BIENVENIDOS ... or welcome to The Drift. If you are new to there Scuba Shack and Village Tan Kah family, this is our newsletter that keeps you up to date with what is happening here on COZUMEL, as well as your favorite dive shop and hotel. We sure hope that you like it!

A HUGE GRACIAS to everyone for coming to visit us recently. We have been busy with divers, and rain, and wind and.... well, the weather !

Well, can you believe it?? ANOTHER HURRICANE?? It has been a very stormy fall, but despite that we have had tons and tons of divers here enjoying the fantastic life on the reef.

Just to review:

So as you can see, we have been dodging storms. Well, not really dodging because we actually have been hit by the outskirts of them.

So how were those hurricanes? Well, funny thing is that the category 1 Hurricane Zeta actually did more damage than the catagory 2 Delta. Why is that? Because Cozumel ended up in different quadrants of the hurricane. Also, the west and the south quadrants are the weakest parts of the hurricane. If you notice, the west part of the eye wall is always the last to develop. So, for Delta, the eye of the hurricane passed to the north of us, and Cozumel was in the wouth quadrant, the weak side. Cancun though, was in the north, and bore the brunt of that hurricanes fury. Cozumel got tons of rain, and Cancun got all of the winds.

Zeta on the other hand, passed to the south of Cozumel, and we were in the northern quadrant, which is always the strongest. So there was more wind to knock down trees and electric poles. Hence there were more downed trees and power lines in this 2nd storm.

But no matter what, one thing you need to remember. If the news does NOT talk about us once the hurricane has passed, that is because nothing interesting or devastating has happened. News feeds of evertyhing going well are not as popular as pictures and videos of devastation. We experienced no damage what so ever. Oh, 1 tree fell down in the back of the hotel. And other than that, we were just hunkered down and waited it out.

Thank you to everyone who was worried about us. We appreciate you thinking of us !

Social media, especially Facebook is big part of how we market Roberta's Scuba Shack Cozumel and Village Tan Kah and we love posting pictures and keeping you up to date with what is going on here. But, please make sure you are following the correct Facebook Page.

This is our actual FB page. If you are not following us on this page, please click the Facebook here to jump to this page, Click, Like and Follow today!

This is not our official page. This page was started by someone else several years ago. Whoever started this page added me as an admin so the I can post content here, but it's too much work to manage duplicate Facebook pages.

We recently tried to merge this page into our official page, but because I'm not the original creator of the page I can't do that. Does any body know who might have started this page? If so please get in contact with me. If you are following this page, please follow our official page. I will probably stop updating this page in the near future.

Now to really confuse you. Yes, if you happen to stumble across this page on Facebook, this is one of my accounts, but PLEASE DO NOT send me friend request or post to this page. I created this account so that the guys in the shop could post to the Scuba Shack / Dive ECO-Cozumel page and the post would show that it's from Roberta's Scuba Shack and not their name. I know it sounds complicated, just trust me on this one.

This is NOT MY PAGE. There is another business here in Cozumel that calls itself Scuba Shack. That is a completely different dive shop, no affiliation with me. Please don't confuse this shop or this page with mine.

With everyone feeling the effects of the pandemic and not having lots of business, many shops and restaurants are not accepting credit cards at this time. Or if they are, they are not allowing tips to be charged. So, there are some choices for you -

NOTE - Never make a withdrawal in USD, which is a foreign currency here. You will really get hosed on the exchange rate, twice!

Are you looking for something new and different on Netflix? Check out the documentary, My Octopus Teacher.

This fill features filmmaker and free diver Craig Foster year long interactions with a female common octopus in shallow kelp forests off the coast of South Africa.

(No spoilers here) The footage taken under water of this octopus are absolutely amazing and worth the watch! The story and voice over of the filmmaker and his year long "relationship" with this octopus are also unlike anything I've seen. So grab your favorite movie snacks, kick back, and immerse yourself in this heart warming story.

There is still time in this holiday shopping season to give the diver in your life the ultimate stocking stuffer, a Gift Certificate to Scuba Shack Cozumel or Village Tan Kah!!! There are so many options - diving, hotel stay, even a scuba course. Need an idea?

So beat the Christmas rush and order yours today.

A weeks after Hurricane Delta passed by, in the middle of the night, Cali Cafe restaurnt exploded. It is thought to be due to a gas leak. Our hearts and prayers go out to the owners.

That's right, this popular local hotspot now delivers. You can now have their "legendary" pastor pizza, tacos and other treats delivered to you at Village Tan Kah. Don't be shy to ask our staff to assist you if you need help ordering.

Yes, you heard that right. Some of the most pristine area of the island, down by Palancar, where you can see the endangered Cozumel racoons, and by the pier that we used to dock at.... right there. There is a huge project called Lakam-Ha Waterpark We have been fighting them off for the last 3 years and have been successful. It looks like now, they're going to win this next round. They want to tear down the mangroves and jungle there, and build a water park, new hotel, parking lots, pools, and more.... We need to protect this area because without it, all of that run off from any project will exponentially decrease the ocean water quality, which in turn is the #1 reason that the corals are dying off here all over the Caribbean. We need your help.

There is a petition to protect Palancar beach area, and thus the Palancar reefs. Please, sign it. It is in Spanish, and here is the translation for you....

Please sign and watch our channels. We need your help and will keep you updated !

Are you kidding me?? Another one? If you have not read about it, you can do so here. IMO, that is exactly what this island does NOT need. Right now, with the 3 piers, we do not have much of an overspill on ships being in port and having to anchor as opposed to being tied to one of the piers. And with this Covid situation, we have no ships. So do we really need to plan for more?

Many people have been expressing their dismay with the fact that the island is suffering so much from having no ships. But I have to ask then....

Tourists that come to the island for their entire vacation on average spend $ 425 USD per day on the island, between hotels, restaurants, additoinal tours (like diving or snorkeling) and souvenir shopping. Can we say that about the cruise shippers?

So please, keep up with us on Facebook, and Instagram. We will be keeping you up to date on this... and how you can help.

Are they different? Are they the same?? Many people think that here in Mexico, they just celebrate Halloween 2 days later and call it something different - El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). But this is not true. Yes, they are tied together but have 2 totally different meanings.

Did you know, that both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are based on Christian celebrations???? Yes, it is true. Actually, there are 3 of them that together are known as Allhallowtide. They are:

Oct 31 – Halloween

Nov 1 – All Saints Day

Nov 2 – All Souls Day

What does it all mean?

Oct 31 – This date was originally called All Hallows Eve, and over the years has transitioned to the Scottish term Hallowe’en, and eventually to Halloween as it is known today.  Here, Christians would don ghost or witch costumes and go out at night to scare off all of the evil spirits that might be lurking around. So that everything was pure and ready for the next day.

Nov 1 - All Saints Day. On this day, the church honors and celebrates their saints, both known and unknown. It began on the British Isles sometime in the 9^th century, and by the 10^th century, Pope Gregory IV extended this tradition to the entire Church.

Nov 2 – All Souls Day – Dia de los Muertos. This date is celebrated by Catholics and some other Christian denominations as the day when you pray and remember all of your ancestors that have died. Popular European traditions are bell tolling, to comfort those souls that have yet risen to heaven. Lighting of candles so that those souls that are lost in the darkness can find their way. And the giving of soul cake (soulmass-cake) to children who arrived to your house singing or praying for the dead.

The Dia de los Muertos has really taken hold here in Mexico, and become a huge celebration dedicated to those who have departed in the last year.