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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. |
#2
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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 |
#3
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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. |
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