As I was walking to Cablemas today, I noticed the surf looked pretty rough, so I headed down to the beach on my way back. Turns out the surf was *really* rough, and also, the beach recovery is already underway. There were heaps of sand and heavy equipment on the beaches just south of Av. Constituyentes. Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me, but tomorrow I will make a day of photographing the beaches as is and some of the recovery efforts. I'm curious if the recovery is going north of Constituyentes (playa mamitas) and how far South it's going to go (ferry docks?) Anyway, it's really interesting to sit and watch! Also, I'm not sure if it was just super windy today or perhaps the recovery efforts put a bunch of sand into the air, but it was hard to stand out on the beach without getting ripped to shreds by stinging sand breezes. Ouch.
Pictures Wow, those guys move at the speed of light. Rocky ledges on Friday are now 40 foot wide sand marshes. Crazy. It smells awful all around the recovery zone -- like heaps of dead fish. There were dozens of sea birds and frigate birds as well, having a feast I suppose. The current recovery zone is much larger than Friday -- the beach from Av. Constituyentes to 2nd Street is all being worked on. It's really impressive how quickly they can do so much. The barrier at 2nd street. Looking North from 2nd street. Looking South from 2nd street. This part of the beach has not been recovered and is always nice and wide. I assumed they probably wouldn't recover this section, except that the newly recovered sections now extend much further out into the sea. Machines working at 6th street. There used to be very, very little beach here and a lot of rocks.
Today's paper reports they are around hotel Pelicano Inn, Restaurante Fussion and Paraíso Playas. They had a couple day delay due to high winds but they are clipping right along and when they finish Cancun probably this week and the second dredger starts working down there in Playa, it will go twice as fast.
Yep, that last picture with the machinery was taken at 6th street -- that's literally the view from Fusion right now. Curiously, does the paper say anything about the extent of where they are going? I assume they are going to cover Playacar (whose beaches need it IMO) but haven't heard anything about it.
We went back to the beach to snap some photos today, only to find the ENTIRE beach from Avenida Constituyentes to the Cozumel Ferry Docks closed. The pipes are now in place all the way to 2nd street although the heavy equipment is still focused between 6th and Constituyentes. We ran into a several tourists near the beach blockades as we were taking photos -- most of them were really upset that the majority, if not all, of their tropical beach vacations were not going to involve any beach. At Hotel La Ruina, however, we met a couple from Cape Cod snowbirding in Playa who told us that their hotel was offering free shuttles for guests to Playa Mamitas. While a nice gesture, I can only imagine what that beach is like with the tons of extra guests heading that way. Business at the beach front restaurants was also really slow, according to my pal Chido. Also, most of the panga owners had to evacuate their boats to the streets in lieu of all the work! There were a couple of rogue pangas still anchored out, but I'm not sure what the story is for them. I couldn't get to the same vantage point as before to take a comparative picture, but this looking generally Northeast from 2nd street. Since the recovery is going all the way to the ferry docks, I took a picture from a good vantage that will hopefully have a better before-and-after effect
Just an update for you from Playa. The strip of beach has been finished from Constituyentes to Juarez and has been re-opened since January 21. Here are some photos: From Bad Boys looking out at the new beach. What an improvement! From Bad Boys, looking North The expanded beach in front of Playa Palms The beach in Playacar was done as of last Friday, but the equipment had not yet been removed. Here are some photos from Xaman Ha from Friday, Feb 5: Hey V and Coby, it was great to meet you last week. Saludos!
