Quote:
Originally Posted by Aeneas
Nice pictures of a beach.
The Mexican government just decided to spend 80 million on beach restoration in Playa del Carmen. I wonder why.
Restoration to start March 2009. That work was underway a week ago. Dredging, sand "casting", artificial reefs etc. Have pictures of the work being done.
But of course all that is made up too.
I will see your disbelief and absolutely no damage whatsoever, and raise you some facts.
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Some resorts do that on a continual basis, just part of their everyday maintenance. For instance, on the west side of Cozumel, south of San Miguel, most of the beaches are man made. And there are places along the Mayan Riviera where the natural beach would not be wide enough to sustain major resorts so they have sand pumped in, hauled in etc to make them appropriate for a large scale resort.
Perhaps the beaches at some resorts might be smaller in width than they were before. However, like I said, I just spent 2 weeks in the Mayan Riviera, staying in Tulum, but making day trips up to Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos. I saw no evidence at all of damage remaining from hurricanes. The beaches looked as they had any time I have visited that area.
Now I was not at the Rio resort you were talking about, perhaps the beach there is bad but I will vouch for beaches in Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen or the Tulum area as looking the same as they always have to me.
The last "major" hurricane to hit the Mayan Riviera side was hurricane Wilma in 2005. That for instance produced major major damage to both the beaches and infrastructure. But the infrastructure was not damaged much as soon as you were a block or two inland. Hurricane Wilma hunkered down for around 3 days in that area and so most of the significant damage was a result of the water undertow, not the winds. I spent two weeks in that area, in Puerto Morelos, less than a year after that happened, in most areas, very little damage was still remaining as evidence. We stayed 4 houses north of the Cieba del Mar which suffered 80% damage during that hurricane and it was already rebuilt by then. And in Puerto Morelos, some beaches were even widened as a result of hurricane Wilma.
Cancun as well had a lot of damage, more damage to their beaches too compared to Puerto Morelos. And in many cases, it forced hotels that were 20+ years old, to do some renovation. They were due for a facelift. And in the Cancun area, they had to remove a lot of sand from offshore and redistribute it onshore.
The next major hurricane to hit the Mayan Riviera was Dean, in 2007. The major damage was done to the Chetumal area, just north of Belize. By the time it got north to the main tourist areas around Cancun, it was only a category 2 storm. The main visible damage from that hurricane in Puerto Morelos was to the main dock, by the town plaza. It got warped, not destroyed or washed away, but warped.
The next major hurricane to hit the Mayan Riviera area was Ike, in the fall of 2008. No major damage occurred in the Mayan Riviera side due to that hurricane, it was basically life as usual for them with Ike.