With Category 4 Hurricane Dean sweeping across popular dive ports in Martinique, Jamaica and the Yucatan Peninsula, it's instructive to look at how tourism services in these tropical areas rebound following big storms. Tourism, largely diving and fishing related, is central to island economies, and a major contributor to the welfare of citizens.

Earlier this year, FS contributor Bob Burgess took an above- and below-water survey of the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, which were devastated by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Some of his stunning photos are featured in the September issue of Florida Sportsman, now on newsstands.

The good news Burgess found is, dive and fishing charters on these islands are adaptable. Also, usually only certain areas see long-term damage from hurricanes--meaning as soon as basic services are restored, headline destinations are ready to receive visitors.

Burgess' complete report is printed here.

By Bob Burgess

Long popular with divers and sportfishermen, Cozumel is a 12- by 29-mile limerock island shaped like a western six-gun holster. It tilts 45 degrees forward, some 12 miles off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. On October 21, 2005, Hurricane Wilma made a direct hit on the island. Incredibly, the storm lingered over the island for several days with winds up to 140 mph before moving on to a more subdued date with southern Florida.

What damage did Wilma do to the island’s fragile reefs and to its sportfishing population? For that matter, what can we expect in the future from the big storms that seem to be plowing through the coral-rich Caribbean on a more frequent basis?

Last December, with a couple dozen others from our Carnival Cruise ship out of Mobile, Alabama, I signed up to snorkel in front of the island. We were picked up by a 65-foot double-decker catamaran. Given masks, fins, snorkels and inflatable life vests, we were ready for action. With Caribbean music playing we sailed a short distance toward shore. Dive guides entered the 83-degree clear waters with large red marker floats, and the rest of us followed into the warm Caribbean Sea.

A glance 15 feet below showed me there was no pristine reef where there once was. Now, there was nothing but sand, a few rocks and dead reef rubble. Clouds of small fish swarmed up from the bottom as our guide threw fish pellets into the water. But there were no reefs.

Later, I spoke with instructor Roswitha Flury, one of the Cozumel Island dive guides who takes small groups and families on snorkeling tours of Cozumel’s most beautiful coral reefs—those that survived Hurricane Wilma in 2005. I learned that all the reefs along Cozumel’s west coast were destroyed by the storm. Sand, displaced by the stormy sea, covered them up. Divers made a big-hearted attempt to uncover them by hand, but it was too late. Miles of reefs that had once provided 11 major dive destinations were no more. To understand the immensity of this loss, consider that hard corals grow at a rate of less than half an inch a year.

The only reefs that survived this devastating hurricane were those at the very southern tip of the island. Here, in 1996 the Mexican government set aside a 25-mile reef tract as a national marine sanctuary. No fishing is allowed in this area. Moreover, divers are not allowed to wear gloves, in the belief that they are then less likely to touch the fragile coral. The sanctuary begins from Paradise Reef south.

The sanctuary’s most outstanding feature is Palancar Reef, renowned in some circles as one of the top five dive destinations in the world. Cousteau showed its beauty to the world in the 1960s and it has been popular ever since. Besides over 100-foot visibility, Palancar offers a variety of features and formations in its 3-mile range.

Scuba divers like this area because it is an easy dive. The Shallows and Gardens slope gradually from 15 to 70 feet deep, presenting a wide range of soft corals plus some 150 varieties of tropical fish. Prominent are the gray, French and queen angelfish, blue tangs, parrotfish and lobsters.

Just south of Palancar is Columbia Reef. Starting out shallow, it is often a second dive for those who have just made a deep wall dive. This is where snorkelers, such as Roswitha Flury’s groups, enjoy what is known as the Columbia Shallows. First, she takes groups to very shallow areas with miniaturized coral formations. Ready for deeper water, she takes them farther out. This lush area has a variety of tropical fish and soft corals. Divers may see some storm damage here because the softer inshore corals are always the first to go. But they are also the quickest to recover. Depths here are 15 to 35 feet of water. Scuba photographers particularly enjoy the long bottom time here. Plenty of colorful tropicals such as angelfish and parrotfish will be seen, along with sea turtles, schools of snappers, grunts and the ever present barracudas.

Next to this is an area called the Columbia Deep. This is a 90- to 130-foot deep dive not for divers uncomfortable with fairly strong midwater currents. Unless you plan for it, these currents can blow you past your boat’s anchor line and have you burning up its wake trying to reach its tag line. Of interest here is The Devil’s Throat, a tunnel beginning 90 feet down and opening on the wall at 130 looking down into the blue abyss. Another feature is The Cathedral, a large coral cavern with colorful sponges across the ceiling where cracks and fissures allow in light creating the cathedral effect.

Bill Horn of Aqua Safari told me that his dive boats all head to the southern reefs for most of their diving. His shop runs five dive boats. From San Miguel it’s a half-hour boat ride. Most leave around 9:30 each morning, returning in the afternoon.

I asked him about the reef conditions and the fish life after Hurricane Wilma. He said, “Our reef organization fish counters are happy with the dive reefs. It’s not the best, but we are taking divers to a variety of reefs inside the park—Palancar, Columbia, Santa Rosa. We have incredible visibility due to the lack of nutrients in the water.”

