NEW Cozumel Update from Aldora

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scubacoz22

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I got this off the aldora website today www.Aldora.com anyway thought yall might be interested in what it says. Kathy in Texas

Hurricane Wilma Wrap Up
January 6, 2006

In late October 2005 Hurricane Wilma greatly affected most all of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, causing serious and in some cases long lasting damage to many areas-- especially the waterfront properties on the island of Cozumel. In addition, the underwater areas of most interest to scuba divers and snorkelers also suffered various effects of the large waves that accompanied the storm. We will try to discuss those affects of the storm and the recovery.

First, almost all waterfront properties suffered damage. This included as well the downtown shops just across the street from the water’s edge. Many piers were damaged or destroyed and about ½ of all boats were as well. One saving grace was that the Ferry Pier was saved from major impact and in the aftermath was immediately available for the recovery effort.

That recovery was absolutely amazing, as just about everyone on the island pitched in. By 2 weeks after the eye of Wilma left Cozumel most dive boats were back in operation and by November 14th the downtown was back in operation and the island was able to host cruise ships. To put this in perspective, the Category 5 Wilma, -the strongest hurricane every recorded in the Atlantic basin- sat directly on Cozumel for 30 hours. Several years earlier a Category 3 storm hit Grand Cayman for 8 hours and they were not able to recover for 1 whole year! By Christmas most all of the island has been restored with the exception of some of the very large waterfront hotels who are probably involved in insurance disputes or taking the opportunity to do major remodeling. All of the popular restaurants and bars are open including all hotels near town and the waterfront Villa Aldora. At this time, the reality is that above the water it would take someone very familiar with Cozumel to note the changes.

The availability of air transportation is another issue. Given that there were highly sensationalized reports of damage to Cozumel many people cancelled plans, thus the demand for airline seats did not return to levels that would make the routes profitable for the airlines. Some of the airlines handled the cancellations better than others but given the high cost of fuel and the ill health of the airline industry it is difficult to blame them totally. As the New Year opened Mexicana and Continental had resumed daily service and American Airlines and Delta had resumed service on some days. It is expected that by February all airlines previously serving Cozumel will be back to daily schedules. But to get to Cozumel many have reverted to what has always been a good alternative, flying into Cancun and taking the ferry over. Other sections of this web page provide advice on that path.

As for diving the good news is that not much has changed. The deeper reefs are actually more interesting now as the big waves moved sand that had accumulated over the centuries and new and bigger swim throughs have emerged. Indeed the bottoms of the big coral heads now have a 6-foot high white band of newly exposed surface. And there is no shortage of fish life. For the shallower dive sites there has been damage to the coral head tops, especially to lettuce and finger corals. But to those not very familiar with the reefs, they would not notice much of anything amiss. Immediately after diving resumed the authorities stopped diving on some reefs, and night dives but those temporary measures have expired and we are diving as normal.

The hardest hit underwater locations are as expected, the very shallow snorkeling sites, typically 10-15 feet of water. In some areas it is reported that formerly popular snorkeling sites look like cleaned pavement. On the other hand, there do remain some excellent places to snorkel in Cozumel, it is just that the mass market tours on huge boats will not be able to go there. In particular, the mini-wall snorkeling in front of the Villa Aldora and Coral Princess hotels is spectacular and actually better than before due to increased depth and new habitat for fish.

An inconvenience for some will be the loading of dive boats which no longer have access to piers. We understand that the Hotel Cozumel pier is back in operation as is the Aldora Pier downtown and the dock at the Villa Aldora. But for others, they will have to load the dive boats at Calleta Harbor under pretty ugly conditions which at least require a taxi ride from anywhere.

In summary, the diving in Cozumel is changed a little but is certainly not destroyed or even seriously damaged. There are still lots of marine life with no discernable reduction, and the walls and huge coral heads are more interesting than before. But the is a significant reduction in the opportunity for snorkeling, at least in the easy to reach, mass market areas. The only lingering affect above the water will be a temporary reduction in the availability of hotels and airline flights into Cozumel.

If you have any questions regarding Wilma Recovery Information, please feel free to send us an e-mail using the e-mail link below.

Wilma Recovery Information
 
A few corrections/clarifications, important or not:

Cayman was hit with Ivan last September, so only a year ago...not several years ago. It did take them longer to recover, but they also had major flooding, which we did not have. Their storm surge was also twice as much as ours. Their buildings are wood and drywall, ours are cement for the most part.

Yucab, Tormentos, and Chankanaab remain closed as of Friday last week. I verified this with the marine park.

Night dives are still restricted to Paradise, also verified with the marine park.

Papa Hogs has a temporary pier for loading.

Caribe Blu pier will be finished in very short order.

Aqua Safari's pier is finished and operating.

The pier at El Cantil condos is operational.

