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Costa Maya and Hurricane Dean discussion (merged)

memphislonghorn

By memphislonghorn,
in Costa Maya

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jjk7320

jjk7320

Posted
Posted

Went there with my wife last Feb. We ended up at a restaurant/bar just before you get to the beach. It is just before the area that the cabs let you out. It is called ON TOY the bar is actually a boat about 15 feet long. The owner is Enrique. It was him, Us, two cooks and one local and we had the time of our lives. We had about two hours to get back to the ship. We had 6 beers, 5 margaritas, 2 shots and a shrimp dish that was the best we ever had!!!! We were cutting it close getting back to the ship as there were not many cabs left. We asked for thr bill. $20!!! and Enrique insisted in driving us back to the ship!!!!! The nicest people we had ever met and we have been on 15 cruises with carnival and been to almost all of the islands. Hope they are safe. Anyone else been to ON TOY or have seen it?

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wieslaw

wieslaw

Posted
Posted
........... No casualties were reported in the area as of yesterday, ...............

 

Hello, -- the quote above is a good news to me !!! That what is really important , ....... everything else can be replaced. Thanks for posting that.

 

I also have good memories from our visit to Costa Maya and Majahual and feel bad that so much damage was created by the hurricane, ....... but as long as there are " no casulties" reported - that is a good news to me.

Wes

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jetskier

jetskier

Posted
Posted

The port officials are estimating a 6-8 month closure of the port. They are still assessing the damage. They are saying the chief investor will soon put out a recovery plan. Mexican President Felipe Calderón stayed in Chetumal last night and plans on touring the port and Mahahual today.

(source Seatrade Insider)

Dave

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GoinCruisin

GoinCruisin

Posted
Posted
Hello, -- the quote above is a good news to me !!! That what is really important , ....... everything else can be replaced. Thanks for posting that.

 

I also have good memories from our visit to Costa Maya and Majahual and feel bad that so much damage was created by the hurricane, ....... but as long as there are " no casulties" reported - that is a good news to me.

Wes

 

My fear is, since they haven't really explored the area, the Mayans... who live basically in stick huts... who may not have evacuated the area. I truly hope they all got out of there. The military came through and got all they could... we can only hope, but sadly, we may never hear about those people :(

 

It's just all so sad...

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Gosap

Gosap

Posted
Posted
This is just terrible. The pictures coming out of Costa Maya show nothing less than complete destruction. All I can think about is how beautiful the place was. This was our favorite port on our Honeymoon Cruise (our first cruise). Sitting on a chair on the beach in Majahaul I remember thinking that I had found "Paradise". It was a living, breathing "Corona" ad and I was in the middle of it. It was so rustic and that was the beauty of it. Now all I can think of is all of the poor hard working people that now have their lives destroyed and (with the pier gone) no income. Hopefully they all found shelter and that the silver lining (hopefully) can be that no one lost their life. Less fortunate however, I am sure, were the poor stray dogs that roam the streets of Majahual. I remember them being so friendly and polite. Now I am haunted by thinking about what terrible fate that they met. There was no shelter for them.:( :( :(

 

You took the words out of my mouth! Ditto.

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eguiney

eguiney

Posted
Posted
Yes, I too am sick about Costa Maya/Majahual. I see here I'm not alone. Also wishing someone somewhere would post a photo of that half-destroyed pier.

 

My memories of Majahual are the creme of cruising (RCI Splendour, 2/26/07). The gorgeous but unassuming little beach where our group of 29 was served cerviche and cold beers and the most delicious guacomole with chips all day long by Alfred out of his little palapa! (And after four hours of constant consumption and imbibing, the tab barely cleared $80.) The bluest, calmest waters and white white sand! It was the opposite of most every port experience I'd had before while cruising - just a beautiful place to be in good company with good eats. Not overpriced and not overcrowded. Not charged to sit in a chair or enjoy someone's borrowed shade trees. I loved the primitiveness of the street, the 'strip,' the nonsanctioned vendors, the fact that everything all along the way seemed to be under construction or half-constructed or half-baked or half-jungle. We've been wanting to go back ever since. Hell, we've been wishing we could buy property there.

 

How long does it take to rebuild a pier?

Bleu Girl in message 222 ask how long does it take to rebuild a pier. That depends on the damage. The one in Cozmel destroyed two years ago is still a pile of rubble

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eLav8

eLav8

Posted
Posted
Bleu Girl in message 222 ask how long does it take to rebuild a pier. That depends on the damage. The one in Cozmel destroyed two years ago is still a pile of rubble

 

Well, the problem with that assumption is the fact that Cozumel has several piers and a working tender system in place. They can afford to hold off on reconstruction of piers while they focus their efforts on other parts of the island that need work.

 

Costa Maya on the other hand only has that 1 pier and the entire region depends on that pier for income. If they focus their attention on that pier, they could have it done within months, and considering there will be a lot of outside commercial funding coming in to rebuild, I don't see the port area taking very long at all to rebuild. Then again, I have yet to see photos of damage at the port so I do not know how much is destroyed.

 

The town of Majahual could take a bit longer if they build more stable structures, that is, if they ever do rebuild on the same spot. From the looks of things, there was a lot of beachfront erosion....so who really knows.

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enester

enester

Posted
Posted
I found this article and I believe one of the photos is of the cruise pier...about 1/2 down the page.

http://www.poresto.net/

 

Kim

 

Wow - the article said that even the buildings that do remain will have to be demolished because of foundation damage. It also said that the people that are slowly coming back have been left with practically nothing. Those returning are said to mostly be too grief stricken to speak. :(

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eguiney

eguiney

Posted
Posted

I fully agree that if the folks put their mind to it they can be back up in no time. Of course with all the outside money ready to funnel in, the town of Majahual as we knew it will not be back. Look for Starbucks, McDonalds, and Carlos and Charles to replace those place that made Majahaul such a joy to visit. Think back to Cancun 20 years ago, Cozumel 10 years ago and Playa De Carmen which was essently a small fishing village until recently.

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cruzegirl

cruzegirl

Posted
Posted
It's not that it's not newsworthy, but this storm destroyed hundreds of homes when it could instead have affected hundreds of thousands. It may not feel "lucky" to those whose homes and businesses were destroyed, but since relatively few are so affected, the recovery will be quick.

 

I don't think there's any relief in that thought. That it only affected hundreds of homes.... I believe, not that I counted each one, but that there was only a few hundred homes. It was sparsely populated, not very developed. So what seems like a relief, isn't.

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signdaddy

signdaddy

Posted
Posted

 

Costa Maya on the other hand only has that 1 pier and the entire region depends on that pier for income.

 

Costa maya has more than one pier. But only one that a cruise ship could dock at. Tender boats would be a great option.

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98Charlie

98Charlie

Posted
Posted
Costa maya has more than one pier. But only one that a cruise ship could dock at. Tender boats would be a great option.

 

Where was the other pier?

 

Regarding tender boats, you have to remember that the tender boats still need to dock at a pier to disembark passengers. If the cruise ship's big cement dock is gone, what do you think became of a smaller dock in that area?

 

Also, as I understand, hurricane can change the depth of bay channel areas through the force of wind, etc. It could be, and I'm not saying it's so since we have no reports yet, but it could be that a cruise ship would have to anchor so far out from Costa Maya area that it would take speed boats for tenders like we have in Belize.

 

I don't think that's going to happen soon in Costa Maya.

 

Dianne

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