Sustainable tourism

Much ducking and weaving, much passing of the buck in evidence today as most of the local newspapers on sale in Cancún carried a story on the post-Wilma squabbling between hotel reps and insurers. I covered some of the background in January.

Insurance salesmen would probably squeeze their way into the top five in most polls of the least respected, least trusted professions - certainly where I come from. They are the perennial bad guys.

Now, I am not about to leap to their defence, but, all the same, while hoteliers may baulk as premiums skyrocket and insurers drag their feet to settle their dues, I believe they should share the blame as the cycle of build and bust in such a vulnerable location shows no sign of letting up.

On March 28th, I flagged Sean Mattson’s well-timed questioning of building standards in hurricane-prone cities, like Cancún.

Cancún’s Hotel Zone is a narrow sandspit and everyone wants to squeeze the most out of their …

Sheltered by part of the largest continuous reef in the Western Hemisphere, the Costa Maya is situated on the Mexican Caribbean some 350km south of Cancún and just south of the stunning 1.3 million-acre Sian Ka’an reserve.

I’ve refrained from mentioning the Costa Maya on this blog, pretty much because the region avoided Wilma’s punch, instead suffering driving rains and a storm surge; a mere slap on the cheek by comparison with resorts to the north.

But I believe the following warrants some attention.

Ten of the largest cruise ship operators now visit Puerto Costa Maya (aerial photo) built to "resemble an ancient Mayan city". Before leaving their ship, passengers can choose from a range of excursions. OK, not too much wrong with that.

However, two activities in particular have caused growing discontent among locals and hoteliers:

• The "Boat Blast" allows passengers to jump behind the wheel

…

On this, the final day of the World Water Forum in Mexico City, a salutary reminder of the need to protect the unique cenotes - or sinkholes - of the Yucatán.

Rob Birce of the Alma Libre Bookshop in Puerto Morelos tipped me off about Steve Gerrard’s new book, Cenotes of the Riviera Maya.

Thanks to Scott Clark for allowing me to publish his photo of a cave dive in Quintana Roo earlier this month.

• Spotlight on Water - Planeta.com

‘Akumal’ on the Riviera Maya means "Place of the Turtles" and is so named because it is an important turtle nesting area.

Once accessible only by boat from Cozumel before a road was built linking Cancún to Tulum (Hwy 307) in the early 1970s, this coconut plantation transformed into a diver’s paradise for those lucky enough to be privy to its existence.

In its latest newsletter, the project director of the Centro Ecológico Akumal, Paul Sánchez-Navarro, reflects on the how hurricanes Emily and Wilma have affected this season’s  turtle breeding.

"This past summer was expected to be a strong season for turtles, both loggerhead and green, along the Mexican Caribbean and strong it was," he writes. But the storm surge that pounded the beaches destroyed turtle nests.

Paul adds: "Akumal’s beaches lost almost two-thirds of the nests that were laid before Emily hit in July, but the next day mothers were again arriving to lay eggs. There were nests hatching in September …