Hurricane Emily July Update

Hi Puerto Aventuras Fans,
We are still here; contrary to the rumors we have not been blown away. Everyone is fine; there were no injuries on either side of the highway. Yes, the place is a mess and all we need is some time to clean it up. Speaking of which the community clean up effort has been incredible and our electric commission was up and running early, early, early Monday morning. Some of the phones have been working since Tuesday-amazingly quickly considering the damage to the infrastructure. Andy has the generator running so we have a refrigerator and a computer- no water but we are online!

      Almost everyone is dirty, tired but everyone has a good attitude and is working hard. Seems there is nothing like a mutual friend or foe (Miss Emily) to bring a community together. It is raining now, which is a good thing it will rinse off the salt and sand hopefully saving the remaining vegetation. Colonos iis attempting to save the larger trees by propping them up-let's keep our fingers crossed. Hoenstly the majority of the damage was to our beautiful vegetation -(it looks like winter) and to palapas of all shapes and sizes. We have found that nature takes care of herself and that man continues to build palapas.

Many people have expressed concern and an interest in helping the people in the poblado. Many of you know or know of Fred Devos who heads up the poblado English education and community center.

I was speaking to him after the storm and the community center has lost its roof, computers were damaged etc. Fred is worried about where to concentrate his efforts either on individual basis or in the community center itself. The community center has been a fixture in the Puerto poblado for years and has been instrumental in helping people learn basic English and computer skills, find jobs . It has had a huge impact in giving people something positive to do outside of work hours.

Fred will be collecting funds for the poblado and is the one best qualified to know who needs help. He is in the ideal position to co-ordinate not only the reconstruction of the roof but also to know which families were impacted, what they need and how to help. I have hired and have given housing to two new employees since the storm but there are many more out there who need help. If you are interested in helping please email Fred at info@aquaexploration.com Also please visit his website, EduCentro - http://www.educentro.org/.

Monday & Tuesday we (the locals) were a bit shell shocked, our minds could not grasp the extent of the damage nor evaluate it logically. The overwhelming feeling of "where to start was pretty much universal". Almost a week out we realize the damage was mostly windows, palapas, vegetation that sort of thing. However the photos are impressive. Below is a list of our experience and the damage that comes to mind.

      We stayed in a condo on top of Dolphin Discovery the next morning there was broken tile, pots and branches everywhere. At Cafe Ole we were sad to see the big pine tree was completely uprooted. We had thought to get my car which was parked under the Omni entry but it was futile because the roads where blocked by uprooted trees and debris.

      After listening to the raging winds the night before we walked toward the new marina to check on Andy;s boat. We were afraid of what we might find but the boat was in great shape with only 10 of 16 tie lines snapped. The Robert's ski boat (on a trailer) was moved and turned around. The concrete electrical pole was snapped in two and the house across from our lot-(with the big garage doors) was completely blown open. Their cushions had crossed the marina and were in our lot, but their boats were in good shape. Emily rearranged the sand pile on our slot into swirls...very weird....very cool! !

      Now it was time to see the horses. The Navy guys were already starting to clear the main entrance hacking away with machetes. When we reached the highway The Pemex station was completely flattened and the concrete Puerto Aventuras sign wall had collapsed on Jewel’s car (it made international headlines). My barn is directly across the highway and did not have a cement roof so I was worried. When we crossed the highway all the big trees were mangled, the new trailer (2.5 tons) was on its side, the small barn roof had blown off and the main barn roof had caved in. Amazingly all the boys and all the horses were fine.

When we turned back we noticed the church had collapsed. We returned to The Omni for the car and thought we might drive it home. We got as far as San Carlos were we had to park and pick our way home over trees, glass and other debris. At the bridge to the left there was an upended catamaran but most of the boats were fine. Once home we could not see or reach the front door because of fallen trees. All the Laurel trees we planted in 1989 were uprooted and tossed around the front and middle yards. Climbing over them I passed the convection oven, dishes, and everything else I had not gotten out of the kitchen :) Everything room not put away properly was in the garden. So it was not surprising to find windows blown out and the palapa in the swimming pool. What was surprising was the apparent ease with which Miss Emily tossed aside the plywood “protecting” the windows.

      Outside by the pool there was a shell shocked Iguana hanging on for dear life. We are feeding him now-he may decide to stay. Next door at Yacht Club the Don & Guandas windows (no protection whatsoever) were completely intact, but three condos down the hurricane blinds had been tossed aside like paper. The beach had no sand, and on the fourth floor entrance to the 1.3 million dollar condo, you stood on the landing and looked down at a mess. Today (Sunday) the Guichard's decided to take a day off from clean up and went kayaking. Many of you know that there has been a boat on the reef for a month or so it is now in front of Chac Hal Al “Building B”.

      When I checked the condos, some were perfect and some were damaged. It is awful having to call someone and tell them their condo is a mess. However most of the mess is salt, sand, glass and debris-a few windows, steam cleaning and some paint will fix most all of it. The beach club (Omni) restaurant is destroyed and the beach bar mostly washed away.) At Villas del Mar the pool was dirty, some palm trees blown over and most of the beach palapas were blown over. The condos were in pretty good shape only a few were heavily damaged. The guys at VDM are going a great job- half the pool is already cleaned as is most of the common area. Jones Bar and the condo on the 4th floor above it were damaged.

The Palapas of The Marival, The Cameleon and The Serena have all collapsed. 70% of the big trees were felled but colonos is propping them up and hoping for the best. The clean up organization is amazing. They are unloading approx 30 trucks of natural debris per hour with the back hoe. The trucks are loaded, then driven to the designated stop, wait in line and then back hoe scoops everything out and away they go. The community is working together and thinks are moving amazingly quickly considering the lack or power and water. As soon as we have services this place will be transformed in a very short time.

      Guess what the power is already being restored in certain areas…..Cool beans…..You really have to hand it to the electrical guys-a week ago there were not many electrical poles standing. Anyway a few more rains, some new windows, couple of buckets of paint, a good steam cleaning and some new palapas everything will be A-Ok...