Cozumel status

This was posted a little while ago on rec.scuba.locations



"Doc" wrote in message
...
Anyone have any info on coz? We are going to the Reef Club in 2 weeks(
assuming the level of hurricane damage is limited..any one have any
news??Thanks



Here's snips taken from posts to another board (scroll to the last one
for
Reef Club info):

"Just got off the phone with Christi from Cozumel (+)
Posted by: johnoly

(70.118.126.---) She just got electric back at her house, but her ISP
does
not have power yet for their servers. Her office is not going to have
electric for a while. She said that a transformer just outside was
damaged
and as in any hurricane, spare parts are hard to come by. In Florida,
we
still intersections with only one traffic light because of the
backorders on
them.

One of the compressor stations is expected to get electric
tonite/tommorrow.
But since there are still a bunch of full tanks that haven't been
used, they
are ready to dive. She dove today and said Viz was a great 70 feet and
getting better as the current does it's work. She also said that
several of
the ATM's are working, and downtown is all cleaned up and looks nice.
Couple
of stumps from trees they had to cut but the Cruise ship passengers
returned
to the shops today.

Now the bad news about the Dive Masters/Captains. Alot of those hotels
that
can't open like Iberostar, etc, also don't have the divemasters/capts
working. In effect, they are layed off and out of work! They have no
money
and with damage to their homes, they can't fix it either. Christi is
talking
to the DMs & Capts to learn of their damages. One of her DM's, Javier
had a
huge window, blown out and water damage, even though it was boarded
up.
There are alot of DMs/Capts from Dressel and Sand Dollar who can't
work
because their resort is closed.

AND HERE's ANOTHER:

My travel agent just called and said that both Occidental Grand and
Occidental Allegro will remain closed until at least December. I spoke
to
Occidental corporate and they are not saying anything yet, but
apparently
are telling travel agencies that both resorts sustained heavy damage
and to
change any reservations they have to other hotels.

AND ANOTHER:

This press release just out from the Cozumel Hotel Association, as
posted on
DiveNewsWire.com:

Cozumel Recovers Quickly from Hurricane Emily

On-site reports from Cozumel Hotel Association indicate resort
destination
is recovering quickly from recent storm.

July 19, 2005 (1:30 PM) Cozumel is quickly recovering from the effects
of
Hurricane Emily, which moved through the island early Monday morning
(July
18).

According to Gaston Cantarell Diaz, president of the Cozumel Hotel
Association, Cozumel sustained minimal damage and everyone on island
weathered the storm safely.

"Cozumel is doing well and operating as normal today. The airport is
open
and ferry services are up and running again," he said. "Although there
was
some damage to hotels and other local properties, the important thing
is
that everyone remained safe throughout the storm."

Current updates from the island:

The Cozumel airport reopened on Monday, July 18, at 1:00 p.m. CST

Ferry services began operating again at 7:00 a.m. this morning
(Tuesday,
July 19)

Cozumel hotels and resorts are currently open and operating and are
expected
to complete hurricane related repairs by next Monday, July 25.

Currently the only hotel on island that will temporarily close due to
damage
from Hurricane Emily is the Iberostar Cozumel Hotel. Individuals with
existing reservations at the Iberostar should contact the hotel for
further
information.

The majority of clean-up on island has been finished and the island
roads
are completely clear.

Downtown restaurants and shops are open.

To ensure the safety of visitors to the island, approximately 1,200
tourists
were evacuated to the Cozumel Convention Center on Sunday evening
(July 17)
where they rode at the storm. Guests at hotels equipped with safety
facilities were moved to on-site shelters.

Tourists began returning to their hotels and resorts early Monday.
Guests
whose hotels sustained damage by the hurricane were accommodated at
alternate hotels and resorts.

AND HERE'S ANOTHER:

Eyewitness report from the North end of Cozumel via someone
locally...........


"I live in town and biked from there up to as far as the Melia. Here's
a
down and dirty report.
The ferries are running again.
Plaza downtown has lost a lot of big trees and now will have much less
shade.
They put l ittle black plastic bags on all the street light lamp bulbs
on
the waterfront.

A cyclone fence topped with barbed wire and held up by cement posts
every 6
ft fell over and all the posts cracked at ground level. This guarding
the
naval airbase soccer field.

Puerto de Abrigo marina looks fine. Boats are fine. No broken windows
in the
offices there.

Coral Princess got all the sand on its man-made beach blown away but
they'll
have it back quite soon. Inside hotel looks fine and they are working
hard
on the clean up. I talked to some people who had stayed there during
the
hurricane -- in a conference room on the first floor -- and spoke with
great
affection and gratitude of the staff who they said really put
themselves out
to be sure they were safe and comfortable with food and a comfortable
place
on the floor to sleep.

About 70 people were caught here. Couldn't get out because didn't k
now
about the storm until very late and by then, they reported, there was
some
price gouging going on at the airport.

The plateglass front entrance that faces the streetwas covered with
plywood
and blew along with the glass. But other than that, no damage. I would
judge
this place will be business as usual in about 3-4 days.

