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 Travel & Outdoors | August 2007 
Hurricane Dean's Wake: Updates from Mexico & the Caribbean
 Diana Dawson - LATimes
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| | Adam Bradley, center, and his mother, Annette Taylor, left, wait to catch a flight out of Cancun International Airport as Hurricane Dean bore down on the Yucatan peninsula. (Barbara Davidson/LAT) |
Hurricane Dean moved through the Caribbean and onto Mexico this week. Almost universally, airlines allowed travelers with flights booked during the post-hurricane cleanup period to change dates without penalty. Information about specific airlines' policies, deadlines and limitations is available on their websites.
Here is a look at the damage left from the Category 5 hurricane and what travelers should know:
1. Costa Maya, Mexico
The community built as a port for cruise ships in 2001 suffered major damage and will not reopen for six to eight months. Half the port's infrastructure, including the concrete pier and entertainment complex, was damaged extensively, Costa Maya officials said. Little has been heard from nearby Mahahual, an area where small, family-owned boutique hotels sprouted after construction of Costa Maya.
"The families who own those hotels evacuated," said Paula Gomez, a spokeswoman for Costa Maya. "The roads are narrow and filled with debris, so people are having a hard time getting there and to Mahahual to assess damage."
2. Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
Because Dean skipped 150 miles south of Cancún, the prime tourist spot of the Yucatán, vacationers were returning to hotels and beaches within hours. "Some trees and power lines were down," said Jorge Gamboa Patrón, director of the Mexico Tourism Board's Los Angeles office. "But there's no damage to the infrastructure of hotels, to roads or to the beaches, and 500 flights are coming in loaded with tourists."
3. Riviera Maya, Mexico
Farther south, around Akumal, Tankah Bay and Soliman Bay, workers hauled fallen coconuts and rocks from the roads and swept glass from first-floor condominiums, where waves had pushed in windows. By the end of last week, most hotels and resorts had reopened.
"You don't sit around and wait for help that's not coming," said Kay Walten, owner of Locogringo.com, an online reservation business for nearly 300 hotels along the Mexican coast. "When you live in an economy that depends on tourism, no matter what your socio-economic status, you roll up your sleeves and start cleaning it up. It's a matter of washing off the salt, cleaning it up and getting going again."
Status of nearly 200 properties south of Cancún may be checked at Walten's website.
4. Chetumal, Mexico
In Chetumal, the staff of the Holiday Inn pitched in to clean debris from the pool and sweep water from the lobby. "Trees have fallen in the streets here, signs are down and there is broken glass," said Sarahi Montoya, manager of reservations. "The lights were out, but are just now coming back on."
5. Veracruz coast, Mexico
In its last stand as a hurricane, Dean on Wednesday pummeled a 60-mile coastal stretch of Veracruz state as a Category 2 storm, peeling roofs and uprooting agriculture. Communication with the state remained difficult the next day, but Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera reported "a tremendous amount of damage."
The area command center became Poza Rica, a town about 30 miles from the fishing and tourist village of Tecolutla. At the Best Western Poza Rica, one reservation agent said that most hotels in town were open and that electricity was being restored.
6. Belize
Most of the hotels and attractions reopened a day after Dean brushed the northern borders of the country. By midweek, water, electricity and telephone services had been restored to the islands, but still remained spotty in the northern districts of Ambergris Caye, Corozal and Orange Walk, where some hotels also were damaged. All were expected to be open by today.
The Belize Tourist Board suggests people check the status of specific hotels at www.travelbelize.org or www.belizeemergency.net.
Others: Jamaica and the Lesser Antilles
In Jamaica, which the storm sidestepped by 40 miles last Sunday, tourists this week could still see eroded beaches and logs on the roadside waiting to be removed. If they looked around at residential areas, they'd see communities dark without power. But all of that has little effect on tourists. Only Jake's on Treasure Beach was closed for repairs - to two suites until Sept. 28.
"All of the other hotels are open, the attractions are operating and the hotels are running on their own power from generators," said Aloun N'dombet-Assamba, Jamaica's minister of tourism and industry. "Cruise ships are sailing back into our port."
Travelers may check www.visitjamaica.com for detailed reports of damage to hotels and attractions, status of services and road conditions.
The Lesser Antilles escaped major damage Aug. 17, when the eye of Hurricane Dean skirted between the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia. Those islands and Dominica reported more damage to agriculture than to buildings or services. By midweek, the three islands reported that most hotels and attractions were open and ready for tourists. Some hotels were cleaning up downed fences, fallen trees and broken windows. A few hotels remained without electricity or water. On St. Lucia, thousands of acres of banana trees were toppled or snapped. Martinique - the Island of Flowers - lost its blooms.
"Hurricane Dean picked all of the flowers," said Steve Bennett, a spokesman for the Martinique Promotion Bureau. "But in a testament to the strength of Mother Nature, naturalists already have detected new buds." |
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