HIGHWAY.

The new four lane highway from Chetumal to Majahual is really taking shape. The government has placed big, bold signs at several very visible points along the route, proudly indicating the completion date for the ENTIRE 72 miles of the highway. The anticipated completion date is February of 2003. Considering the amount of “iron” that is hauling, pushing and grading every day, the highway may be finished early.

COSTA MAYA HIGHWAY.

The “high speed” road from Xcalak in the south to Pulticub in the north is nearing completion. New pavement now stretches some 4 miles beyond Uvero, and continues to march north every day.

BEACH ROAD.

Work is scheduled to begin improving the beach road. After the completion of the highway from Chetumal to Majahual, work is scheduled to begin on the improvement of the beach road access. This is the access road, which parallels the ocean front properties (February 2003). This phase of the road project is projected to take about one year.

ELECTRICITY.

Electricity from Merida to Majahual – complete. Electricity to the cruise ship dock and mall – complete. Electricity to the beach club at Uvero – complete. Electricity to downtown Majahual – complete. New street lights in Majahual – complete. So much electrical power is flowing in the Costa Maya that a SECOND NEW power substation is being built to insure uninterrupted electricity. Power along the beach road is to be installed at the time of improvements to the beach road – beginning early next year!

WATER.

The water pumping station in Majahual is complete. Water lines have been installed into Majahual and the cruise ship dock and mall. Water lines are to be laid along the beach road at the time of improvements to the beach road – beginning early next year!

INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

Independent financial fund managers from the U.S. have told us that the Chetumal international airport is indeed soon to begin receiving flights directly from the U.S. This certainly supports information we have received from Government offices in Chetumal. They say that runway expansion is underway and that U.S carriers have leased terminal space. When complete (we hear next year), it will be a quick 50-minute drive via the new four-lane highway to the Costa Maya from the international airport. And commuter flights are already scheduled from Chetumal to Majahual.

TELEPHONE.

TelMex has completed their connection facility in Majahual and is taking orders for telephone service. And internet service providers are in the Costa Maya. This is really remarkable when you realize that this time last year there was only one telephone in Majahual – and it didn’t work all the time!

PEMEX.

The new Pemex gas station in Majahual is almost finished and will soon be operational. No more rationing of fuel after leaving Chetumal or Felipe Carrillo Puerto. And of course, we assume that the Chicle (chewing gum) and Salbute sales teams will be there on opening day.

CRUISE SHIP DOCK.

Work is already underway to expand the new cruise ship dock by extending the pier farther out into the sea. This would make the Puerto Costa Maya a true deep water port, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. Additional scheduled ship days next season are a sure sign that the Costa Maya is a big hit with the cruise lines and with the thousands of new visitors arriving each week.

GOLF COURSE.

Zoning and construction permits have been approved for the first golf course on the Costa Maya. The recent announcement places the location for this facility just to the south of the Explorean (Fiesta Americana) Hotel. One underway, how many more to follow? “Fore” may be a very appropriate golf expression in the Costa Maya. Enjoy Costa Maya!

Steve Nicholson, Director Special Situations

Never mind Moby Dick. We’re talking mermaids. Real live mermaids. Forgive them Daryl Hannah, the girl who played a mermaid in “Splash”. And what kind of sailor needs white whales, tooth fairies, or Easter bunnies, for that matter, if you have mermaids?

To the sailors of Christopher Columbus’ time, imagine the excitement of not only discovering the Earth was not flat, but that there was a New World, and it had mermaids. Surely, this was a blessed place. What a great sailor’s tale and bar story this would make on the tall ships and in the seaports of 16th century Europe.

Ok, so what if they were a bit ugly, in fact so ugly that only a mother could love them. But they were gentle, real gentle, and they didn’t talk back, or shoot those cussed arrows like the Indians either. Anyway, who could afford to be fussy after being lost at sea for months at a time with a bunch of stinking louts suffering from scurvy?