Several operations, not only Aldora have access to the downtown "Aldora" pier.
 
We met our boat at Calleta all 5 days last month and it was far from being "ugly conditions." Yes, there were only a handful of boats going out and I'm sure it would be crazy on a regular day. Based on our experience at a very slow time I expect it to be an organized chaos at regular times. Just stay out of the way and wait until you are asked to board. Get on as quickly as possible and you'll be on your way. If you're not able to use a hotel pier and/or your dive operator asks you to meet at Calleta, don't let that discourage you. It's not that big of a deal.
 
Christi:
Night dives are still restricted to Paradise, also verified with the marine park.

Does that mean you can only night dive Paradise or the Paradise as well as the closed reefs may not be used for night dive?

How is Columbia Shallows these days?
 
scubacoz22:
I got this off the aldora website today www.Aldora.com anyway thought yall might be interested in what it says. Kathy in Texas
Kathy, I know that Aldora is your Dive Op of choice and that's great but I'd like to take this opportunity to point out a few things...

First of all, this comes from the Aldora site which obviously will slant things towards Aldora's favor... hey, it's his site, he has every right to post whatever he wants (within reason) to drum up business. But for posting on a public forum page a few things need to be clarified.

The Downtown Aldora pier is NOT owned by Aldora, many shops will pick you up there (he's good about not mentioning that fact).

The way this post sounds is if you're not staying at Villa Aldora or Hotel Cozumel... you're SOL and are going to have to go to the Marina under "ugly" conditions... What the F*@k does that mean? We're all adults, I highly doubt the Calleta is in that bad of shape that we'll have to avert our eyes.

I see that while i was typing this with 1 finger :wink: other people have chimed in and filled in the rest of the info I wanted to get out there...

Rant off
 
awap:
Does that mean you can only night dive Paradise or the Paradise as well as the closed reefs may not be used for night dive?

How is Columbia Shallows these days?


Yucab, Tormentos and Chankanaabe are off limits period right now per the marine park.

Night dives are discouraged and are only permitted at Paradise. A ratio of 4:1 is being enforced for night dives and dive operations are asked to be very selective in who they take on night dives...in otherwords those with buoyancy control issues should not be taken on night dives right now.

Columbia Shallows is ok...but not as good as before obviously.
 
I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating here:

We went soon after the hurricane: November 26, 2005.
We stayed at Caribe Blu and it was fine.
We went to the Caletta to board the boat -- no big deal, wouldn't hesitate to do it again. (Its just a small harbor.)

On a personal note: Right after the hurricane Aldora's site made me very anxious about keeping my plans. There was little other news coming out and they made everything but them sound terribly uncomfortable for a vacationer.

In the end, I kept my original plans and it was perfectly fine. We had a wonderful time, we were comfortable, I would go again under the same conditions. My fears were completely unrealized. (I was a little angry that I had been made to feel fearful by those reports.)

Again, there was no reason for us not to go when we went or stay where we stayed or dive with whom we dove. All things are likely in much, much better condition now. So anyone reading this and doubting their plans: don't go by this information alone.
 
scubacoz22:
In particular, the mini-wall snorkeling in front of the Villa Aldora and Coral Princess hotels is spectacular and actually better than before due to increased depth and new habitat for fish.

This has maybe been discussed else where, but can this be done as a shore dive and is it worthwhile? How deep is it?

thanks,

paul
 
Moodiejeff:
Kathy, I know that Aldora is your Dive Op of choice and that's great but I'd like to take this opportunity to point out a few things...

First of all, this comes from the Aldora site which obviously will slant things towards Aldora's favor... hey, it's his site, he has every right to post whatever he wants (within reason) to drum up business. But for posting on a public forum page a few things need to be clarified.

The Downtown Aldora pier is NOT owned by Aldora, many shops will pick you up there (he's good about not mentioning that fact).

The way this post sounds is if you're not staying at Villa Aldora or Hotel Cozumel... you're SOL and are going to have to go to the Marina under "ugly" conditions... What the F*@k does that mean? We're all adults, I highly doubt the Calleta is in that bad of shape that we'll have to avert our eyes.

I see that while i was typing this with 1 finger :wink: other people have chimed in and filled in the rest of the info I wanted to get out there...

Rant off

I think every op will paint things in their favor. I think we all have to expect a shade, or tint, or a sunny side to their view of their own operation. We see that all the time on TV and media in general. Nothing new about that. What should not be tolerated, and I've seen none of that by anyone, are lies. All ops in Coz perform a function but some are better than others, as it is with everything. Best way, I find, is check with friends and people that are not trying to sell something. Isn't that what we do with all things we buy and use?

On a personal note. When I wrote to Aldora and told them who I was intending to dive with he said, they are good, you'll be fine with them. He did not try to talk me out of it and sell me his dive op, or bad mouth them in any way. That impressed me.
 

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