Pro-tec update #2

Special Bulletin – Hurricane Wilma

ProTec Newsletter October 2005



With great sadness I am writing these lines about Hurricane Wilma. The ProTec Newsletter can be subscribed and un-subscribed on our www.protecdiving.com web page, front page in the lower right corner. So please let your friends know that they can receive our Newsletter or if you don’t like to get it please do not hesitate to un-subscribe.



Thanks you for continued support.

ProTec Team


Here is the latest news as of Monday, October 24th, 19:00
Hurricane Wilma has hit the Riviera Maya hard. The eye of the hurricane came through Cozumel and Playa del Carmen on Friday evening 23:00. The storm was big and very slow with lots of rain. Large parts of towns and roads where or are still flooded. Today was a beautiful day, sunshine and a flat ocean.

Cozumel
Cozumel took a direct hit. Its been hit hard. The car ferry got immobilized just prior to the storm and stranded in Chinchorro bank, leaving no ferry transport for help or electricity workers to get to Cozumel. Three cruise ship piers have been badly damages or a partially gone. The caletta marina was badly hit with a lot of boats sitting in it. The northern marina was hit hard and is partially gone. I fear for the worst there, I would assume a lot of schools have been hit there too, destroying the infrastructure to teach the kids.

Puerto Aventuras
Puerto Aventuras got hit again as with Emily with a lot of damage, powerloss, trees, to condos, houses and buildings and 10 smaller boats sunk in the marina. I have not been in the Poblado yet but hope that the damage there is not too bad.

Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen took a direct hit and its been hit hard. 5th avenue is damaged glass and palapas. Ocean side buildings are flooded with a couple of feet of sand. Mamitas beach club has been hard but will be rebuilt I am sure. In Playacar beach side buildings have lost there foundations, the beach road is gone at parts. Two planes on the airport flipped. A large number of building is damaged beyond repair. The Super San Francisco Supermarket lost a entire wall.



The good news. Since you are reading this newsletter I had to have electricity and internet access. Amazing how fast parts of town got power back. Utility and emergency crews working restless to restore power and water. Security forces showing presence. Neighbors helping each other, restaurants and stores are open. No gasoline though but since we have partially electricity it can't be far away.



Puerto Morelos
Puerto Morelos got hit hard. The road between Puerto Morelos and Cancun is closed since a large section of it is flooded completely. The road from the gas station to Puerto Morelos proper is flooded too. The gas station is working though. Quite a few of the large power towers are broken. A lot of the palapa roofing is gone but restaurants and stores are open



Cancun
Cancun took a direct hit. The airport is closed but is supposed to be back open by Wednesday. We heard reports that the lagoon in the hotel zone connected with the ocean on the locations. We heard as well that there where some riots, martial law has been declared in Cancun and a curfew is in place. The hotel zone is largely damaged and flooded, the inner town areas are damaged too.



Akumal, Tulum
Small damage only, have not been there, heard its still going, they selling gasoline in Tulum

Whats gonna happen ....
I am not the greatest optimist on the planet but for Tulum, Akumal, Puerto Aventuras and Playa del Carmen I can see its gonna bounce back pretty soon. The way things do improve and the ferocity of the emergency work force to bring it back will succeed pretty fast. There will be areas that will take some more time but in general I am looking optimistic into the future.

ProTec is open, we are diving the caves but the ocean diving is gonna take a while to come back, mostly the boats into the ocean and gasoline.
Just because we got hit by a hurricane we did not disappear, neither a lot of the other dive shops or hotels in the area.

Having just been through the hurricane and its aftermath I am looking far north to Florida where a lot of our friends are just happened to be in the way of windy Wilma. Our thoughts are with you guys and gals.


As always if you are close by and want to chat or give us a call or email please feel free to do so.

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0052-984-8031168

Your ProTec Team