Good morning from Puerto Morelos! We are waking up to a post-Zeta morning in your favourite town in the Caribbean.
It was a long night. Our electricity quit at about 7:00, in the middle of dinner I might add, and just came back this morning at 8:00. Most of Puerto Morelos and all of Cancun that I heard from kept their electricity and internet all night.
It looks like we weathered the storm in typical Puerto Morelos fashion. There are some tree branches down and some green debris, but overall your town is fine.
I made a quick trip down to the beach and was amazed that everything looked intact. Ironically, after a storm the beach is always at its most beautiful. The sand has certainly been rearranged!
The town pier appears to be intact but definitely suffered some more damage. It was hurt by Delta too.
This photo by the early-rising Marco Gomez of I Wanna Pizza
Now it’s time for coffee and then we grab a broom. We’re relieved to be on the other side of this thing and we have definitely had enough of hurricane season 2020.
Hope to see you in Puerto Morelos soon! Please remember to check out our vacation rentals at our brand new site, www.VacationRentalsPM.com Find all the town info you could want at our constantly-updated www.InPuertoMorelos.com site. Saludos!
Starting to get dark here in Puerto Morelos. There was a break in the rain, so I ran up to the roof and shot a little video before we lost the light.
Not sure if you can see it in the video, but the waves breaking on the reef are an amazing sight. I’ve seen the Caribbean recently looking like a lake, it does not look like that tonight.
Latest intelligence has the storm hitting south of Akumal and north of Tulum. We’ve had some serious wind, some very powerful surge and a bit of sideways rain. We lost power for a couple of hours, not everyone in town did, but we have it back now. Hoping it sticks. Electricity, internet and cold beer make these things a lot easier to deal with.
It’s dark now, wind is coming up still more. Going to be a long night, but your town, and it’s many residents have been through this before…and recently!
Hasta pronto! We will do our best to keep you updated here on this FB page as the storm goes by. See you on the other side!
We just got back from a quick visit to the beach. There is a lot of surge and the waves crashing on the reef are huge. Zeta is now officially a Hurricane.
We just lost power, hopefully just temporarily. Here’s a new video we just uploaded…
We just got our electricity back, hope it stays! R&J
Hola all! We’re going to try to do live updates on this page as the storm approaches. We’ll update here as long as we have electricity and internet. If we can’t reach this page, we’ll update on our Facebook In Puerto Morelos page.
Monday 12:00 pm
The Governor has announced that everything will close at 2:00 pm so that people have time to go home and prepare for the storm. It’s still sunny right now, but the wind has picked up. Some cafes and all the souvenir stores are still open right now and a few tourists are wandering around.
The police and Protection Civil are getting people off the beach and the pier. I assume things will get pretty quiet this afternoon.
InPM’s mobile news cruiser parked in front of the lighthouse
Well, here we go again! We didn’t ask for it, but we got it. Zeta is a tropical storm now, but will be a hurricane when it hits us. It will not be as strong as Delta, but will likely give us more rain. The current path shows it basically slicing through the middle of Cozumel and making landfall south of Playa del Carmen.
10:00 am Monday morning. Water is a bit choppy.
Around town there is a general feeling of disbelief that we’re going through this again. Any storm requires a great deal of preparation including stocking up, boarding up and bringing outside stuff in. It’s exhausting, and we know we will do the reverse procedure after the storm passes. We should all be getting better at this as we’ve had three other opportunities to do this. Some people just got their internet access back in the last couple of days. There are still piles of green debris on the streets waiting to be picked up after Delta. Most people are more worried about losing electricity and internet access than they are about the storm.
Chedraui boarding up again Monday morning
The Governor cut off booze sales yesterday afternoon, taking some by surprise. I saw no big lineups at the grocery store yesterday, everyone is probably still pretty well stocked up after our last storm. Right now, the sun is shining. Earlier this morning we had gusty winds and a bit of rain.
Boats have been pulled from the water.
We will do our best to keep you updated here on this FB page as the storm goes by. See you on the other side! Rob & Joanne www.InPuertoMorelos.com
Here are the cash exchange rates for October 22, 2020 at CI Banco on the highway in Puerto Morelos. The peso has strengthened over the last month.
I post these rates on occasion so that you can compare them with what your bank or the ATM may offer. To see where the rates have been in the last couple of years, search “exchange rates” on our page at InPuertoMorelos.com
Cash Exchange Rates
Buy
Sell
US Dollar $
19.90
21.20
Canadian Dollar $
14.75
16.30
Euro €
23.70
25.35
Pound Sterling £
26.30
28.00
For more information on vacation rentals, please visit our new website www.vacationrentalspm.com and we hope to see you soon.
On Wednesday, October 7, 2020, at about 3 am EST the outer bands of Hurricane Delta started to strike our little village. By 4 am we were feeling the full force of the Category 3 hurricane with estimated maximum winds of 110 mph (177 km/hour). The winds roared from the northwest with amazing strength until 5:15 am when everything stopped. We were in the eye of the storm. It was amazing. There was no wind, no rain. Everything was silent and dark. We, like so many others in Puerto Morelos, ran out of our homes to check for damage to our casa, some kids even ran out to play! The eye lasted until about 6:00 am and then the back half of the storm slammed into us. The wind had switched direction, now coming from the southeast, and was stronger than ever. This lasted until about 8:30 am. Then the rain stopped. The wind remained strong, but manageable for the rest of the day.
“Delta Dawn” Video taken at sunrise during Hurricane Delta in Puerto Morelos on Oct. 7, 2020.
Puerto Morelos was very lucky. Although we did take a direct hit, the storm dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 just before striking us, causing much less damage than we feared.
