Cozumel News May 25th, 2015: Cozumel Recruiting Volunteers for Turtle Protection, Cozumel Q. Roo Students Build Flip Flop Turtle, Cozumel Based Mexican Navy Rescues Jamaicans, Cozumel and Monterrey Competing for World Triathlon 2016, Cozumel CAPA: Heat Increases Use of Water, and in Aurita’s Corner, Cozumel’s Susan Bonnett Remembered. 
Cozumel Recruiting Volunteers for Turtle Protection
The Department of Environment and Ecology is launching the call for volunteers, to assist in surveillance and monitoring of turtle nesting areas. Without the work of volunteers, the preservation of sea turtles in the Island of the Swallows would be very difficult.
In 2014 over 1,200 volunteers participated including foreigner tourists. Volunteers from Asian came to collaborate and learn the work of turtle conservation. There were about 3,270 nests in 2014, a decline from the 3,800 nests recorded in 2013. The spawning areas are located mainly in the sands of the eastern side of the island. The staff of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (National Commission of Natural Protected Areas) also monitor the area to avoid predation of the turtles per legislation (NOM 059-Semarnat 2010).
David Alfonso Viana Martinez, head “Dirección de Medio Ambiente y Ecología” acknowledged the support and collaboration of the volunteer groups that coordinate with the Municipal Committee to Protect Sea Turtles each year. There was a briefing for volunteers interested in night monitoring last Friday, May 22 in Municipal Department of Ecology located at (the Cenote Park) on 65th Avenue and 31st Street. This is a good place to start if you are interested in volunteering.
Also, CONANP (Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas) There are Tours every Tuesday Night to protect the turtles of San Martin. To sign up visit Calle 4 Norte Entre Avenidas 15 & 20. Centro Colonia or call 987-872-4689 for more information. Traffic is restricted after 6 p.m. volunteering is the only way to get up close and personal with the project.
Cozumel Q. Roo Students Build Flip Flop Turtle
Novedades reported last Thursday that students at the University of Quintana Roo developed sculpture with sandals collected on beaches. Pictures, courtesy of Novedades. They were collected in the area of Chen Rio, which is a public beach in the eastern part of Cozumel. Some of these pieces of footwear can be determined to have been on the beaches for years.
The Q. Roo. Students collected around a thousand rubber sandals on a stretch of two kilometers on the eastern beaches of the Island of the Swallows. This stretch is part of the nesting area for sea turtles and the sandals that arrive on shore by way of ocean currents from other parts of the continent.
The students of the University of Quintana Roo developed a sculpture shaped like a turtle that this year will be the emblem of the campaign to protect the tortoise. “Menos chanclas más tortugas” (Less flops more Turtles) is written behind the sculpture that is approximately over 2 meters long and 1.80 meters wide.
Thongs are Pollutants
The rubber is degraded in 5000 years and not all sandals that arrived on the island are abandoned by tourists since a high percentage is carried by sea and ends in island coasts.
Cozumel Based Mexican Navy Rescues Jamaicans
Four Jamaican anglers who put out to sea on May 1, spent several hours adrift last Tuesday after an engine failure left them unable to maneuver to reach a safe harbor. Juan Bosco Malo Velázquez, Commander and Chief of the Section 14 of the Naval Sector of Cozumel from the Ministry of the Navy of Mexico (Semar) received a distress call from West Indians on Tuesday night and took action. It was immediately determined to dispatch the ocean patrol vessel ARM Baja California PO-162 of Semar as it was in the area where the distress call was launched. “Getting adrift in the sea is a real emergency. The sea is vast and every minute counts,” he said.
The vessel “Home Made”, about 30 feet long, was located 160 miles southeast of the island of Cozumel. Aboard the vessel were 66 year old Marcel Edward Rom, 52 year old Clave Harris, 49 year old Kelly Donovan, and 44 year old Kirk Ferrón; all fishermen. Once secured and safe in the PO-162 where they were provided medical assistance and food, course was taken to the Island of the Swallows where they arrived around eight o’clock in the morning.
On Land, they explained that their boat had suffered mechanical failure on several occasions but after achieving successful repair, they continued their fishing activities. Unfortunately, the engine went out of service Tuesday night leaving them adrift at sea.
They were taken to the National Migration Institute and relocated to the mainland around noon to begin the process of repatriation.
