Hi,
This is my first post, my husband and I just returned from Cozumel, having had reservations to fly in the night "Emily" hit. It was our first trip to the island, and on Friday, July 15, Greg from Aldora Divers called me to say "Don't come, Emily's on her way!" Which was great of him, not having been watching the weather. (We're from central California, we don't have "WEATHER") We tracked Emily through the weekend and saw that it passed directly over the island, and were only hoping the damage wasn't too severe for the people of Cozumel. On Monday morning, July 18th, we were changing our plans to go down to the Isthmus of Catalina, which we really weren't too happy, (about-too cold!) when we got an email from Aldora telling us the damage wasn't too bad, that they would have electricity up and running by Wednesday and that they would be diving. We were on our way that night. The damage to the town of San Miguel was minimal for a catagory 4 hurricane. Power lines and trees down, some windows blown in, but virtually no flooding. They were lucky because it was a relatively dry storm. The resorts outside of town suffered the most damage, roofs caved in and broke windows, but no loss of life at all on the island. We were amazed at the resilience of the people on Cozumel. They were all out cleaning, clearing downed trees, sifting the sand on the beaches, clearing rubble, and all the while with a "Buenos Dias" or and "Hola" for us tourists. Most of them didn't even have tools, they were doing the work with their bare hands and machetes, not chain saws an tractors. Our hotel had no electricity, so they sent us to the Casa Mexicana, were we were welcomed and put up in great accomodations. We figured they would ask us to move back to the other hotel partway through the week, but we stayed the entire time, and they honored the prices we were to be charged at the first hotel. Other than the bustling Cozumelenos, there weren't many people in town, which was great for us, not so great for the economy.
We dove for the next four days with Aldora and no more than 1-3 other divers, and I have to say, it was a great trip. We went to the Devil's Throat, Palancar Reef, Yucab, San Francisco, Santa Rosa Wall, etc. I have nothing to compare the reefs to, but our guide, Luis said they had been hit hard. The base where the Christ Stature was (before they moved the statue to a marine sanctuary) had lost it's whole sand base and had slid down the reef. He said it looked like a new snowfall with the sand covering everything. Luckily, in a matter of days or weeks, the reef will recover from that element of the storm. Having the strong currents that Cozumel is known for, they will be blown off soon. Luis was a wonderful, skilled and very knowledgable Divemaster. He was adamant that no one touch or harm his reefs. He loves the reefs like family and is extremly conservation-minded. We were supposed to off-gas onshore at one of the outer resorts, but they all had sustained some sort of damage, and no one was serving "lunch" for a while, but one of the people took pity on us and gave us some cokes! The rest of the trip, Aldora drove all the way to meet us at a dock in the area of our diving to give us a fresh lunch, fruit, sandwiches, cold drinks. I can't say enough about this operator. They were very professional, but not stuffy, they all had a great sunse of humor and kept us entertained. Aldora is VERY safety consious, of the reefs and of the people diving them.
The cruise ships started coming back in, which was 2 days after the hurricane, and we counted 6 on the second day after they opened the port.
If you were thinking of changing your plans and visiting elsewhere, please don't. The people were wonderful, the diving still worth the money, and they need our tourist dollars very much right now, especially the Mom and Pop businesses off of the main streets, the cabbies, the busboys, the Divemasters and boat Captains. Cozumel's still a great destination, and no, I don't work for any of them. My girlfriend and I are returning next week to stay at the Scuba Club Cozumel, so I'll get to see what that one is all about.
Happy diving, juliea
This is my first post, my husband and I just returned from Cozumel, having had reservations to fly in the night "Emily" hit. It was our first trip to the island, and on Friday, July 15, Greg from Aldora Divers called me to say "Don't come, Emily's on her way!" Which was great of him, not having been watching the weather. (We're from central California, we don't have "WEATHER") We tracked Emily through the weekend and saw that it passed directly over the island, and were only hoping the damage wasn't too severe for the people of Cozumel. On Monday morning, July 18th, we were changing our plans to go down to the Isthmus of Catalina, which we really weren't too happy, (about-too cold!) when we got an email from Aldora telling us the damage wasn't too bad, that they would have electricity up and running by Wednesday and that they would be diving. We were on our way that night. The damage to the town of San Miguel was minimal for a catagory 4 hurricane. Power lines and trees down, some windows blown in, but virtually no flooding. They were lucky because it was a relatively dry storm. The resorts outside of town suffered the most damage, roofs caved in and broke windows, but no loss of life at all on the island. We were amazed at the resilience of the people on Cozumel. They were all out cleaning, clearing downed trees, sifting the sand on the beaches, clearing rubble, and all the while with a "Buenos Dias" or and "Hola" for us tourists. Most of them didn't even have tools, they were doing the work with their bare hands and machetes, not chain saws an tractors. Our hotel had no electricity, so they sent us to the Casa Mexicana, were we were welcomed and put up in great accomodations. We figured they would ask us to move back to the other hotel partway through the week, but we stayed the entire time, and they honored the prices we were to be charged at the first hotel. Other than the bustling Cozumelenos, there weren't many people in town, which was great for us, not so great for the economy.
We dove for the next four days with Aldora and no more than 1-3 other divers, and I have to say, it was a great trip. We went to the Devil's Throat, Palancar Reef, Yucab, San Francisco, Santa Rosa Wall, etc. I have nothing to compare the reefs to, but our guide, Luis said they had been hit hard. The base where the Christ Stature was (before they moved the statue to a marine sanctuary) had lost it's whole sand base and had slid down the reef. He said it looked like a new snowfall with the sand covering everything. Luckily, in a matter of days or weeks, the reef will recover from that element of the storm. Having the strong currents that Cozumel is known for, they will be blown off soon. Luis was a wonderful, skilled and very knowledgable Divemaster. He was adamant that no one touch or harm his reefs. He loves the reefs like family and is extremly conservation-minded. We were supposed to off-gas onshore at one of the outer resorts, but they all had sustained some sort of damage, and no one was serving "lunch" for a while, but one of the people took pity on us and gave us some cokes! The rest of the trip, Aldora drove all the way to meet us at a dock in the area of our diving to give us a fresh lunch, fruit, sandwiches, cold drinks. I can't say enough about this operator. They were very professional, but not stuffy, they all had a great sunse of humor and kept us entertained. Aldora is VERY safety consious, of the reefs and of the people diving them.
The cruise ships started coming back in, which was 2 days after the hurricane, and we counted 6 on the second day after they opened the port.
If you were thinking of changing your plans and visiting elsewhere, please don't. The people were wonderful, the diving still worth the money, and they need our tourist dollars very much right now, especially the Mom and Pop businesses off of the main streets, the cabbies, the busboys, the Divemasters and boat Captains. Cozumel's still a great destination, and no, I don't work for any of them. My girlfriend and I are returning next week to stay at the Scuba Club Cozumel, so I'll get to see what that one is all about.
Happy diving, juliea
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