Jim Wilson, whose son Richard heads up Wahoo Tours—deepsea fishing, diving and bonefishing—said fishing on the southern end of Cozumel has been as strong as ever. The reason, of course, is the 12-mile-wide, 3,000-foot-deep channel between the island and mainland Mexico. Through that submarine canyon travels every big-game species in the book. In fact, it’s that Yucatan Current that brings large marlin and sailfish across the Gulf of Mexico to the 100-fathom curve off the Florida Panhandle.

Deeper in the Caribbean Sea, 350 miles east of Cozumel, the Cayman Islands received only peripheral damage from Hurricane Wilma. But it was Category Five Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, with 150 mph winds, that scrambled things both above and below water. Georgetown, on Grand Cayman, shows none of those wounds today. Nor does popular Seven-Mile Beach, where hotels, restaurants and nightclubs still draw crowds. But some of the underwater attractions can never be repaired.

In 1993, I fell in love with a large shipwreck there called the Oro Verde. What’s not to love about a huge freighter sunk in 40 feet of crystal clear, 85-degree water where goliath groupers come out to greet you? In fact, one was so attracted to his own reflection in the dome of my wide-angle Nikonos lens that he kept inching me backwards into a rusty bulkhead as I took his picture.

Today, all that remains of the Oro Verde is a bunch of flattened iron plates and part of its bow, still standing upright. Most of the big grouper are gone, but it was pleasant having a friendly gray angelfish there cozy up to his reflection in my lens. He probably does it to all photographers but it gave me a warm feeling. The spirit of the Oro Verde was still there.

Diving out of Spanish Bay the next few days I found little sign of storm damage on the reefs. As we passed over Peter’s Reef, I couldn’t get over the illusion of that pale blue sky being filled with colorful clouds of reef fish. There at least it was as it always had been. Sting Ray City, with its playful rays, is still a great shallow water experience, and Tarpon Alley still makes you think you are entering a wall of mirrors when you come up from 80 feet between schools of resting tarpon. And the vertical beauty of North Wall’s drop into the abyssal indigo of extreme depth will never change.

For our next stop, we drove to the east end of Grand Cayman and climbed from sea level to a height of 60 feet, and then down to a miles-long golden beach. Here, The Reef resort’s lemon-yellow accommodations front amber flats and 6-foot aqua depths over shallow water soft corals. Stretching hundreds of yards to the fringing reef, it’s a snorkeler’s paradise. Serious divers sign up with the nearby Compass Point Ocean Frontier fleet, minutes from both deepwater and shallow dive destinations. Colossal house-sized jumbled reefs and boulder corals underwater give the impression you are diving an earthquake zone. The intricate swim-throughs in this crystalline water defy description. Families will enjoy this area.

A short hop by local air service brings you to the outlying islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Both escaped with minor damage from the hurricanes. Gladys Howard’s Pirates Point on Little Cayman still packs the aesthetic wallop it always did, thanks in large part to the culinary magic of its unforgettable owner, Gladys Howard. The resort caters to a maximum of 18 guests. Gourmet cooking seems appropriate, after savoring underwater delights such as the Mixing Bowl, where all sorts of marine life congregates. Stingrays, tarpon, angelfish, groupers, lettuce leaf slugs, you name it.

Longtime dive instructors Gay Morris and Nigel Sussolk will also take you on a tour of Bloody Bay, with its sheer wall, like poured concrete, with nooks and crannies, then across to Jackson Bight where the wall is like Swiss cheese with lots of holes and swim-throughs. Farther on are sand flats with giant rays, and later Paul’s Anchor, known for its many anchors including a 15-footer from the 1800s. Marine life is everywhere, ranging from friendly groupers to tiny golden critters smaller than a pinky fingernail.

Underwater with Sussolk is a trip. Nigel wiggles his fingers as a signal. Recognizing this, a large Nassau grouper rushes over to be stroked by him. When the big grouper comes to me for affection, I reach out and the bugger snaps at me.

Sometimes divers bring fishing rods here for a little out-front action, but most are exhausted after a day of diving. But not Josh Viertel, who I noticed working a Crazy Charlie out front every morning or late evening. For his efforts he had no trouble hooking up with several nice bonefish.

Contacts

COZUMEL

AQUA SAFARI
www.aquasafari.com
011-52-987-872-0101

WAHOO TOURS
www.wahootours.com

GRAND CAYMAN

THE REEF AT EAST END
www.thereef.com
(888) 232-0541

OCEAN FRONTIERS DIVE CHARTERS
www.oceanfrontiers.com
(800) 348-6096

LITTLE CAYMAN

PIRATES POINT RESORT
www.piratespointresort.com
(345) 948-1010

The only resort on the north side of Grand Cayman that offers daily trips to the North Wall, Bonnie's Arch, Sting Ray City, Tarpon Valley and 100 other sites, depending on weather, is Divetech Cobalt Coast Resort, www.cobaltcoast.com

Red Sail Sports which operates out of most hotels offers daily dives on the North End on a rotating basis as well as other parts of the island, www.redsailcayman.com. Most Seven Mile Beach operators will run trips to the North Wall from the Yacht Club, SafeHaven or Hyatt canal.

FS