Emily Update from Akumal

Dear Fellow Mirage and Tortuga Owners:

It’s now two weeks after the arrival of Hurricane Emily in our part of
Mexico. The eye of the hurricane extended from just south of Puerto
Aventuras to about Tankah. The eye therefore passed directly over Akumal.
Those places in the eye actually fared better than places such as Puerto
Aventuras which experienced the strongest winds on the northern edge of
the eye. Nonetheless, Emily was officially a category 4 hurricane when it
hit us, though Henning feels that it was more like a 5, since the
buildings were shaking as though they were in an earthquake.

As one drives south from the airport, there’s not much evidence of Emily,
other than a few occasional twisted highway signs, until you get just
north of Playa del Carmen. Then you start to notice that vegetation is
getting thinner in the jungles at the side of the road, and there are a
lot of bent and broken trees. As you head south, this all gets worse and
worse. There is little greenery in the vegetation… it is all brown and
grey. From the highway, you can see almost as far as the coast in some
places, and you actually see some of the resort buildings whose entrances
are all we normally see. When you get to Puerto Aventuras, there is almost
total devastation. From the highway, you can see the entire community as
far as the beachfront hotels. The vegetation is missing, or stripped. On
the other side of the highway, the pueblo looks quite devastated. There
were a lot of the traditional Mayan houses, and they’re gone… piles of
rubble everywhere.

It’s a bit better as you continue south, but the stripped vegetation is
quite dramatic. Then you see the cellular/communications tower just before
Akumal, and it’s folded over as though made of spaghetti. The Pemex
stations have no covers/shelters over the pumps… they just crumpled.
They’ve been cleared away now, and the pumps are operating, but they look
quite naked with nothing around them.

The green highway sign over the road is gone, so there’s just a small sign
on the right pointing to Akumal Playa. Driving down the Akumal road,
you’ll notice lack of trees on the right, and piles of vegetation, broken
branches and rubble in the parking lot where the tour busses hang out. The
palapa shelters in the square/zocalo are gone, as are lots and lots of
trees.

Past the archway, you mostly notice that trees and shrubs are gone. It’s
quite strange how much you can see that is usually obscured by vegetation.
All buildings are standing – condos, houses, villas, etc – though many
have lost palapa roofs, and quite a few lost windows or louvres. The parts
of the road that were not made of interlock brick are in worse shape than
ever.

When you get to Tortuga/Mirage, the situation is much the same. Vegetation
is gone… trees knocked over, branches stripped of greenery, piles of
branches, leaves, debris, etc. Our buildings fared neither well, nor
badly. The worst damage was to units on second and third floors. The most
badly damaged were Tortuga 5 and 6, and Mirage 4, 5 & 6. The damage
consisted of windows and louvers being blown out, screens destroyed, and
some doors ripped off. In Mirage 4, the front windows are mostly intact,
but the bathroom windows were blown out. Mirage 5 lost part of its balcony
windows, as well as bathroom and bedroom windows. Its fridge was moved
around by the force of the wind. Mirage 6 received a lot of water damage,
as the previously patched crack in the roof tore open and water came in.
Many mattresses were soaked and had to be tossed out. There was dirt,
water and leaves all though all units.

Our beach actually increased a bit in size, and two or three palapas were
badly damaged or destroyed. There was insignificant storm surge, so ground
floor units did not suffer significant water damage, and while the pool
had a lot of debris, and had to be drained and cleaned, it was not
damaged. It has been cleaned and refilled and is now useable again.

The window and glass people have been working through the buildings, and
have basically finished making the repairs in Tortuga. For now, they are
replacing glass and screens where necessary. Later, however, more
extensive repairs of aluminum frames may have to be done in many units.
Most units in both buildings have been totally cleared of debris, though
there is staining on walls and ceilings where water and vegetation were
blown in and around. Soaked mattresses have been replaced. Some ceiling
fans were apparently damaged, and not functional, and the same is true of
some a/c units. In our unit, M-4, some floor tiles appear to be lifting
due to water damage, but we have not noticed that happening in any other
units.

One large palm in front of Mirage on the Tortuga side, was lost. All
others are OK, but a couple of them are being propped up, presumably until
they can re-root themselves. Many palms have lost fronds, or have broken
fronds. Many roof tiles were broken or lost on Mirage, and a few from the
La Lunita roof.

The insurance adjuster was through a week or so ago, and we are working
with Henning to put together a claim. We are hoping to get as much of the
repair and replacement looked after as possible, but it could be a while
before any funds are forthcoming.

In conclusion, I must say that our people on the scene have done a
magnificent job – first in making preparations for the storm, then in
dealing with the aftermath. There are guests in some units, people on the
beach, La Lunita open…. Telmex is working on restoring full phone service,
but it has been down for the past few days while they do the work. There
is little or no cell phone service.

<snip personal info>

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Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

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