles south of Mescalitos (it and Sr. Iguana's seem to open and operating as usual) all the way to Punta Sur. The damage to the hotels range from none to severe. Most of the hotels are in the none category. The two southernmost hotels are closed until Dec. 1. Based on what I saw, I would find that difficult to believe. That being said, we did our surface intervals at the Reef Club and it looked hammered pretty hard. In the time we were there, the transformation was incredible and they plan to open Aug. 19. So they may be able to get those other two open by Dec. 1.
The information about Emily being a category 4 hurricane is accurate but misleading. The official reading for the wind speed was taken at the airport and it was measured at 142 mph. However, the reading taken near the lighthouse on the southern end measured 160 mph. And those are the sustained winds. Gusts were higher than that. There's not a leaf left on a tree on the southern end. And this leads me to a report about the visibility. All the leaves and debris from both Cozumel and the mainland ended up in the channel. It'll be a couple of months before the currents clean them out.
The visibility ranged from 50-60 to 100 depending on which reef you dove. For those of you with visibility issues, get over them. On Delilah, we saw so many turtles we couldn't count them, a 6 ft. green moray, an eagle ray, nurse shark, lobsters wandering out in the open in broad daylight, and three thresher sharks. I've dived Cozumel for 15 years, and have never seen a thresher shark there. On this one dive, I saw more marine life than I did from a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef in an entire week. So, like I said, get over the visibility issue.
As it relates to the coral, the damage to the coral ranged from significant to none. The determining factor was depth. For those reefs closest to the shore and not deeper than about 50 ft. the damage was significant. A fellow diver described it as if a giant had taken a walk through the finger coral. Some was demolished and others untouched. Other reefs like Maricaibo were seemingly untouched.
All in all, it was a great trip. The town was functionally unscathed and all my favorite restaurant haunts were operating as if nothing had happened. We had family join us in three different waves, and in our case and everyone elses, the planes were no more than 2/3 full. I know of several instances where people who had reserved diving trips cancelled them. Personally, I was pleased, the reefs were less crowded and as I said, the diving as good as always (better in many ways!).
For those of you who remember what diving in Cozumel was like 10-15 years ago, the next few weeks is going to be as close as you'll ever get to reliving those days. While there are still tons of divers out there, it's not back to full throttle yet so it's not as crowded.
Bottom line, go, dive, have fun. While it may not be as perfect as you might have had 12 months ago, or it will be in 12 months more, it's still going to be better than anything else you have planned.
For an Aggie, you done wrote that purty well...haha 
