BadeInBulverde
Registered
I received a lengthy newsletter from Roberta this evening as I am sure many of their past customers did ... I have copied the meat of the info below ...
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Actually, things are not that bad but there is a long list. Everyone who knows and loves Scuba Shack the way it was, I sure hope that you have taken lots of pictures and have lots of memories, because there is nothing left. The pier is gone, as are most of the piers on the island. That was expected since the our initial contact with the storm came with winds from the north. But the waves took out everything, almost 100% of the cement is gone - no dive shop, no equipment room, no steps...... all that is left is the front wall and part of the side wall of the little t-shirt shop. So, everything that was stored there is gone as well. All of the shops dive equipment had been moved to the Blue Bubble offices, so that was safe. But everything else is gone. The tanks decided that they were going to dive solo - so the full ones are still on the bottom of the ocean. We are going out daily to find them. And the empties float - so they were taking the jungle tour, anywhere starting from the cruise ship piers all the way down to the Atlantida dolphins. The freezer decided it was going to take a swim in the pool. It doesn't swim very well....... and I wonder where all of the home baked cakes went..... I sure hope that the fish are enjoying them somewhere ! So basically, we will need to rebuild the entire dive shop. But look on the bright side. We get to give it now a face lift - and do some of the things the right way like we always wanted to do it !
As for the boats, you know we have the 4 fast boats and the 1 big boat. The 4 fast boats were tied down in the Caletta Marina - and that took a really hard hit. But our 4 boats are fine. Sure the metal top on 1 is cracked, and the seat on another is cracked where the tree fell on it, but all of them are fine along with the engines. More later on how others fared in the Caletta. The big boat, though, was unable to make it's trek over to the mainland to the port in Puerto Morelos. Which I think was a blessing in disguise. The marina on the mainland was completely and utterly destroyed. Puerto Morelos took a much harder hit than Cozumel (as did Cancun). So, it was better that the captains were able to stay here instead of being placed in a worse harms way. The Blue Bubble 1 started taking on water as they were crossing over and they had to return back to Cozumel, and the tied off in the big Marina on the island. Unfortunately, 20 boats in the marina here decided that they wanted to see what the bottom looks like, and that is where the Blue Bubble is right now. So, we will have to make another scavenger hunt !
Blue Bubble offices fared well. They just leak alot so much of the stuff got wet, but who cares right ?? It's dive gear anyway. Jorge, bless his heart, chose to stay in the shop for the hurricane. 1 - his apartment is on the 3rd floor and it was much safer at
Blue Bubble than at home. 2 - there was some looting that was occurring DURING the
hurricane (can you believe that ?!?!) And he felt better being there to watch over things. But, he did tell me that the waves were coming up the street, past Blue Bubble. Not enough to flood the store, though.
The Village Tan Kah is just fine, really, just fine. We would have thought that the crumbling back water tower building or the front office building would have sustained damage, but nothing. About 1/8 th of the palapa roof on the Treehouse blew off, but the rest is fine. The entrance palapa - the one that has been there forever and falling apart, well, that is gone. Other than the lack of trees and electricity, the hotel is fine. Oh, the the pipes from the water tower to the hotel rooms were ripped off the side of the building by the wind, but that is easily fixed. Our beloved lime tree did croak though. It never fully recoverd from Emily. And it was almost dead before Wilma, so we will have to plant a new one. Of course,the pool is a nice color of brown. Once we get the electricity back on, then we are 100% back to normal !
So, the short of it is ...... we are alive and well, we need to rebuild some but we are still 100% operational. The Shark room is going to make a fine dive shop/office, and our boats are still running. We just need to have customers now. No matter what you are hearing on the television and radio, WE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS.
Let's see, what else.................. guess who's house flooded - again. Yes, it is true, my house flooded again, as did Captain Benjamin's, Captain Josue's, Captain Elias' and Captain Edwin, Divemaster Sergio, and Eduardo from the hotel. But, all of the water has receded - much faster than the last time, considering how much of it there was.
