The Beaches are Improving

When I arrived in Mexico it didn't take me long to decide to grab a cold beer and make the short walk to the beach. The beaches here in Chelem are not the manicured and well maintained beaches around Cancun, most tourist haven't found this area yet, but they are still a pleasure to be around. When I got to the beach I was greeted by a pretty good salt air breeze and the water at just about high tide with waves of about two feet.

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The next morning, after getting the construction workers started, I walked back down to the beach to find it at low tide. The difference between high tide and low tide here is about three and a half feet.

This view amazed me. The water in this area use to be filled with rubble which has now been covered over by sand. The water typically had the same muddy look at low tide that it normally has at high tide. Now low tide provides amazingly clear water. The rubble is from the last hurricane that came through, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. This area isn't prone to many hurricanes, really not experiencing one since Gilbert.

Image from Weather Underground

Hurricane Gilbert made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun as a Category 5 hurricane with winds in excess of 156 miles per hour. After crossing the Yucatan, Gilbert went back into the Gulf in the Chelem/Progreso area as a Category 3 hurricane with winds less than 130 miles per hour. In the aftermath, a portion of the village of Chelem had been washed into the Gulf generating the construction debris in the water. Our house is on Calle 15 which about 5 blocks west now runs into the gulf rather than along the beach.

In 2013, the Yucatan government started a project so slow beach erosion and start trying to rebuild some of the beaches. In the low tide photo above, the jetti near the top of the photo is called an espalone. The intent is to slow the movement of sand along the coast until is becomes trapped and starts building the beaches back. Hundreds of espalones have been built along the coast here and it seems to be working.

I was aware of the debris in the water from wading the shallows and fly fishing early in the morning before the wind picked up. My wading will be a lot easier now with the sand over the rubble. Hopefully the beaches will continue to improve and no more hurricanes. Another Hurricane Gilbert through the area could leave me with beach from property but I'm not hoping for that.