Cozumeleno also looks to be in good shape. No blown glass. Lobby looks
fine.
They are shoveling up what looks like about a 6 ft deep covering of
dried
seaweed on the sand outfront. Don't know what that's about. The guests
I
talked to at this hotel were also taken to a conference room to
weather the
storm. They were part of a 240-280 charter group with Worry Free
Vacations.
The father and son I talked to did not speak as highly of the staff as
they
did at Coral Princess. Evidentally they just had to sleep on the floor
with
pillows from their rooms. But they were safe and they were fed. They
were
partially disgruntled because they'd hoped Worry Free Vacations would
do
something about getting them out early and didn't.


Melia also had all their sand blown away exposing the under ironshore.
Guests here who had to weather the storm spoke extremely highly of the
staff. They were given cushiones and pillows to sleep on in the
theatre and
plenty of food. I saw no damage to structure, l obby, etc. Just sand
blown
away which can be quickly put back.

Playa Azul. The palapa restaraunt at the public beach looked fine so
I'm
assuming Sol Cabanas de Caribe next door are probably alright, too.
Sorry I
forgot to check them. I was getting hot and tired as I was riding my
bike.
They evidentally braced mattresses against the plate glass windows on
the
upper stories of the hotel as these were stacked on the balconies,
water
stained and drying in the sun.

If you are staying at any of these hotels, you will be good to go by
Saturday for sure.

Will report on the south this PM and post it in the evening"

AND ANOTHER:

From the Aldora website:
Monday July 18th. 9:00 pm

A tour of the island revealed a lot more problems than had been
expected. It
seems that the further south of town and the worse was the wind. That
computes since the north edge of the eye wall was at Punta Sur. For
those
familiar with the island we offer the following:

60% of the new palm trees planted on the new main street downtown have
fallen. The airport fence has collapsed. A large concrete wall across
the
street from the Scuba Club Cozumel has collapsed and partially
blocking the
road. Further south the giant palapa above the Puerta Maya cruise ship
dock
is gone. The giant palapa at Playa Mia ( formerly Playa Sol) is gone
as is
the rest of Playa Mia. That day beach resort will be closed for a long
time.
San Francisco beach, Mr Sanchos and Nachi Cocom all suffered some
damage but
should be back in operation soon. On the south end, on the other side
of the
island, the Paradise Beach Café (AKA Ragas) is completely gone and the
larger buildings across the street are heavily damaged. The road on
the
windward side is badly damaged and not passable north of El Mirador so
we
could not reach Coconuts or the hotel Ventanas al Mar. We could not
get into
most of the southerly hotels so at this time we cannot give reports on
their
condition.

At this time electricity is on in the main street and most of the
Northern
Hotel Zone where the Villa Aldora is.

In summation, there is some damage to infrastructure on the island but
probably no more than 10% of the land based infrastructure will be
affected
long term.

As for the diving, it appears that most of the damage to the dive
sites will
be from wind blown debris. However, we did hear a report that some
shallow
snorkel sites like Dzul Ha suffered significant damage from waves.

We expected to launch the boats today as there was no practical reason
not
too but the civil authorities did not allow any activity not related
to
clean up, thus they kept the port closed. We expect that to be changed
tomorrow. This will be updated as we get more and better information.

AND FINALLY ONE THAT MENTIONS MAJOR DAMAGE TO THE REEF CLUB (SORRY
ABOUT THE
NEWS):

She wanted me to let you all know that this *was* a serious storm and
there
*was* real damage done to the island, despite the fact that there was
little
loss of life. It wasn't just about uprooted trees. Concrete walls were
blown
down and Houses that weren't built of concrete (and some that were)
were
severely damaged. She said the Iberostar is *severely* damaged (which
is
pretty much reflected in the fact that they won't be re-opening until
October at the earliest). She also reported that the Reef Club has
major
damage. You all know about the destruction of the beach clubs on the
East
Side. She said that a friend of hers used to live in some (cement)
condos on
the north side that have major structural damage. YES, they will
recover.
And YES they need us to come back. But don't think that our help isn't
needed. It is.

Oh...and BTW...she said that there is an unconfirmed rumor that there
was
damage to the Puerto Maya (sp?) cruise ship pier...of course I don't
know if
that would be considered a bad thing or not....










--
dillon
Linux, it's not just an OS, it's a way
of life.

And a damn fine one, at that.

Check with Sherry at the Cozumel Insider. www.cozumelinsider.com
Also, Chellie at Eagle Ray Divers should be able to give you info as to
any damages done to the reef. www.eagleraydivers.comBoth Sherry and
Chellie are locals and run businesses on the island. I have heard from
Shery and she said they have bee

Check with Sherry at the Cozumel Insider www.cozumelinsider.com I
talked to her via email earlier this week and she was going to be
posting pictures from the island. Also, Chellie with Eagle Ray Divers
should be able to give you insight as to any damages to the reef.
www.eaglraydivers.com Both Sherry and Chellie are locals to the island
and run businesses so I'm sure they'd be able to let you know what it's
like down there.