Photos

Sand, sand, glorious sand…

Jan De Nul’s managing director, Marc Verhaert, Mexico’s Tourism Secretary, Rodolfo Elizondo Torres and Quintana Roo state Governor, Félix González Canto, were all present at a brief ceremony held on Playa Delfines this morning.

At 10:30am, Cancún time, Elizondo symbolically dio el ‘banderazo’ – waved the flag – to signal for the sand pumping to start.

There was a momentary hush as the 22-inch pipe belonging to the Belgian maritime engineering group first spewed out a mouthful of murky water. This was quickly replaced by cheers and applause as the first recycled sand gushed onto terra firma.

Many thanks to Jim Wehrle who was on the spot shortly afterwards to capture these neat hills…

A snapshot of the Mexican Caribbean in January 2006…

 

Pictured from top row, left to right…

1. Isla Holbox – Jan. 20th
2. Caribbean, Cancún – Jan. 16th
3. Beach at Le Meridien, Cancún – Jan. 16th
4. Le Meridien, Cancún – Jan. 16th

5. Isla Mujeres – Jan. 16th
6. Playa Del Carmen – Jan. 12th
7. Playa Del Carmen – Jan. 11th
8. Looking south from the pier at Playa Del Carmen – Jan. 11th

9. Playa del Carmen – Jan. 11th
10. Tulum – Jan. 10th
11. Beach looking north of Royal Sunset hotel, Cancún – Jan. 8th
12. Caribbean, Cancún – Jan.…

David Kindler and his wife Lynn like to stay at the Fiesta Americana Dive Resort on their trips to Cozumel, but the hotel was badly damaged in the hurricane.

Last month, they stayed at the Scuba Club Cozumel instead, an all inclusive resort with its own diving charter.

They hired scooters and followed the badly churned up road down the island’s leeward western shore to inspect the damage to their old favourite.

"There were around three hundred construction workers on site the day we stopped by," David writes. "[The hotel] expects to remain closed until February."

Many of the construction workers are migrants, mostly from the impoverished southern state of Chiapas. They…

Flickr friend "Flip" is back in Cuernavaca after her three-day break on the Riviera Maya.

She stayed at the Secrets Excellence Riviera Cancún, which re-opened on November 25th. The luxury all-inclusive hotel is located between Cancún International Airport and Puerto Morelos.

Flip tells me that everyone at the hotel went out of their way to make their stay a memorable one.

The wedding ceremonies have already started, even with some palapas still under repair.

Akumal Playa 3 weeks after Wilma
Originally uploaded by Natty H.

Nathan Hebenstreit has just returned home to Colorado after a week spent on the beaches of Akumal on the Riviera Maya.