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Hurricane Damage Discussion and Photos

samtig

By samtig,
in Cozumel

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cruising forever

cruising forever

Posted
Posted

I received this from Paola last night.......we had arranged a group package last year in Tortula and and made arrangements to do the Dolphin Swim in Cozumel. I wrote to see how they were doing the other day and here's the reply.........not only is it heart wrenching to "feel" their pain, but I found it no real surprise to hear of their concern for the dolphins.......it's just sooooo sad :(

 

Hola Priss,

Thank you so much for your e-mail.

I just can get on line since last wendsday.

 

Unfortunally yes.. Cozumel suffer terrible damages.. our dolphinarium will

reopen maybe on august 2006...

We are open at isla mujeres and puerto aventuras.

 

the biggest of damages were in cozumel.

we stil not have electricity at the hotel zone, some of the areas in

cancun are ok now.. stil not have water and some other areas phones..

 

at the office electricity will return on wendsday, that's the last news i

heard.

 

we kept the dolphins in hotel pools before wilma, but now they will have

to be transfer to isla mujeres and puerto aventuras, and also the sea

lions.

 

the riviera maya didnt suffer damages has cancun.

everyone keep the good faith and spirit on having this destiny as it was

before... we are all cleaning beaches, streets, parks, and we are very

positive now.. it was a very difficult lesson.

 

Now the only thing i can say is that i really appreciate that you think on

our beautiful mmaammals and dolphin discovery, that hopes to see you soon.

 

Receive my warm regards from Cancun!

 

Paola

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pacerzfan

pacerzfan

Posted
Posted

Info I have found

Business...Damage....Open Date

Aldora Dive Shop...No Damage....As Soon as Electricity is Restored

Aldora Pier...Minor Damage...Open

Aqua Safari...None...Diving Open, Dive Store awaiting electricity

Aqua Safari Pier...Gone...N/A

Caleta Marina...Boats Damaged /Sunk...N/A

Chankanaab Park...Extensive...Unknown

Cozumel Sports...None...Open

Dive Paradise...Moderate...By end of 1/2006

Dune Buggy Tours... ...Open

El Capi Navigante Restaurant...Minor...As Soon as Electricity is

Restored

International Pier...Middle Section Missing...Unknown

La Choza Restaurant...Minor...As Soon as Electricity is Restored

Los Cinco Soles... None...As Soon as Electricity is Restored

Panchos Backyard...None...As Soon as Electricity is Restored

Papa Hogs Diving...Pier/Office...Open for Diving

Passenger Ferry Pier..Minor...For Relief and Authorized Personel

Prima Restaurant...Minor...As Soon as Electricity is Restored

Puerta Maya Pier...Extensive...Unknown

Punta Langosta Mall...Extensive...Unknown

Punta Langosta Pier...Minor

Vehicle Pier...Moderate...10/29/05?

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KaC-Cruiser

KaC-Cruiser

Posted
Posted

Was surprised (and delighted) to get another call from Alison today!! She sounded 100% back to her wild & crazy self. Although she still has no power or running water, her phone is now working, so she can receive calls (if she's there - of course the answering machine won't work - no power!)

 

Anyway .... her & the guys have the boat ready to roll and she's eager to go diving as soon as she can. (The boat made it thru without a scratch as she had pulled it out and moved it 2 miles inland ...) Word from her is they are planning to open the island to cruise ships starting on Nov 15th ..... but it will likely be longer before they bring hotel guests in ....

 

If anyone does want to contact her, her phone number is 0-11-52-987-989-6269 .... and she'll be booking diving as soon as possible!! Since power in her area may be down for some time, she has no access to her e-mail - so her phone is her link to the outside world right now ......

 

Her mom has been updating the dive log on the Scuba with Alison website, so you can always get good info there as wellll

 

As Alison said, many of the dive ops are up & running and ready for divers as soon as they are allowed back on the island!! The Dive Community and all of Cozumel are getting cleaned up and ready for visitors as fast as humanly possible. (And having been tot the island the week after Emily - these people are amazing in what they can accomplish!) :D

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El Coz - Antonio

El Coz - Antonio

Posted
Posted

I posted these on other sites, hadn't gotten around to this site.

 

This was posted Oct.26th:

 

 

Hello All!!!

 

We are still without power on most of Cozumel, thus I had not been able to get online at all. I came to pay my phone bill today, and they have several computers set up to use, throughout this entire ordeal, the phone at my house has not stopped working, even in the middle of wilma, I was able to stay in touch with family in Mexico City, so I came to pay my bill before they decided to cut it off.

