April Cozumel Drift 
Open 365 Days a Year!!!
Hola Amigo !

Hello from Cozumel ! Welcome to the April 2020 edition of the Cozumel Drift - our newsletter that keeps you up to date on whats happening here at the dive shop, the hotel, as well as your favorite island - Cozumel. 

1st things 1st - BIENVENIDOS - and welcome to anyone new to The Cozumel Dr ift . We are thrilled that you have vacationed with us, and hope that you enjoyed your time here. A big GRACIAS to everyone for coming. We look forward to seeing you all again soon. 
As you can see, we are here SOCIAL DISTANCING as well as all of you at home ! More than anything, we are wishing you and all of your family the best during this trying time. Please stay safe ! Yes, you have to stay away for now, but we hope that you will be back very soon ! NOTE: This picture was taken almost 2 weeks ago. Now, you would see us all with masks. And we don't even get to work together like that any more either.
What's been happening here...
During the month of March, things were going well here as we watched the spectacle grabbing hold of the world. Then, it all changed when on Mar 21, the US State Department issued a travel warning for... well, the entire world. And recommended the all US citizens return home. By Mar 25, all of the customers had departed. So that was the date that we basically stopped operating. No hotel customers and no divers. So, what were we to do....

Well, with no cruise ships and no flights, it kind of feels like right after a hurricane hits here. Only there is no damage. So, hunkered down to ride this out. The question remained, do we just close up and go home? Well, we cannot really do that.... the hotel is too open and people would be able to come in and steal things. We already caught someone trying to sneak into the Fury storerooms to steal a keg !!!! Luckily they were scared off. Which proves, the hotel and dive shop requires 24 hour surveillance. The employees still need income, and there is a long list of things to get done here, kind of like how clean I imagine your houses is right now !!! We are spending our time tearing through that list.

The end of March is when the Cozumel government started promoting social distancing and trying to get people to stay at home. Since there were no more cruise ships, and flights were pretty much cancelled, all tourism came to a halt. So most people could stay home. Some places were closing because business had dropped so much. Some restaurants were staying open. Hotels shut there doors. Some of them even locked down - closed themselves off for 30 days - no employees in or out. Just a minimum staff of workers, and managers to take care of the place. I had never heard of that before but it seems like a good idea. The staff there is able to take care of the place, and there is no chance of anyone getting Covid-19.

We did have a few locals on the island who wanted to dive, so we did go out for a hunting/fun dive to the north, the wall right in front of the entrance to the marina located north of town on Fri, Mar 27. What a beautiful dive that was. Only 2 lionfish but what a dive - 3 spotted eagle rays, sharks, turtles.... it was awesome. So we planned for Mon and Fri dive trips. Then on Sunday, Mar 29, the harbor master suspended all boats from going out. Because we needed to stay home. Two days later, they suspended all shore diving as well, a few days after that.... all the beaches closed. Which was very necessary. They were packed with people almost every day since it has been so hot out. And the island wanted to insure that no tourists would come, especially for Easter holidays. The island is usually packed with Mexican tourists who come to the beaches. So, all beaches in Mexico were closed down to insure that people would stay home.
For the 1st couple of weeks, all of the staff worked. Every day - cleaning, painting, tackling that list of things to do.... then Covid started showing up on the island. First 1 case, then 2, then 4, then...... That was when we all decided that we needed to cut down on days of work per week. And the employees decided to work 12 hour shifts so as to not have to come to work as often. This helped but also reduced work hours.

With the reduced staff, Scuba (the shop cat) is really affected by this. He is so lonely ..... and of course has now learned to cross the street. Simba is not too happy about that. But they are working it out.
So, the government has ernestly been trying to get people to stay at home, unless they have to go to work. Many people are respecting that.... many are still not. So you probably heard about some of the rules that the government has implemented:
  • reduced hours of liquor sales (no sales from 11 pm - 9 am)
  • curfew from 10 pm until 5 am at first, now 8 pm to 5 am.
  • no boats allowed to go out, and no shore diving
  • all sports areas, gyms and pools closed, and beaches closed
  • public transportation suspended
  • limit of 1 person on a moped - well, that lasted about 2 days. Because so many people cannot drive even a moped to get to work. All of the ladies who work for me are brought to work, none of them drive. So, that was kind of a good thing.
  • restaurants can only serve take out or delivery. No eat in.
  • Supermarkets restric access to only 1 family member. Yeah.... they just enter separately and meet on the inside.
  • Main roads closed - I believe the intent was to make it more difficult for people to get around so that they would stay at home. The problem was that most of the road closures were in the main part of town, where there is hardly any people moving about. It's farther back were everyone is still out and about, and the roads were not closed there. That lasted 1 day.
  • masks required when outside of your house. Yes, we know that a mask won't revent us from getting the virus. There is so little testing going on (about $270 USD), it is more for those who don't know they have it yet, to prevent them from contaminating others.

