New Beach Update For The Royals

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

We just came back tonight from the Royal Caribbean. The Tri-Royal's beach is mostly huge boulders with just a few points of safe entry and exit into and from the water. There is a decent size beach for enjying the sand and wading in the surf.

The Royal Sands has two different beaches. When you walk past the pool in Phase 1 you will be met by rope there and to the right, keeping you from the beach. The reason is that they built a 3 to 4 foot cliff so they can have lounge chairs on the cliff. There are maybe 20 chairs there, 1 deep and some walking room to pass. Many rocks with very few points of entry.

Phase 2 is a bit better, no cliffs but still many rocks, but much more access to the water.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Is this the same beach area for the Royal Mayan? We are going there at the end of May 2009.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

What the beach looks like now may change dramatically in a week or 2 and predicting 7 months out is next to impossible.

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

Is this the same beach area for the Royal Mayan? We are going there at the end of May 2009.

Yes, the Royal Caribbean beach is the same as the Mayan. But, as Tony said, you can't predict what the beach will look like in May 2009. During the week I was there, some rocks were covered over with sand, then washed away. It all depends on the amount of storms between now and May 2009.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Any updates for the Royals, esp. Royal Mayan Beach?

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

New Update on Cancun Beach Restoration

Rodolfo Elizondo Torres, Mexican Secretary of Tourism, announced today that the long awaited beach restoration project for Cancun will go ahead as planned on July 15, 2009. Mexicana de Dragados S.A. de C.V., the company which won the contract, will now start to move its dredgers and equipment into the area and prepare to assemble its pipelines in August.

The dredging, transport and pumping of almost seven million cubic meters of sand onto the beaches is expected to start in September and the project will be completed by mid-December, in time for the high season.

The replenishment of 12 kilometers of beach in the Cancun Hotel Zone and similarly affected stretches of the coast in Playa del Carmen and Cozumel is a national priority and given its importance, the authorities decided to press on with the project this summer and not wait until later in the year.

The project will cost around $74.6 million dollars which will be managed through a trust by the Mexican Tourist Board, federal, state and municipal governments and private sector representatives.

Experts working for Semarnat, the Mexican Environmental Agency, have been carrying out studies along the shoreline and in the area of sand banks where the dredging will take place and will be monitoring the project closely. Special measures will be taken to protect sea turtles and conch during the season and geo textile nets will also be used to prevent sediment from damaging the coral colonies on local reefs.

The first stage of the project is to restore the beaches of Cancun to a width of 40 meters and 20 meters in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, respectively, and it will be followed by a 10-year monitoring and maintenance program.

An official timeline and details have yet to be released by the authorities and we will continue to update you as we receive more information on this important project, one that so many of you have been asking about in recent months.

Sources: SECTUR

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

From Royal Resorts News site:

At a press conference on July 13, Mexican Minister of Tourism Rodolfo Elizondo Torres and Quintana Roo State Governor Felix Gonzalez Canto announced that plans to restore the beaches in Cancun, Riviera Maya and Cozumel would go ahead this year. Our earlier report mentioned that the work will be carried out by Mexicana de Dragados S.A. de C.V. and coordinated by the Mexican Electricity Board or CFE. Gustavo Arvizu Lara, Civil Engineering Manager for the CFE gave more details about the project.

Mr. Arvizu said that as of July 15, Mexicana de Dragados S.A. de C.V. will begin to move its dredgers and equipment into the Mexican Caribbean. Almost seven million cubic meters of sand will be dredged from sand banks lying in deeper waters offshore, one of which is located to the north of Cozumel, and transferred to the beaches affected by erosion in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. The amount of sand required for this project represents between six and seven per cent of the total volume of the said sand banks and experts are confident that they will be replenished by natural marine sedimentation processes.

According to the project timeline, sand will be pumped on to the Cancun beaches starting September 1 and should be completed by November 30. The project also calls for the construction of offshore barriers in several places along the coast and this will take place between September 15 and November 15. Work should be finished by December 13, weather permitting.

Planning for this extremely important program has been meticulous and the Mexican authorities spent months studying the affected shoreline, discussing the lessons learned from the first Cancun beach restoration in 2006, comparing coastal protection initiatives elsewhere in the world and analyzing proposals before coming to a decision. During every stage of the project, work will be carefully monitored by engineers, oceanographers and environmentalists. Scientists will be measuring wave action, tides, currents, beach profile and erosion in order to calculate the average rate of sediment transport, a key factor to take into account for the following 10-year maintenance period.

Source: Quintana Roo State Government

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Interesting to read that they can do this in Mexico but not in Maui, HI where beach erosion is taking it's toll too. It is really frightening to see how serious it is. I don't know if I am for or against it but wonder what it will do to the environment in the long run to manipulate the beaches?

I do know that eroded beaches are not good for tourism so Mexico values that higher than the ecology. Is the ecology really hurt by it if they take all the precautions like they are doing over there? Who knows the answer? If it isn't why is Maui not doing the same?