The Cozumel Drift
Welcome to the 11th edition of The Cozumel Drift, brought to you by your friends and family (YES, we are still alive!!!) here at Blue Bubble Divers, Dive ECO-cozumel, Scuba Shack & Village Tan Kah on the island of Cozumel. Boy, we are having a great year huh ?!?!?!?!?!
Hurricane Wilma
Scuba Shack Skinny
The pier is gone, as are most of the piers on the island. That was expected since the our initial contact with the storm came with winds from the north. But the waves took out everything, almost 100% of the cement is gone - no dive shop, no equipment room, no steps...... all that is left is the front wall and part of the side wall of the little t-shirt shop. So, everything that was stored there is gone as well. All of the shops dive equipment had been moved to the Blue Bubble offices, so that was safe. But everything else is gone. The tanks decided that they were going to dive solo - so the full ones are still on the bottom of the ocean. We are going out daily to find them. And the empties float - so they were taking the jungle tour, anywhere starting from the cruise ship piers all the way down to the Atlantida dolphins. The freezer decided it was going to take a swim in the pool. It doesn't swim very well....... and I wonder where all of the home baked cakes went..... I sure hope that the fish are enjoying them somewhere ! So basically, we will need to rebuild the entire dive shop. But look on the bright side. We get to give it now a face lift - and do some of the things the right way like we always wanted to do it !
As for the boats, you know we have the 4 fast boats and the 1 big boat. The 4 fast boats were tied down in the Caletta Marina - and that took a really hard hit. But our 4 boats are fine. Sure the metal top on 1 is cracked, and the seat on another is cracked where the tree fell on it, but all of them are fine along with the engines. More later on how others fared in the Caletta. The big boat, though, was unable to make it's trek over to the mainland to the port in Puerto Morelos. Which I think was a blessing in disguise. The marina on the mainland was completely and utterly destroyed. Puerto Morelos took a much harder hit than Cozumel (as did Cancun). So, it was better that the captains were able to stay here instead of being placed in a worse harms way. The Blue Bubble 1 started taking on water as they were crossing over and they had to return back to Cozumel, and the tied off in the big Marina on the island. Unfortunately, 20 boats in the marina here decided that they wanted to see what the bottom looks like, and that is where the Blue Bubble is right now. So, we will have to make another scavenger hunt !
Blue Bubble offices fared well. They just leak alot so much of the stuff got wet, but who cares right ?? It's dive gear anyway.
The Village Tan Kah is just fine, really, just fine. We would have thought that the crumbling back water tower building or the front office building would have sustained damage, but nothing. About 1/8 th of the palapa roof on the Treehouse blew off, but the rest is fine. The entrance palapa - the one that has been there forever and falling apart, well, that is gone. Other than the lack of trees and electricity, the hotel is fine. Oh, the the pipes from the water tower to the hotel rooms were ripped off the side of the building by the wind, but that is easily fixed. Once we get the electricity back on, then we are 100% back to normal !
As of right now, NONE of our phone lines are working. So please, do not try to call. E-mail us and we will get back to you soon !
So, the short of it is ...... we are alive and well, we need to rebuild some but we are still 100% operational. The Shark room is going to make a fine dive shop/office, and our boats are still running. We just need to have customers now. No matter what you are hearing on the television and radio, WE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS.
OUR QUEST
Plead: So how are we going to go about rebuilding our business ?? Well, we need to get operations going, and for that, we have to have customers, and start diving. First, I am asking (OK PLEADING) all of you out there who have outstanding balances with us (Curtis, this means you too), we can really use the money right now. So please, if your hearts and your pocketbooks can handle it, please send a check for what you owe. We thank you and really, really appreciate.
Beg: Many of you have been asking what we need, offering to send food, clothes, money, etc. Food is getting to the island, clothes, no one really lost clothes or homes, and money is only a very short term solution. Really, what we need for a long term solution is our loyal and true customers - we are begging you to come and visit - SOON!!. You know that we would never have been able to create our business as much as we have in the last few years without you, and that we would never offer a service (diving or hotel) that we did not feel met our standards, so you know you can count on us. Now, we need to count on you. We will not have the cash flow to rebuild, and pay the employess, who buy the food, and gas, and.... well, you can see how the food chain works. WE NEED YOU !!! As of Nov 14th, cruise ships are coming back to the island, and I think Nov 7th or so is the scheduled target date for having tourists back on the island. WE NEED YOU HERE. So, in order for you to help us, please book a trip. And bring a friend if you can - the more the merrier ! If you already have reservations with us, please keep them. And what we ask of you is: if you can econmically find a way to prepaying any part of or all of your diving and hotel, we would greatly appreciate it.
Cozumel Capers
No matter what the press is saying, we are all fine and everyone is working hard to get right back on track. Neither Cozumel or Cancun are destroyed. We have not sustained as much damage as was expected during this hurricane. We are not closed and will not be closed for tourism any time soon.
The number one agenda for the island and the government is to clean up and getting ourselves back on our feet. So, what is happening you wonder?? Well, the Mexican
Marines were initially dispatched to the main roads for security reasons, clean up and
generally keeping order. This time, the entire island was out of electricity and is going
to be out for a while. So, curfew was set - 7 am - 7 pm. Not really enforced though.
I am TOLD (another words this is really rumor but appears to be true) that as long as
you are going somewhere, there is no problem, especially if you are on a bike, moped or in a car.
The electric company has been sending in fleets, and I mean fleets of additional workers, crews, trucks, supplies, etc. Each fleet has between 30 - 40 trucks. So, electricity, is on its way. Tulum and Playa - 100%, Cancun, about 40% right now. The problem with reestablishing the electricity on Cozumel is that there is no car ferry to bring over the trucks/supplies. So all of the crews can come over on the people ferries, but none of the vehicles, new posts, cranes or transformers can get here until the car ferry returns. Even still, parts of Cozumel has electricity - probably about 25%. Water will be up and running as soon as the water plant gets electricity. Time schedule for electricity is that the whole island is expected to be connected within the next 4 days. The very first car ferry that will come over will bring electricity supplies, the second one gas. Food is arriving daily by plane and ship.
Telephones are expected to be up within the next 3 - 4 days as well.
The first cruise ships are scheduled to arrive Nov 14th. Not that we like cruise ships or anything, but that is a baseline to know when the island will FOR SURE be up and running at 100%. As for the hotels, well, the most important one - VILLAGE TAN KAH - of course is ready and waiting for customers. Really soon, it will be business as usual.
The only thing left to check out now are the reefs. In the next couple of days, everyone from the Marine National Park and of course many of the dive shops are going to be heading out and checking the conditions. By the end of next week, when we have had already electricity and phone lines up, we will be sending another E-mail with that information. Along with an update on the hotels, beaches, other side of the island, etc.
So, we will be keeping you guys informed.
So, as of right now, Royal Caribbean cruise lines will begin arriving to Cozumel on Nov 14. Carnival and others are sending in evaluators to see what the conditions are like before they give a date. More to come on reconstruction.
Rock 'n Java - almost ocean front right now ! Atlantida dolphin jail - gone again (YEAH!!)
Aldora pier in town - missing a few pieces but still looks good. South of us, I do not know.
We have not been any farther south that the Caletta - yet.