Cozumel and Monterrey Competing for World Triathlon 2016
The 2016 Triathlon World Championships will be held in Mexico for the third time in history. Mexico conducted the World Cup in 1995 and 2002, both in Cancun, Quintana Roo. It was announced on May 20 by Jaime Cadaval Baeza, Head of “Federación Mexicana de la Especialidad” that The 2016 Triathlon World Championships will be held in a venue yet to be determined in Mexico.
Cadaval said the paradise island of Cozumel in Quintana Roo, and the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, are in competition to hold this World Championship to be held in September and October 2016. He said that Cozumel and Monterrey have the necessary infrastructure to host an event of this magnitude, and that the name of the city will hold the championship will be announced soon.
Cozumel CAPA: Heat Increases Use of Water
The Comisión de Agua Potable y Alcantarilladlo (CAPA) of the State of Quintana Roo expects up to a 20% water consumption increase in the population due to the hot season.
The hot season in Mexico begins in March and can extend up to September each year, increasing the consumption of drinking water on the island of Cozumel. High temperatures and lack of rainfall make it difficult to recharge aquifers that capture water from rainfall and seep underground.
The user registry in the municipality is 17, 923 users receiving water extracted from 142 fresh water wells located in the catchment area in the center of the island at a rate of 152 liters per second. From there it is transported to pumping, storage areas were after a process of chlorination and filtration is sent to homes.
CAPA staff calls the Cozumeleños to make rational use of water to perform their daily tasks and thus help to ensure good water service to the entire population and the tourist areas of the municipality.
Among the recommendations to save water are water plants and gardens in the afternoon and evening, avoid washing vehicles and patios with a hose, turn off the faucet of the shower and the sink while soaping, and do not let the water run while washing the dishes.
To ensure the delivery of water CAPA has put into operation an additional 10 wells of freshwater to the 142 wells already in operation.
Aurita’s Corner
Cozumel’s Susan Bonnett Remembered
Cozumel lost a champion last week, our friend Susan Bonnet lost her valiant battle with cancer on May 19. Our condolences go out to Susan’s Family.
She is in heaven no doubt already comfortable being the angel she was here on earth to so many. I never had the privileged of meeting her husband; he had died heroically saving a life at sea before I moved to Cozumel. After meeting Susan and learning of her projects with the children of Cozumel, I could only marvel at the couple they must have made.
I was also in awe of where Susan got the energy to do all that she did. She biked, she ran, she swam, the gym, her last water sport was wind surfing, if I recall. I met Susan bowling, and quickly became friends. I must say bowling was her passion. She bowled Women’s League in the day, Mixed league at night and anytime in between you wanted to meet her at the bowling alley. Like everything else she did, she excelled and won most of the top money prizes in the leagues. She was always there to give a quick bowling lesson to anyone in need.
I initially only knew about her work with The Red Cross, The Three Kings Toy Drive, and her “Children That Clean Cozumel” group as I wrote articles about her projects in Tiempo de Cozumel Newspaper. It was not until I discussed the possibility of buying her home when she put it up for sale about 5-6 years ago that I really got the full extent of her work in the community.
Susan, as badly as she wanted to sell the house at that time, was not excited at the possibility of the sale as she was about finding in me someone that could take over her projects in the neighborhood. Since I speak Spanish fluently and am a compulsive adopter of people in need, I was the answer to her only concern about leaving her Cozumel Home.
We spoke for hours and She told me about her neighbors, every child and his or her needs. Her goal was to educate them to be self-sufficient while enriching their life any way that she could. She had Arts and Crafts projects, Outings, Home Ec. Classes, Cooking projects, Mother’s Day meals for the neighborhood Moms prepared by the kids, and Garage Sales to help pay for it all. She planted and tended the garden at of Juan Pablo II Senior home as well as visited with the “Abuelos”. I am certain that I am leaving something out.
Her neighborhood loved her! I had volunteered to take her to the airport a few times and the neighborhood mood was solemn because of her departure. When she returned from her trip, there was an almost festive atmosphere on her block as neighbors and children came from everywhere to welcome her home
I do not think there will ever be another Susan Bonnet and it will take a number of us volunteering to come anywhere near the positive impact she alone made on this island. Rest in Peace my friend; you will be greatly missed by us that were blessed to have you in our life.
Note: There is a Susan Bonnett Memorial Page on http://www.brunners.com/obituaries/Susan-Gromosky-Bonnett/