And now.... well, the lists of things to do is getting shorter, Village Tan Kah and Scuba Shack are looking awesome, the plants are looking great, our houses are SUPER clean, and we are pretty much bored, just like you !
Scuba Shack helps ANOAAT
You may or may not have heard of ANOAAT? It is the oldest and largest aquatic sports association here on the island, which Scuba Shack is a member of. All of the dive shops in ANOAAT decided that we wanted to help out the first responders here on the island. Have your seen the pictures of the adapted full face snorkel masks that Doctors and hospital staff are using to protect themselves from the Coronavirus? Well, we got the Cozumel staff set up as well !
What can you do to help ??
As stated, this is really like living after a hurricane comes to hit us. Only there is damage. We hunker down and ride it out. And make due. The staff is still working, albeit reduced hours. One meal a day is served here at the hotel, for those working that day. I have been having so much fun perfecting my cochinita recipe, learning how to make mexican sauces, chili rellenos, etc. I have been asking the employees from different states to make typical foods from their area. It has been quite fun.

But just like you, we are bored. And living limited. So many of you have asked if you can help. If you can send some money. And all of us so appreciate that you are thinkig of us.

For my part, since this is occurring right at the end of the high season, things aren't so bad. The high season is where we make most of the money during the year to cover us for the rest of the year, especially the slow season from Sep - Dec. So, I can cover the salaries now, but in order to cover this fall, we need you to plan on coming to visit this summer. June is looking like it might be possible. And July and Aug should be clear too. So, come on, plan a summer vacation. We love seeing your smiling faces and we really need you to visit us this year.

So, if you would like to help, here are some suggestions

1 - Come and visit us soon - hopefully this summer. This is the best way that you can help us. If you were here already this spring, after staying at home, treat yourself to a trip here in the summer or fall. We would love to see you. If your late spring trip was cancelled, come this summer ! And if you had not thought of coming this year, well the flights are going to be really cheap so please plan on coming this summer or fall !!!! We will be ready and waiting for you with open arms !!!!!!!

2 - Some people have offered to prepay for diving/hotel services now. And I thank you so much for thinking of all of us here. But in order for that to work, the services would have to be rendered in 2021. When the huge hurricanes of 2005 hit us, I did offer a special pricing for people to send us money to help us rebuild. And you answered the call and lots of money was sent in. But then, everyone came to visit those first 8 months after the hurricane. So, instead of being able to use the money to rebuild, it was used for operating expenses. That did not really work out the way I thought it would. So, that is why I would prefer to not take your money now and please just ask you to come and visit soon !

3 - From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who has offered to send some money to give to the employees. That says so much about you. If you would like to send some money specifically to assist employees, you are more than welcome to do that, and I will be more than happy to get it to them. We do work as a team, and that will be split between everyone. Every little bit helps and will help them all. There are many people who work behind the scenes that make it possible for the front line faces to give you the best service possible. There are 15 employees in total.
  • 3 captains
  • 3 divemasters
  • 2 SSH workers
  • 2 office workers
  • 2 maids
  • 1 maitenance guy
  • 1 gardener
  • 1 night security
So if you would like to send money that will go directly to the employees, please feel free to do so, and I will distribute it to them. Email me for info. And thank you, they thank you from the bottom of their hearts.
As divers, our passion and love of the ocean should be the initiative to help make it better. It's not only about what we do, but what we can also teach others to do - To learn and respect this wonderful rock in our solar system - earth, be it above or below the water. We just happen to really love the below the water aspect more than most..... We hope that you will continue to support all of the island and your family here in Cozumel by continuing to come and see the magic that we have here underwater.
Roberta's Scuba Shack


+52.987.872.4240 - Phone

+521.987.114-3568 - Cell and WhatsApp
Village Tan Kah


+52.987.872.4240 - Phone