Warm Vacation near end of April, need some input

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Maybe all the beach/sand recovery efforts just started last week?
I would offer to show you all the pictures, but you may not believe them!

I got back less than a month ago.

[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.

[redforever]

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.

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.

[redforever]

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.

2 beaches, not one.

Top 2 pics are at Tulum, the beach at the house we rented, last one is at Puerto Morelos, showing the dock at Cieba del Mar.

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by fotze

I took what you said that the entire mayan coast was decimated, I think there were brutal damage to certain parts, i.e. The Xpu-Ha resort apparently totally lost their beach and is no longer a beach front resort. But there are parts that look like they were untouched.

That's what I was trying to get across not well obviously.
I wasn't talking about buildings or overturned chairs and broken windows. Structural damage has all been repaired. Although there beach front houses in Playa del Carmen. that have not been rebuilt and are no longer "beach front."

As you pointed out, some resorts lost their beaches; Royal Hawaiian I think is another that lost almost all.

Thanks for the hurricane history Redforever. You are right in that there is no problem with the beaches. Just they are smaller. In some cases, much smaller. My father was told the huge loss of sand was still from the storms of 2005, not from regular wind and water erosion.

[photon]

Any advantage to going to Cozumel vs. Puerto Morelos?

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

That's what I was trying to get across not well obviously.
I wasn't talking about buildings or overturned chairs and broken windows. Structural damage has all been repaired. Although there beach front houses in Playa del Carmen. that have not been rebuilt and are no longer "beach front."

As you pointed out, some resorts lost their beaches; Royal Hawaiian I think is another that lost almost all.

Thanks for the hurricane history Redforever. You are right in that there is no problem with the beaches. Just they are smaller. In some cases, much smaller. My father was told the huge loss of sand was still from the storms of 2005, not from regular wind and water erosion.

The trick is to go to places where the beach is natural. Many of the resorts "sculpted" their beaches from the get go. In other words, they expanded what beach there was, or reconfigured what beach there was.

Those man made beaches are the first to go in any storm because they were not natural to begin with. The natural beaches survive quite nicely.

[photon]

Wow awesome redforever, thank you very much!

Yeah the kids are younger so we're not looking for shopping or night life or anything, just out to the beach for the day.

[prarieboy]

I can't really add to the description of Puerto Morelos that Redforever provided. It's just like that.

If you want to go snorkeling or fishing check out Diving Dog Tours.

They do Fishing and snorkelling trips, evening boat cruises as well.

Kathy Loretta is great, she even offered to take me out fishing for free one time. Check out her Fishing Broucure on the Website below, I'm the guy with the Baracuda!!!

http://www.puertomorelosfishing.com/

You might want to look into Xel-Ha. It's a great place for familes and those that like to snorkel.

[photon]

Yeah I just found Xel-Ha, though it seems a bit pricey! Who said Mexico is cheap.

[redforever]

If you go further south, my daughter and I just went through Aktun Chen. It is down by Akumal, not as far south as Tulum. This is a series of underground caves, the last having a beautiful grotto in it. Tour takes close to two hours, includes a guide, for $22. My daughter is a geologist, she was fascinated, so was I.

http://www.aktunchen.com/


My kids and their significant others spent a day at Hidden Worlds. They have canopy tours, swimming, snorkelling or diving in the cenote, they made a day of it.

http://www.hiddenworlds.com/

That might be a bit too far to go if you have little ones. If you want to see any ruins, from Puerto Morelos, I would suggest Tulum for sure, and you can combine that site with Coba in one day. I would get a guide if you go through those architectural sites, you just learn so much more than walking on your own.

If you like fishing, the best is down south by Boca Paila, in the Sian Kaan preserve. From the town of Tulum, head east to the ocean, then south along that coastal road for about half an hour, easily travelled by any vehicles these days. My husband and son hired guides a couple of days, they caught bone fish, snook, some jack thing? barracuda, but no tarpon, which is what my son was really after. You can also do interpretative jungle and coastal tours through the Sian Kaan Preserve.

I don't know the ages of your children. My feelings as a parent when my children were smaller, give em as much beach as they want, they are happy campers beaching or in the water. Crabby kids on tours never really turned my crank, I left that until they were old enough to decide if they wanted to come along.

[photon]

Yeah mine's 5 in June and his cousin is 6 sometime soon.. so not really interested in tours, herding them is enough work that I'll not end up hearing anything, better to just explore at their leisure.

[redforever]

Photon, I am going to bump this thread. I just came across this article today and thought it described Puerto Morelos perfectly.

And there are various links to help you get a feel for some of the amenities in the town.

http://events.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/travel/04surface.html

[redforever]

Originally Posted by fotze

I just booked a trip to disneyland for 3 days combined with a 7 day jaunt to cabo. Way better deals originating out of the US it seems.

I would suspect that to be true on the Cabo side for sure. Cabo goes the way California goes and California has had major problems.

I know that the condo we booked and stayed at in Cabo a year ago is now up for sale, and not moving either I don't think.

[photon]

Nice, thanks! Yeah I think we found a nice house to rent and stuff, so off we go next month.

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah I just found Xel-Ha, though it seems a bit pricey! Who said Mexico is cheap.

I went in January... keep in mind it includes food and drinks. But IMO the snorkeling wasn't really worth it.

[You Need a Thneed]

We just booked a trip to Hawaii.