Cozumel News June 10th, 2014

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Cozumel News June 10th, 2014 is all about the water! This week Cozumel is honored to have Disabled Divers visit Cozumel  from “Life Water Dive”, a program that uses diving as therapy. If you missed touring the United States Coast Guard vessel this weekend, or did not get enough, you get another chance tomorrow and Thursday. The Sailing Vessels Are Coming! Negotiations and planning are on for a Natural Aquarium  for Cozumel featuring the sinking of the famous Calypso in our very own waters.

Disabled Divers Visit

Military veterans who suffered physical damage and became disabled, now through “Life Water Dive” can feel free in the depths of the Caribbean in Cozumel. Developer, Roberta Eleanor Cwiertnia,  said that 16 divers with disabilities from the United States, Britain and Australia arrived this past weekend to spend a week  enjoying their freedom under water and taking in the beauty of the sea.

Cozumel, through “Life Water Dive”,  has become  a therapeutic place for disabled paraplegic, who together with  friends enjoy a week of diving in different reefs  in the island. Paradise, Chankanaab, and Palancar, are favorite places. The program, promoted out of Atlanta, hopes  to have more tourists from England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other European countries in the future.

This time the event invited divers  to Cozumel, that were soldiers who suffered the loss of  a limb or who have become quadriplegic. These divers are mostly veterans of war. They are  accompanied by family and friends, making  it a total of more than 40 people, using hotels and services on the island,  a significant economic benefit.

Planning for these trips takes 11 months.  It is necessary to have a proper place that is safe and accessible to the visitor; the idea is to have an excellent stay.  Taxis must be able and willing to be supportive in handling heavy luggage, and also be patient with the amount of  time needed to provide the service. Currently these guests are staying at  Cozumel hotel, which has adapted their facilities for their visit.

Playa Azul Beach Club:

Playa Azul Hotel Restaurant:

The Sailing Vessels Are Coming!

Right on the heels of having the beautiful United States Coast Guard Sailing Ship for our viewing and touring pleasure, here come some more! We will have six more vessels arriving for our viewing pleasure on both Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

At least six vessels have confirmed that they will arrive in Cozumel around six on Wednesday morning,  June 11th, weather permitting. Naval ships of Venezuela, Argentina , Chile, Brazil and Mexico will be docked  in the port terminals San Miguel,  Punta Langosta, Félix González Canto and SSA Mexico.

According to sources inside the Port, both catamaran Ice Lady Patagonia,  and  Libertad, from Argentina; el Simón Bolívar from Venezuela; Cisne Blanco from Brasil; Esmeralda from Chile and the vessel  Cuauhtémoc are all on the way to a regatta in  Veracruz to be held next weekend.

The vessels will  announce the hours they will be open to the public for tours upon their arrival. Their presence will offer another economic opportunity to local merchants as hundreds of sailors from the vessels will be able to also enjoy the shops and restaurants of Cozumel on their time off.

Natural Aquarium

Investors  have taken up the project to consider creating the  first natural aquarium in the State by sinking the Calypso  in the southern part of the island. This would be done by the Cousteau Foundation to make sure of environmental care, and would give further impetus to the promotion and attraction of  the island.

Councilman Cesar Trejo Vázquez, Chairman of the Committee on Tourism and Ecology, confirmed the story and added that legal counsel for  Jean Michel Cousteau in Latin America, will be on the island in coming weeks.

This past December, Jean Michel Cousteau received an award in memory of his father, Jacques Yves Cousteau, who is credited with telling the world of the natural beauty of the island and its rich marine ecosystem which led to Cozumel becoming a favorite destination  for diving in the world.

During the visit Jean Michel Cousteau fell in love with Cozumel like his parents, and remembered why they loved and promoted the island. This awakened an interest in him that led to the involvement of the Cousteau Foundation in the  project for the construction of a natural aquarium, and the sinking of their ship, the famous Calypso.

Aboard the Calypso, Cousteau unlocked the mysteries of the sea for tens of millions of TV viewers in the 1960s and 1970s with his riveting documentary series, “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.”

The Calypso conducted thousands of underwater investigations and is considered to be one of the most important research vessels  of the ocean. The Calypso, which began its life in 1943 as a British minesweeper, was sunk in an accident in Singapore a year before Cousteau’s death. It sat underwater for three weeks and was badly damaged. The vessel was hauled back to France and was refurbished by hand in a port in the northwestern region of Brittany.

Cozumel is considered the ideal port to have the Calypso in its underwater depths. Already the project has even been designed that could be built in the southern part of the island.  This year the work will start to reach mutual environmental agreements, define government participation, and calculate the amount of investment needed. The one thing for certain is this would be a plus for Cozumel tourism as well as beneficial to job creations.

New SPECIAS Restaurant
Seafood Specialties
Chef Francesco
3rd South between 5th & 10th
Thursdays – Tuesdays 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays

EVENTS CALENDAR 2014

Swim with Whale Sharks Mexico, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen, Cancun

(A few spaces available for this weeks friday the 13th whale shark trip. Scratch this off your bucket list and book now)

SEA TURTLE WORKSHOP MAY 15TH  – AUGUST 31ST

SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO FESTIVAL JUNE 19TH  – JUNE 29TH

DIVERS WEEK JUNE 23RD – 29TH