When I boarded the Star Princess, I left all my scuba gears at home
because the stop at Cozumel seemed very unlikely, after the
devastation by hurricane Wilma.

So, it was a pleasant surprise that our cruise ship stopped there on
the SECOND day the port was re-opened to cruise ships.

I call it "homecoming" because I've been visiting and diving in
Cozumel,  often several trips and 50 days a year, for the past 18
years.  Here are some random impressions and observations on
my brief visit today.

The devastation was every bit as severe as written and pictorial
reports have shown.

Our tenders to shore were ferry boats (capacity 500) to the worst
damaged pier of the three -- Puerta Maya.   Here I could see the
twisted blocks of steel re-enforced concrete blocks and pillars of
several feet diameter.  About 3/4 of the pier was gone.  The
remaining red-top "duty free shops" were completely stripped of
the roof and interior now, in the process of rebuilding.

Once we got OFF the pier, the shops leading to the taxi cabs
were operating at about 50-75% capacity, and looked surprisingly
well preserved.

Evidence of blown down trees and damaged buildings were
everywhere en route to the downtown Square.

All the palm trees in the median of the road had a crew cut look,
ALL palm leaves cut off, to a uniform height, of more less just
tree trunks.  New palms were planted in sections that were worst
hit.

The Square was filled with the sound of music of the "Festival",
with most shops in operation, including the flea market stands.

There was hardly any sign of SCUBA diving activities.  I saw
only ONE dive boat on the reefs south of town.  The large boat
of the Caballito del Caribe shop was at the Aldora Pier, and the
only boat there;  but when I stopped by the shop to see some
old friends, there was no sign of any diving activity for the day.

I stopped at the Bahia Suites Hotel of course, because I have
stayed at the same Large Penthouse Suite there HUNDREDS
of days, on every one of my stay in Cozumel since 1995.   I
learned from the manager Sr. Motilla that "my" suite (#49),
the only one with a dining-living room overlooking the Pro
Dive and Aldora Piers  was quite badly damaged, and it would
take at least a month or two before the repairs are completed.

The hotel started operation only YESTERDAY, Nov 14,
coinciding approximately with the opening of the port to ships
and the resumption of airline flights to Cozumel.   The Bell
Clerk said there were only TWO suites occupied today, in
the all suites hotel.

The devastation of the Punta Langosta Mall was very visible.
Carlos 'n Charlie's and Senor Frog were completely wiped
out. :-)  I wonder where the 11,000 cruise ship passengers
today went for their watering hole, since I am not a boozer.

Stopped by several other dive shops, but hardly saw any
of the owners or DMs.  Darwin's Equalizer shop seemed to
have disappeared  from the water front where it was recently
relocated.  The building damage around that area was
VERY severe.

I was curious how the FIRST water-front condo in Cozumel
(developed and sold by Albert (of Prima Restaurant) and his
partner) fared, because the units in Phase I was sold out at
the beginning of the year, at tabs of up to $400K USD for
two-bedroom units, and Phase II was being built.  The
condo was supposed to be "hurricane proof", or constructed
to withstand winds of 150 mph, according to Albert.

The exterior of the condos looked remarkably well preserved,
with not much visible damage.  Albert wasn't there, but when
I asked a couple members of the staff doing the selling of
those condo  units, about the damage by Wilma, and my
mention of "hurricane proof", one member of the staff only
made some faces that indicated the damages were NOT
negligible, and that the unit OWNERS were saddled with the
cost of the repairs.  So much for "hurricane proof" new
building structures on the ocean front.  :-)

Serious repairs were ongoing everywhere.

It appears I'll not be back there till next Spring when "my"
Penthouse Suite will have been repaired.

Last but not least, my "homecoming" was warmly greeted
by local shop clerks and street vendors, some of whom were
complete strangers to me.  Yet they seemed to know me, or
my Karate instructor image of Miyagi.  :-)

And so it was, a bitter sweet homecoming, to see the
devastation hurricane Wilma had done to my home away
from home, and to the economy of the already-poor-and-
struggling locals there, many of whom are in the scuba
diving and related businesses.

Next stop will be Grand Cayman tomorrow, and I may just
take a bus ride to Hell to see if any of the rec.scuba idiots
are there.  :^)

-- Bob.