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 multi-million dollar investment in real estate, so they go as close to the ocean as possible, and as high as regulations allow.

In a move calculated to put the wind up the current, largely Mexican insurers, the Cancún Hotel Association announced it may try some fancy footwork of its own and enter into negotiations with foreign insurance companies on behalf of its fed up members. 

But it’s a similar story in other Wilma-affected areas. Residents in the Florida Keys for example, faced with spiralling insurance costs, are also kicking up a stink.

I certainly do have some sympathy for restaurateurs. According to Kit Bing Wong Ho, representative of the sector in Cancún, after a lean six months, and with this year’s hurricane season looming, as few as 10 per cent of bars and restuarants in the resort will be able to afford the hike in premiums demanded by insurers. So most small businesses will be without cover come the start of the hurricane season on June 1st.

Before Wilma, the policy for a small restaurant cost about $30,000 pesos (approx. $2,700 US dollars) a year. It now costs something like $210,000 ($19,000 US dollars).

This year, an "average-sized" hotel in Cancún will need to fork out $2 million US dollars for cover.

Insurance companies said they relied on established disaster recovery plans in response to last year’s record hurricane season. But what about the longer term? Little has been said about where hotels were stacked in the first place – and continue to be built: right on top of the dunes.

Just as King Canute commanded the waves to "go back", so as to demonstrate to his overly deferential courtiers the limits of a king’s powers, surely hotel developers must take remedial action.

Wilma only speeded up a process that had been taking place for years. The back-to-back construction of dozens of hotels right on the high water mark of Cancún’s flagship beach left a fragile ecosystem dangerously out of balance. The changing intensity of tropical storms makes the whole region still more vulnerable.

Shortly after Hurricane Wilma, the Financial Times quoted Andres Chacon, an environmental engineer sent to Cancún by the government’s environment ministry in the wake of the storm.

"It was a bad idea to build the hotels on the coastal sand dunes," Chacon said.

Now that the sand has been put back (the beach recovery project is almost complete), the next step ought to be to stimulate the regeneration of the dunes to prevent the beach from continuing to drift away. But who knows whether this will happen.

Can we learn from past lessons? Maybe.

Then again, there’s a saying in the Spanish-speaking world: el hombre es el único animal que tropieza dos veces con la misma piedra ("man is the only animal to trip twice over the same stone").

High premiums or even the phased withdrawal of insurance for properties built in high-risk areas may ensure that only the foolish would then build their house on sand.

Or would it? Discuss…

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 of a personal speedboat and "blast off" to the reef parallel to the coastline.

Particularly dusturbing to me are allegations these high-powered craft regularly encroach into areas set aside for snorkeling. I continue to follow the ongoing campaign for Justice for Kirsty [McColl], the British singer-songwriter killed whilst scuba diving with her sons in a restricted diving area off Cozumel five years ago.

• Convoys of noisy Quad bike "ATV’s" (All Terrain Vehicles) "kick up dirt…" on "rip-roaring off-road adventures" along the unpaved coastal road in the direction of Xcalak, scattering wildlife, with some cruisers seemingly ignorant of the potential danger to themselves and to locals, especially children.

These ‘activities’ would seem to compromise Fonatur’s plan for the Costa Maya (published in 2002), identifying it as “integrally planned resort” area featuring “low density” and “absolute respect for biodiversity”.

It isn’t quite working out that way.

A meeting with Quintana Roo state officials will take place in Mahahual on April 7th, where these concerns will get a public airing. The case has also been taken to Profepa (the federal environmental enforcement agency) by a Mexican biologist. I’ve also learned that the directors of the reserves at Xcalak and Banco Chinchorro are also trying to re-balance the type of activities offered to cruise passengers.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef extends beyond the southern most tip of Quintana Roo and into neighbouring Belize. According to an article in the Seattle Times, the relentless cruise ship boom has fuelled growing unease across the border.

Here are a couple of key paragraphs…

"Last year, more than 800,000 cruise-ship visitors disembarked in [Belize City], according to the local tourist board. That’s nearly triple the nation’s population of 280,000 [in a country the size of Massachusetts].

"[Some] long-time operators say the herd mentality is at odds with Belize’s carefully crafted niche as an eco-tourism paradise."

I would like shore-excursion managers to guide tourists into making sensible choices when they visit as temporary guests to fragile areas. If necessary, the appropriate training should be given.

On a positive note, as part of an ambitious six-year project, Conservation International and its regional partner NGOs are trying to influence cruise ship companies and the kind of tours they buy.

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

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 and October, until Hurricane Wilma began thrashing the beaches. After two hurricanes, it was difficult to keep track of the numbers of nests and hatchlings, especially as we lost all the stakes marking the remaining nests."