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There was more to the newsletter but the above direct quotes net out the situation for this operator.
Bade Millsap
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Actually, things are not that bad but there is a long list. Everyone who knows and loves Scuba Shack the way it was, I sure hope that you have taken lots of pictures and have lots of memories, because there is nothing left. The pier is gone, as are most of the piers on the island. That was expected since the our initial contact with the storm came with winds from the north. But the waves took out everything, almost 100% of the cement is gone - no dive shop, no equipment room, no steps...... all that is left is the front wall and part of the side wall of the little t-shirt shop. So, everything that was stored there is gone as well. All of the shops dive equipment had been moved to the Blue Bubble offices, so that was safe. But everything else is gone. The tanks decided that they were going to dive solo - so the full ones are still on the bottom of the ocean. We are going out daily to find them. And the empties float - so they were taking the jungle tour, anywhere starting from the cruise ship piers all the way down to the Atlantida dolphins. The freezer decided it was going to take a swim in the pool. It doesn't swim very well....... and I wonder where all of the home baked cakes went..... I sure hope that the fish are enjoying them somewhere ! So basically, we will need to rebuild the entire dive shop. But look on the bright side. We get to give it now a face lift - and do some of the things the right way like we always wanted to do it !
As for the boats, you know we have the 4 fast boats and the 1 big boat. The 4 fast boats were tied down in the Caletta Marina - and that took a really hard hit. But our 4 boats are fine. Sure the metal top on 1 is cracked, and the seat on another is cracked where the tree fell on it, but all of them are fine along with the engines. More later on how others fared in the Caletta. The big boat, though, was unable to make it's trek over to the mainland to the port in Puerto Morelos. Which I think was a blessing in disguise. The marina on the mainland was completely and utterly destroyed. Puerto Morelos took a much harder hit than Cozumel (as did Cancun). So, it was better that the captains were able to stay here instead of being placed in a worse harms way. The Blue Bubble 1 started taking on water as they were crossing over and they had to return back to Cozumel, and the tied off in the big Marina on the island. Unfortunately, 20 boats in the marina here decided that they wanted to see what the bottom looks like, and that is where the Blue Bubble is right now. So, we will have to make another scavenger hunt !
Blue Bubble offices fared well. They just leak alot so much of the stuff got wet, but who cares right ?? It's dive gear anyway. Jorge, bless his heart, chose to stay in the shop for the hurricane. 1 - his apartment is on the 3rd floor and it was much safer at
Blue Bubble than at home. 2 - there was some looting that was occurring DURING the
hurricane (can you believe that ?!?!) And he felt better being there to watch over things. But, he did tell me that the waves were coming up the street, past Blue Bubble. Not enough to flood the store, though.
The Village Tan Kah is just fine, really, just fine. We would have thought that the crumbling back water tower building or the front office building would have sustained damage, but nothing. About 1/8 th of the palapa roof on the Treehouse blew off, but the rest is fine. The entrance palapa - the one that has been there forever and falling apart, well, that is gone. Other than the lack of trees and electricity, the hotel is fine. Oh, the the pipes from the water tower to the hotel rooms were ripped off the side of the building by the wind, but that is easily fixed. Our beloved lime tree did croak though. It never fully recoverd from Emily. And it was almost dead before Wilma, so we will have to plant a new one. Of course,the pool is a nice color of brown. Once we get the electricity back on, then we are 100% back to normal !
So, the short of it is ...... we are alive and well, we need to rebuild some but we are still 100% operational. The Shark room is going to make a fine dive shop/office, and our boats are still running. We just need to have customers now. No matter what you are hearing on the television and radio, WE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS.
Let's see, what else.................. guess who's house flooded - again. Yes, it is true, my house flooded again, as did Captain Benjamin's, Captain Josue's, Captain Elias' and Captain Edwin, Divemaster Sergio, and Eduardo from the hotel. But, all of the water has receded - much faster than the last time, considering how much of it there was.
==============================================================
There was more to the newsletter but the above direct quotes net out the situation for this operator.
Bade Millsap
