Here is a response from Antonio who operates a business out of El Cozumeleno. He provides some very good information and also discusses the condition of El Cozumeleno (This was taken from TravelNotes)
Hola Again everyone, I want to thank everyone who prayed for Cozumel, those prayers worked, and the worst of it missed the major inhabited areas. We don't have TV, Radio or newspapers yet, but the word on the street is that there was no loss of life, which is the most important thing. The next 3-4 days the island will be getting back in working order slowly, many neighborhoods already have power (I'm writing from my office at El Coz, no power at the house yet), and it should be back on everywhere in the next day or so. Many stores and restaurants in town are already open, dive shops are working like mad getting their boats back in the water, some already have them. Today at 1pm the parasail boat came to El Cozumeleño, and will be working all afternoon, within 7-10 days you will not be able to tell anything happened. Since Monday morning at 5am clean up crews of thousands have been working around the clock to clean up and clear the streets, if you are planning your trip down here, WE WILL BE BACK AT 70%-80% WITHIN 3-5 DAYS AND 100% IN 7-10 DAYS, AND WE VERY MUCH NEED YOUR BUSINESS, SO PLEASE COME ON DOWN!!!! The entire island is working like crazy to have everything ready as soon as possible, and I hope that those that were supposed to arrive Mon/Tue/Wed can and do reschedule for Friday on, we will be waiting for you with big smiles, friendly service and cold cervezas and margaritas!!! At El Cozumeleño there wasn't any major damage, the grass huts are intact, a few downed palmed trees, most of the windows are intact, and they are working like crazy here too to clean the pool and everything else, I suspect the Hotel will be completely ready by Thurs-Fri. We were very lucky that the major burst of the storm came in from the northeast, which would be the right hand side as you look out to sea, had the burst come head on, the damage to the waterfront would have been considerable, because of the way it came in, we did not have a huge breaking wave beating on the coastline, nor a major storm surge. Emily also had very little water, and so there was no flooding.
The eye actually touched the southern tip of the island and then went on land between Puerto Aventuras and Akumal on the mainland, I suspect they got hit pretty bad, I have heard that Xcaret, XelHa and Tulum are beat up pretty good too. Here in Cozumel the south part of Cozumel got hit pretty bad, as posted the Iberostar, Occidental, Allegro and Reef Club sustained considerable damage, specially because of their considerable gardens and trees and palms, I have also heard several of them will be closed down for complete reconstruction, don't know how much of that is true. I suspect that the East side took a major beating, and I dont believe any of the restaurant/bars over there faired well, though they will be back up quite soon. The downtown area did ok for the most part, there are many, many, many downed trees and palms all over the place. There was considerable loss of trees, palms and other plants, many streets and gardens will look bare for a while, but fortunately the folliage grows fast here, and they will be replanting many palms.
Sunday night the winds really started to kick in around 10:30, the gusts got really loud and by then everyone was indoors ready. I though then that although it was strong, it wasn't so bad. The around 12:30-1am it really got bad, I mean it got scary, the howling and the noise outside was awful, things flying around, windows were thumping, and things were really tense. I guess as a defense mechanism, and from the stress, tension & fatigue, my body just gave out and I fell asleep in the middle of the worst part, woke up to quiet at 6am, to find the huge tree in my backyard was not huge anymore, half of the wall to the property on the right had been knocked down by a Guayaba tree, but other than that my house made it through w/o any damage or water inside, so I consider myself very fortunate. Some people had trees or poles crash into their homes or cars. I was amazed at the lack of flying debree, really Cozumel has come a long was since Gilbert, and everyone's preparations really paid off, the newly appointed local goverment did a most excellent job in overseeing and coordinating the preparations, and is doing even a better job with the clean up efforts, I really am impressed by them, and their well prepared & coordinated and heavily staffed response. When I took my camera out on Monday morning at 8am, many streets were closed down from the fallen trees, and by 5pm they were clear, we are in great shape, and once again were spared real tragedy.
COZUMEL IS HERE AND WAITING FOR YOU, PLEASE COME DOWN VERY SOON AND ENJOY THIS STILL BEAUTIFUL PLACE WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE FRIENDLY, THE WATER IS BEAUTIFUL AND THE BEER IS VERY COLD!!!!
ENJOY COZUMEL!!!
