I’m back from another tough morning on the beach, happy to report that the project has reached the Omni and should be at the Tri-Royals in a few days!  I took some photos today of the area behind the Ritz, Le Meridien, Cancun Palace and the Marriotts.  Stunning!  Yes, there is a “ledge” of sand near the sea, but it’s not insurmountable and hopefully it will even itself out soon.  Here are your pics….

Le Meridien Beach During Reconstruction (Dec. 22/2009)

Le Meridien Beach After (Dec. 29/2009)

Cancun Palace Beach Before (Dec. 22/2009)

Cancun Palace Beach After (Dec. 29/2009)

You can see the whole set of photos from today in our Cancun Beach Recovery Dec. 29 Flickr set.   Cancun Travel will continue to update, we’ll have new photos next week, stay tuned!

If you are a Cancun lover, you’ll know that we are in the midst of a huge beach reconstruction project to rebuild the beaches that were lost in the hurricane in 2005.  So far the project is a huge success, with many hotels and public beaches gaining 80 to 100 meters of sand!  Some spots along the strip had been reduced to nothing, just rocks and water crashing against the barrier walls.  Now, the stretch of sand is huge, perfect for football, lazing in the sun, flying kites or romping in the surf.  I’ve been monitoring the project and every time I trek out to the hotel zone a big “WOW” comes flying out of my mouth when I see what they are accomplishing.  They are moving fast, the place looks great and hopefully more and more tourists will return to Cancun for the beaches that we are accustomed to.

The photos above show the incredible difference a couple of weeks can make.  This is located at Playa Marlin, near the Villas Marlin and Barcelo Tucancun.  So great to see the massive change in the beach!

The best news of the morning is that the beach behind the Royal Sands hotel is now open.  They’ve moved lounge chairs and umbrellas down to the sand and people were flocking to the new stretch of beach.  The pipes have been removed from about half of the beach behind the Sands, the project continues to move south from there.

The work is currently between the Royal Sands and Le Meridien.  Work should commence very soon on the Cancun Palace and the Marriott hotels.  Here’s a “before” photo behind Cancun Palace looking south towards the JW Marriott, will have some “after” shots soon!

You can find more photos on our Flickr page, here’s today’s Cancun beach recovery set.  Don’t forget to join our Cancun Travel Facebook page to share your own photos with us, we’d love to have you with us!  Stayed tuned for more updates and Happy Holidays from Cancun Travel!

Things are looking up, way up for the beaches of Cancun.  The beach restoration project is in full swing and the sand is flying!  There are two dredgers working, currently bringing sand from a deposit off of Isla Mujeres called “La Ollita”, but plans suggest they will be switching to the Cozumel source by next week.  Using the sand from Cozumel had been causing controversies and delays in the project but the authorities have ruled that they can move ahead as planned.  As of today, they have covered approximately 700 meters of beach, from the Sunset Hotel up to Punta Cancun.  The area that is complete includes the beach behind the condos Bay View Grand, Carisa, Palma and Girasol, the public beaches at Chac Mool and Gaviotas, the area behind Playa Cabanas (the beach club at The City) and they are currently working behind the Krystal and over towards Dreams.  They should finish at Dreams this week and start working their way south.  The Cancun part of the project should take about three months to complete before they move on to Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel.  When more specific scheduling details become available, we will be sure to share them with you.

I took a trip out to the beach this morning to check on the progress and my jaw literally dropped.  The only words coming out of my mouth were “WOW WOW WOW”.  I went to the same spots as exactly one week ago and the difference is spectacular.  Where once there were rocks, there is now a beautiful stretch of sand.  Behind the beach club at Playa Cabana, there was nothing last week, the water was crashing against the cement wall a few meters drop from the deck.  Now the sand stretches for about 80 meters and comes right to the top of the wall at the beach club.  It’s truly incredible what they have managed to accomplish in one week.  Here are a couple of before and after comparison shots for you……

Cancun Travel will continue to bring you updates on the progress of the beach recovery, with more photos and some videos to come.  Check out our Flickr Beach Recovery Cancun set for more pictures of this incredible project.  Don’t forget to join the Cancun Travel Facebook page, share your own photos and videos with us, we’d love to hear from you!

Why do tourists visit Cancun?  Some like the nightlife, some like the world class spas, some like to relax with a book and others prefer to explore and be adventurous.  The one thing that all visitors to Cancun have in common is a love for the beach.  The soft white sands of the Mexican Caribbean lure millions of visitors each year.  So what is Cancun to do when erosion starts to wash away it’s powdery shores?  They bring in the experts to restore the beaches to their former glory.

In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma devastated the resort towns in the state of Quintana Roo, not only destroying buildings, but washing away the beaches with her powerful force.  The government of Mexico spent millions of dollars to recover the beaches, but found that they quickly eroded when they did not follow through on a maintenance plan  After several years of planning and discussion, the new beach recovery project is underway in Cancun, this time with a ten year plan to maintain the beaches they are working so hard to rebuild.  The plan has faced controversy as environmental groups protest the dredging of sand from the delicate eco-system while the government insists that they are doing all they can to minimize the impact.

The beach recovery project officially began October 31st, 2009, with the first sands being pumped onto the shore behind the Sunset Hotel.  There are two large dredging ships, bringing 5000 cubic meters of sand from a deposit near Isla Mujeres to the shores of Cancun.  Smaller boats manipulate the large pipes that carry the sand from the ship to the shore and a small “panga” style boat controls a “fence” in the water to prevent the freshly blown sand from returning to sea.  On shore, construction equipment and a large crew move the sand into position, creating a new beach of about 80 meters (with the expectation that there will indeed be a small amount of erosion during the process, the goal is to have at least 50 meters of new beach).

The project will cover the length of the east side of the hotel zone of Cancun, with an estimated three months for completion.  Once the work in Cancun is complete, the crews will move to Isla Mujeres, then to Playa del Carmen and finally to Cozumel.

This morning I took a little trip to the hotel zone to see how things were progressing, have a peek at our Cancun beach recovery Flickr set and enjoy the views, the beaches are going to be spectacular!  Cancun Travel will continue to provide updated photos of the project over the next few months.  While we would love to be able to tell you when each hotel will be affected by the work, it’s just impossible, nobody knows for sure, but we’ll do our best to keep you posted with the information available to us.  Viva Cancun, Viva la Playa!