At 9:00 am we headed outside to check over our house, Casa de los Viajeros, which many of you know from having stayed with us. We had a few downed roof tiles, but all was well.
Then we headed down to the beach. The wind was still so strong that we had trouble standing, but the beach itself looked beautiful. Mother Nature had done a wonderful job of tidying up. There were a few downed palm trees, but no serious damage to any of the homes or businesses on the beach.
We walked downtown. We were the only people on the street. Rojo Gomez was covered in leaves and tree branches and there were a few downed trees and broken telephone poles, but the homes and businesses looked dry and tight.
We headed to the main town square, which is currently under construction. The businesses around the square were all in good shape with the exception of a few lost awnings and signs.
Unfortunately, the main dock did not fare as well. The end of the dock had been damaged when we were hit by Tropical Storm Gamma on October 3, 2020, but it suffered much more damage from its dance with Delta.
The little shops in the Mayan Handicraft centre suffered a lot of damage to their roofs as you can see in the photo at the top of this post. Unfortunately, St. Joseph (the stained glass window at the church) took some damage as well.
Photo courtesy: CFE
The most damage was to our electric infrastructure. Over 376,396 people lost power during the storm. We were without power for over 30 hours. Several electrical poles on the main road into town toppled, and made it impassible. As we write this now, many people in Puerto Morelos still do not have electricity, but it is returning quickly. Ours came back earlier today. The 4g network was also being powered by a generator, so it was spotty at best.
However, in the usual Puerto Morelos style, everyone stepped up. When we didn’t have power or Internet, the good folks at Casa Toucan, shared their generator and Wi-Fi with everyone in town. They set up power bars on the street for people to recharge and unlocked their Wi-Fi. Neighbours hit the streets, helping to clear downed trees that blocked the roads and picking up signs that had blown off businesses.
Even our local Chedraui was open regular hours this morning, just 24 hours after the storm passed.
City Hall was boarded up using materials usually used as background on entertainment stages.
A few trees down in the Colonia square.
So as we all work together to finish the cleanup, we can assure you that all is well in Puerto Morelos and we look forward to seeing you soon!
If you would like to help with Hurricane Delta Relief you can contact mexiCAN Compassion Project, they are helping to rebuild homes that suffered damage. And if you would like to help with the animals that were injured during Delta you can contact Dr. Valeria Suarez.
Just a quick update from your favourite Mexican village on the Caribbean in Mexico.
As we told you almost a month ago, the beach in Puerto Morelos is open again. We remain in “yellow” status, which allows the beach to be open and most businesses open to 60% capacity. In order to enter any business or public place, you need to be wearing a mask, and most places will take your temperature (with a non-contact thermometer) and give you some gel to clean your hands. We’re all fairly used to these precautions by now and most of us are following the rules so that we can all be safe.
The square on the port side of town remains under construction. They are working on it every day and they have made some progress, but it does seem to be moving rather slowly. We’re all impatient to get our square back.
The José Morelos bust, which was a part of the portside square, has been given a new home in the Colonia square. There was a short dedication on Wednesday. The bust is of José María Morelos who the town was named after. He was a hero of the 1810 Mexican War of Independence and a fascinating individual. He was a priest and man of the people, but also a very skilled general, who took over leadership of the war after Miguel Hidalgo was executed. You may also know him as the face on the 50 peso bill. For more information on his fascinating life, please click here.
Puerto Morelos had a socially distanced Independence Day celebration at City Hall.
Most restaurants in town are open again, and we even have a few new ones. Lobster House just opened on the square where La Casa del Pescador was, above the Fish Co-op. Lobster is on the menu naturally, as well as fish, steak, pasta, tacos, tostadas, ceviche and even a burger. The owners are the same folks behind the popular La Cabaña del Puerto in the Colonia.
A new cafe is on the way in the Colonia. It’s not open yet, I think their opening was delayed by the COVID shutdown, but it appears they will be open soon. It’s a very big space and even has a large outdoor garden area behind. The cafe is called Elefantitos Rosas, and it looks really beautiful. For now, you can visit them on Facebook and on the web. Once they open, you will find them one block east of the square in the Colonia.
For all the latest on the ever-changing Puerto Morelos restaurant scene, check the PM Restaurant Guide on our InPuertoMorelos website.
We were all happy to see Don Mexkal open again! They had a big Independence Day party to celebrate. Also, opening again recently was Cantina Habanero.
Bike Puerto Morelos!
During the early days of the COVID shutdown in Puerto Morelos, we were not allowed out of our houses unless we were going to the grocery store, which was pretty much the only place open. As a result, many of us made too many grocery trips, plus rediscovered baking cake and bread. Now that we are free again, some of us are rediscovering cycling to lose some of those quarantine kilos.
Overall, Puerto Morelos is a pretty good place to cycle. There are not too many roads and almost no hills of any consequence. There are a few hazards, like potholes, unmarked speed bumps and speedy taxis, but seeing PM from a bike has been rewarding and has helped me to get to know my town even better. An added bonus is that if you get a little too hot or too tired, there are many places to grab a coffee or cool drink. You can also grab some cake! There are lots of places to rent bikes locally, so consider a bike adventure as part of your next trip to Puerto Morelos.
We hope you are making plans to come to see us again soon. All the major Canadian airlines are now offering free COVID insurance. Here are more details about Westjet’s offer, but Air Canada and Air Transat are also offering coverage.
Photo tour of Puerto Morelos. Here are some random photos from around town…
These days, the Caribbean can look like a lake…
You never know who you will run into on the streets of PM.
