They are open and in good shape - They lost the snorkle and party deck in the lagoon but everything else is ok....
If your travel plans have been effected buy the storm they can most likely accomidate you..... They had no structral damage aside from the lagoon and are open for business as usual....
The following is an email I recived from Donna last night....
Unfortunately, we were hit harder than we expected. Wilma sat here for about 50 hrs. just pounding away with 45 to 50 mph winds. That wouldn't have been so bad for a short period of time, but the constant battering caused by the big waves that were hitting the docks and buildings
really played havoc.
We lost everything in the lagoon that we used for swimming, snorkeling, and shorediving and where we had our 50 ft. dock for parties. I heard that Eagle Ray/Sueno lost the bottom with the dive shop and Ray's office, but I haven't seen it as the road was closed to traffic, and I think they may have lost the restaurant too.
I know AKR had a lot of damage in front of the museum where they do the dolphin show and some to their dock too. They key looked pretty good (buildings still standing), but I don't know what kind of water damage they had. They went on the internet and said they were closed due to hurricane damage, and the people should contact their insurance agents - I picked up two of the AKR guests and
they're staying with us.
I just did a mailer to all of the dive shops we deal with that we have plenty of space available Oct., Nov. and December if they need a place to put dive groups or individuals that were booked for Cozumel, Cancun, or Caymans.
I booked two guys yesterday that were going to Cozumel and got cancelled.
I know that most of the docks in Sandy Bay were hit pretty hard and either destroyed totally or damaged severely. Bay Islands Beach resort lost pretty much all of its docks, and a lot of damage to the restaurant
they had right on the beach. I know they dragged their compressor to higher ground and saved it. They had taken two boats to the other side, but left two on our side (have four small boats). The two boats left over here were
miraculously still floating with a little bit of the dock that was left.
Luna Beach lost the big fancy dock they put in front of their housing development. I was told that nine docks in West End were destroyed.
We're all working to rebuild as fast as possible since we all have guests arriving. I really feel bad for Cancun, Cayman and Cozumel. They've had 90 mph winds beating them for over 24 hrs. I can imagine the damage.
Nobody dragged the boats into the mangroves and tied them off like in Mitch. Thursday it picked up again and pounded hard all day. By the end of the day the lagoon was destroyed and at ten that night when Andy went down to check the boats, he called me and told me to get the waiters and dive staff all down to the dock because it was coming apart with the weight of the boats we had tied up and the waves pushing against them.
The waves were hitting the wall in front of our porch downstairs and coming up through the dock. They were out there until 2:00 am securing the boats and reinforcing the dock. Then Andy was up every hour checking
during the night. The waves blew the water lines under the dock so we had to get that shut down for the night, and then replaced them today when the water started receding. One of the supports for the dock went and a lot of the cleats were pulled out of the dock and boats, but all stuff we can repair pretty quickly. We have 18 divers arriving today, so we have to work fast.
We were actually lucky that the waves never got up to the dive shop and compressors and that the ones on the lagoon side stopped before the generator house.
Thank goodness we had the small generator which we
switched over to when the main power went down. The day before this started, Andy had me buy $1000 of fuel for the main generator which really saved us we went on it and with the fuel I had bought we were able to carry ourselves. They now have the power back up (went up once, but when we hooked it back up, they had done something wrong and it sent this huge voltage burst that fortunately our voltage regulator caught and shut down everything again...back on the little generator). RECO was back out this morning, and we think it is fixed now, but may not last long as trees are down all over the island and the wind is still blowing but not as hard and the seas are starting to come down.
Well, now you've heard my saga. I just have to know that it could have been much worse, and be grateful that this is all we have to deal with.
If your travel plans have been effected buy the storm they can most likely accomidate you..... They had no structral damage aside from the lagoon and are open for business as usual....
The following is an email I recived from Donna last night....
Unfortunately, we were hit harder than we expected. Wilma sat here for about 50 hrs. just pounding away with 45 to 50 mph winds. That wouldn't have been so bad for a short period of time, but the constant battering caused by the big waves that were hitting the docks and buildings
really played havoc.
We lost everything in the lagoon that we used for swimming, snorkeling, and shorediving and where we had our 50 ft. dock for parties. I heard that Eagle Ray/Sueno lost the bottom with the dive shop and Ray's office, but I haven't seen it as the road was closed to traffic, and I think they may have lost the restaurant too.
I know AKR had a lot of damage in front of the museum where they do the dolphin show and some to their dock too. They key looked pretty good (buildings still standing), but I don't know what kind of water damage they had. They went on the internet and said they were closed due to hurricane damage, and the people should contact their insurance agents - I picked up two of the AKR guests and
they're staying with us.
I just did a mailer to all of the dive shops we deal with that we have plenty of space available Oct., Nov. and December if they need a place to put dive groups or individuals that were booked for Cozumel, Cancun, or Caymans.
I booked two guys yesterday that were going to Cozumel and got cancelled.
I know that most of the docks in Sandy Bay were hit pretty hard and either destroyed totally or damaged severely. Bay Islands Beach resort lost pretty much all of its docks, and a lot of damage to the restaurant
they had right on the beach. I know they dragged their compressor to higher ground and saved it. They had taken two boats to the other side, but left two on our side (have four small boats). The two boats left over here were
miraculously still floating with a little bit of the dock that was left.
Luna Beach lost the big fancy dock they put in front of their housing development. I was told that nine docks in West End were destroyed.
We're all working to rebuild as fast as possible since we all have guests arriving. I really feel bad for Cancun, Cayman and Cozumel. They've had 90 mph winds beating them for over 24 hrs. I can imagine the damage.
Nobody dragged the boats into the mangroves and tied them off like in Mitch. Thursday it picked up again and pounded hard all day. By the end of the day the lagoon was destroyed and at ten that night when Andy went down to check the boats, he called me and told me to get the waiters and dive staff all down to the dock because it was coming apart with the weight of the boats we had tied up and the waves pushing against them.
The waves were hitting the wall in front of our porch downstairs and coming up through the dock. They were out there until 2:00 am securing the boats and reinforcing the dock. Then Andy was up every hour checking
during the night. The waves blew the water lines under the dock so we had to get that shut down for the night, and then replaced them today when the water started receding. One of the supports for the dock went and a lot of the cleats were pulled out of the dock and boats, but all stuff we can repair pretty quickly. We have 18 divers arriving today, so we have to work fast.
We were actually lucky that the waves never got up to the dive shop and compressors and that the ones on the lagoon side stopped before the generator house.
Thank goodness we had the small generator which we
switched over to when the main power went down. The day before this started, Andy had me buy $1000 of fuel for the main generator which really saved us we went on it and with the fuel I had bought we were able to carry ourselves. They now have the power back up (went up once, but when we hooked it back up, they had done something wrong and it sent this huge voltage burst that fortunately our voltage regulator caught and shut down everything again...back on the little generator). RECO was back out this morning, and we think it is fixed now, but may not last long as trees are down all over the island and the wind is still blowing but not as hard and the seas are starting to come down.
Well, now you've heard my saga. I just have to know that it could have been much worse, and be grateful that this is all we have to deal with.
