I just returned from Cozumel and thought people might like a first hand
report. I stayed at the Barracuda and dove with Dive Paradise. We were
blown out for a day and a half by high winds when they shut the harbor
down, but the rest of the time it was nice. The water was the warmest I
have ever seen it in Jan.- 80-81 degrees and the currents were the
highest and fastest I have ever seen there.
My first impression of the town was utter amazement. It is almost
completely restored- better, brighter, shinier than before. Everything
is new. Everything is back except the Waffle House and a few diamond
stores (oh well).
By point of comparison, the old navel base is totally destroyed, it
looks like a bombed out building you might have seen in Berlin after the
war. The dive master said the entire town looked like that. Punta
Lagusta only has Don and Charley’s (?? Carlos) Open, the rest is still
being rebuilt. Most piers were destroyed including all the cruise ship
piers. For 2 of my 7 days there were 6 ships lined up and using ferry
boats to bring people in and back. Most of the beaches are gone (more
later about where they went).
The Barracuda looks great. It is all new. There is no beach left and no
pier but they are working on it. There won’t be much of a beach because
they are putting in a pool.
The only pier available to most operators is at Hotel Cozumel Resort, a
half mile away. Apple gave us a ride down each day.
The deep southern sites are in pretty good shape- Santa Rosa, Palencar,
Columbia. If you want to know where all the beach sand went, just look
at the shallow reefs. They are in terrible shape. Most had very little
fish life. Only one, Punta Tuniche (Rocky Point) had fish, but boy did
they have fish life. I shot most of my pictures there (I’ll post the
link when I am done editing them). I don’t know why that reef did, and
the rest did not. I saw some stuff I have never seen before.
On the whole, it was a good trip, diving was good, and I felt like I was
helping out the town people.
elliott