 

Cozumel has indeed be hit very, very hard by this hurricane, there is much damage to most aspects of Cozumel, hotels, restaurants, stores, boats, piers, roads, etc. which will not be a quicky clean up like with Emily. But:



 

COZUMEL WILL BE RIGHT BACK!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Some of the smaller in town hotels should be ready to receive people in 4-6 weeks, and there will also be several tour operators that will be able to provide services (diving, snorkeling, fishing) in that time frame. Many stores are open, trying to sell to the remaining stuck visitors before they go home, as well as several restaurants. The waterfront hotels are hit very hard, and will take 2-3 months (in the best cases) to be back to operation. Cozumel will be operational in 4-6 months, and will be back at 100% in less than a year.

The local government announced that they want to be ready to receive cruise ships in 30 days, which is very optimistic. Of the 3 cruise piers, Puerta Maya is completely down (nothing left), TMM is in 3 pieces, and the downtown Punta Langosta "appears" to be intact (from a distance) though they will have to go below and check the conditions underwater of the pilars.

 

Supplies have begun to arrive and stores should resume normal operations within days. There had been a shortage since Sunday of basic supplies, and many people did not prepare to have 4-5 days of supplies, which created an initial panic. Some stores were shut down after they were reported for price gouging. Gasoline is being sold to the public again today, and the lines are several blocks. For the first few days only official vehicles were being fueled.

 

 

The ferry crossing was re-established yesterday with free crossings for all that wanted to leave, and the line was all the way to the back of the plaza.

 

The airport has been working partially since yesterday, not all flights, but some are getting out, and within a few days should resume normal operations, which will be very few.

 

Power and water are being restored gradually, and most of Cozumel still does not have either.

 

The ordeal lasted from Thursday night, to Sunday morning, with the worst being when the eyewall went by on Friday morning and then the other side on Friday night/Saturday morning. The fact that it slowed down and almost parked on us, made it much longer than anyone expected. And it was a very wet hurricane, dumping lots of water, and flodding the island completely. Fortunately the sun came out Monday with strong winds and we have been drying out a good rate since.

 

Up in the north El Cozumeleno was hit pretty bad, but fortunately there was no structural damage. Our dive shop's preparations were not enough for the 15' battering waves for hours, and the ocean crashed inside, taking lots of furniture and other things. We did save most of our dive equipment. Our boats are in good shape, and all our staff is also ok. I don't expect us to be able to be back in business at El Coz until they re-open in December or January, though we will try to do what we can over the internet, to try to stay afloat until we recover fully. Although they are shooting for Christmas Week, and very probably will be ready, I don't believe that people who will be travelling those dates will wait until last minute to make the bookings, most people who will be travelling those weeks are already booking, and for some places it's already getting late to book.

 

I am happy to see people are aware that we will be needing the support of Cozumel's fan's, once things are restored, with your visits and your patronage. So please, don't forget or count out Cozumel, we will be ready for all of you sooner than you think, and it should be a very memorable Carnaval next year in February.

 

I will post more when I have power at home and are able to be at the computer regularly.

 

Posted Today:

 

Hola Everyone!

 

Trying to catch up on the last week. I incredibly got power on at the house today, 1 week before we expected to. Several nighborhoods in Cozumel already have power, we are still waiting for water, though they have been dispensing it at the water plant.

 

So much going on and so much to comment on, really this thing was bigger and stayed longer than anyone expected, we were holed up from Thursday at 8pm to Sunday at 8am, and even then still had some light gusts.

 

Although the clean up has been as fast and speedy as with Emily in July, there is considerable more damage this time. Cozumel has sustained a major blow, which will take a full year to recover from completely. As many hotels are predicting, we will be mostly operational by Christmas and New Year, and we in Cozumel very much hope we will be visited by the legions of faithfull Cozumel fans out there, and not left empty.

 

Like after Emily some "attractions" will not be up and running soon, Chankanaab Park sustained major damage, and Punta Sur Park which wasn't even open yet, will be much longer, the road on the other side of the island is gone for the most part, and will take some time to rebuild, though local and federal politicians have vowed rapid funds for their reconstruction.

 

The local and state authorities are to be commended for their efforts, really, they have done an outstanding job again, before and after the storm, and it is to their credit that with the one largest hurricanes in history staying around for a total of 60 hours in the state, there were little to none fatalities. Kudos to them for this, and also for the lightening speed at which they are working to restore basic services. They have set a date of November 14th here as kind of a marker for being mostly operational, mainly in the downtown area, and have agreed to receive the first cruise ship on this date, which is also the day public schools resume classes. Yesterday 2 Mexican Navy ships arrived with tons of supplies and equipment, as well as a cruise ship from RCCL with supplies, 500 volunteers, and was also going to give free rides back to the US to any American still here, though most got out by plane Wednesday.

 

Supplies are being delivered door to door by the Mexican Army and some civil organizations, who also have a kitchen set up for the 1000s of workers of the different groups working & helping, as well as for any citizen who is so dire as to require it.

 

I want to thank everyone who expressed support and prayers before and after the storm, believe it or not those prayers worked and we were spared the loss of life, and this is still paradise, and the leafs will grow back, and the reefs will flourish, and the hotels and roads will be fixed, and we will be here waiting for you with a big smile and the warm friendly service you've come to expect when visiting us.

 

Cozumel is down, but we are not out, not by a long shot.

 

 

WE WILL BE RIGHT BACK!!!!

 

I've been taking pictures throughout this ordeal and have put them up at Imagestation, you have to register (free) to see them, after you do copy/paste this into browser:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2118380855

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marti2282

marti2282

Posted
Posted

Thanks for these updates! First mention I have found on the boards for Panchos and Los Cinco Soles. Can't imagine a visit to Cozumel without a stop there.

 

The information that is filtering down about the ongoing cleanup it amazing! A resiliant and tireless group of folks. Examples for how to pull together and get things done.

 

Wolfie-- I did see photos of Palmera and other places on the waterfront. Take a look. http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2118380855&mode=guest

 

Marti

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jennat

jennat

Posted
Posted

Does anyone know how Playa Chen Rio is?

We were there in Sept (during Rita) and they closed the beaches on the channel side so we went over there. What a lovely day. The owner was so glad to see us. Said it had been really hard since Emily passed through. Now, he is all I can think of. He treated us so great! I hope he is well and his beach wasn't TOO badly destoyed.

Thanks for any information.

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we3k9

we3k9

Posted
Posted

Does anyone know for sure how badly damaged the beach clubs were. Has anyone had reports from any local people who has surveyed these properties? Is there a website that lists how damaged each property is?

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we3k9

we3k9

Posted
Posted

Anyone have information on how Palm Beach Club, Paradise Beach and Nachi Cocom fared the hurricane? Just wondering how badly the clubs were damaged and when they will re open. Anyone have a link to a website that might report whats open and operating in Cozumel ?

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jamiski

jamiski

Posted
Posted
So I don't get flamed for being insensitive, let me preface this by saying that I wish the people of Cozumel and Cancun a speedy recovery and that I have contributed cash and supplies to hurricane relief this year and will continue to do so. ( I don't say that to "brag" but to prevent the rampant sniping on the board)

This ends my disclaimer.

 

My question is this - does anyone have specific information on the Cozumel restaurants - their damage and their guesstimate on when they will reopen? I saw that their website says 6-8 months but it does not address the situation for individual restaurants - it covers Cancun, Cozumel and Playa Mia. Granted I'm no architect but 6-8 months seems incredibly long for the type of structures in Cozumel.

 

Thanks and happy and safe sailing to all.

 

No worries. I've been looking for info on Carlos'n Charlie's myself.

 

You can see Carlos'n Charlie's in the top center of the second picture down on this website. The rounded light blue and pale yellow building.

 

http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/photogalleries.php?s=8185

 

I was happy to see it standing. Looks like it held up a little better than sadly buildings around it.

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Cozumel_Tom

Cozumel_Tom

Posted
Posted

Hi Guys, just a quick note...the pier is not gone. It took a good beating and will need work but it is there. Even the palapa at the end is still there! I don´t know which beach those guys were looking at when they reported that both us and San Fran lost our piers... NEWS FLASH guys, San Fran hasn´t had a pier for at least 10 years! Hopefully Aldora has better luck identifying locations under the water....

 

The sand is not gone, it just relocated to our parking lot, lawn, main entrance etc...:D We are gathering it up and putting it back where it belongs. The ocean is also helping out by bringing it back, slowly...surely.

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pixculim

pixculim

Posted
Posted

Good day i-m president and owner of http://www.cometocozumel.com, we are in direct contact with the government officials, tour operators, merchants and hotels of the island, we are also posting official information daily about the status of the island.

 

I've been reading those who have seen pictures of the destruction of the piers.

 

It is important for all of you to understand that WE DO NOT NEED PIERS to be able to welcome cruiseships in Cozumel, Cozumel had only 1 pier untill 1998, and for many years more than 2 ships arrived to Cozumel evry day and used tenders to get the passengers down of the ship and bring them to the island.

 

OFFICIALY that is what a representative of Carnival and Royal Caribbean said on last weeks meeting with Tour operators and Merchants, when the agremment of the first ship arriving in November 14 was made.

 

The plan that cruise lines have is to little by little start bringing ships to Cozumel and use TENDERS to get the people off the ship.

 

Please visit our WILMA section at http://www.cometocozumel.com where we are posting OFFICIAL information about the status of the island.

 

Sincerely,

Alfonso Perez-Verdia Ochoa.

info@cometocozumel.com

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