FAST FORWARD 500 YEARS

Today manatees are an endangered species in the United States and they are a protected species in Mexico as well. On the Costa Maya there is a small, but significant breeding population. These gentle mammals, a mature adult can weigh up to ¾ of a ton, live and breed in the warm protected bays and lagoons of the Costa Maya. With their soft whiskery muzzle they browse on sea grasses, water hyacinths, and other aquatic vegetation as they cruise along just beneath the surface.

Descended from land mammals that returned to the sea during the Tertiary Period, manatees have gradually evolved during the last 20 million years and are unique to the New World. Females give birth to a single calf after a 12-month gestation period. Individual manatees are solitary animals, but are sometimes seen in small groups. Their skin is gray, leathery, and hairless. They have 3 to 4 fingernails on the tips of their pectoral flippers, a reminder of their ancient ancestry. They have no dorsal or anal fins and their round paddle shaped tail is horizontal.

SEEING THEM

On Costa Maya, manatees are difficult to see because they swim slowly beneath the surface stopping only occasionally to expose their nostrils when breathing. This is usually accompanied by a short burst of air. One morning, while sitting quietly in a small boat on one of the Costa Maya bays, we were startled by a large manatee that decided to grab a quick breath beside our boat. His or her acoustic intrusion into the tranquility of our moment was totally unexpected. To see them you need to get lucky. Hang around in the bays and shallows early in the morning when the sea is perfectly calm. You just might catch a glimpse of one of these gentle creatures.

Today, the biggest threat to manatees is man and his machines. Collisions with boats and boat propellers are the single biggest cause of manatee fatalities each year. If you are boating on the Costa Maya, for the sake of all sailors present and future, please be careful and watch out for our mermaids. Their future is in our hands.

Enjoy Costa Maya.

My life on the Costa Maya began about three years ago, when I moved from my home in Austin, Texas to help open an eco-adventure and scuba diving resort. In the early months there, I searched for the most breathtaking spots in Southern Quintana Roo to conduct the resort’s land excursions. I started exploring remote stretches of shoreline and kayaking through the calm turquoise waters of Bacalar Lagoon. At times I would just sit quietly under the dense canopy of a rookery island in Chetumal Bay, gazing up through the branches at a dozen species of water foul.

I soon realized that I had managed to blunder into a paradise that went far beyond the gorgeous beaches and virgin coral reefs teaming with marine life that I had been prepared for. There, within the forests, mangroves and waterways surrounding the coast itself, thrives an abundance of exotic flora and fauna and a natural beauty unsurpassed. I made it my mission to bring resort guests to an awareness of this living cornucopia above the Caribbean’s surface.

Not long after I arrived, rumors began to circulate of rapid improvements in the infrastructure, development of tourism, and a new port for cruise ships. As work began on the pier, and the power lines rose over the mangroves, I wondered what the end result would be. Though electricity, fiber optic lines, and four-lane highways certainly appealed to me, images of “Cancun Strip’s” concrete beehives, and the sprawling clusters of all-inclusive resorts haunted me. I wondered then if the development planned would deal the Costa Maya a similar fate.

Then I met the folks at Trans Caribbean Trust Company and began many informative discussions with them about the future of the region. From them I learned about the low-density zoning, and the absolute building restrictions in the mangroves that support the coral reefs and the Sian Kaan Biosphere. I gradually developed a new vision and great expectations for things to come.

I had come into contact with Fidecaribe frequently and with the many other agencies involved in environmental regulation (SEMARNAT, PROFEPA, SEDUMA, Desarollo Urbano, and Ayuntamiento). They are an ever present force of collaboration on the Costa Maya. Yet, In spite of my awareness of the sheer number of checks and balances, I hadn’t begun to understand the degree of intricacy instilled into the comprehensive master plan. As I came to find out, the development of the Costa Maya had been scrutinized and deliberated for years before I ever set foot on its beaches. With that realization came a great deal of relief and a sense of security in what I began to reenvision for the Costa Maya.

Reflecting on the concerns I had a couple of years ago, the irony strikes me above all. I had feared the development planned for the coast would diminish the splendor of the ecosystem and bring an end to what I loved. On the contrary, the economic base that the development of eco-tourism provides for the region has given the ecology there a newfound security. As it stands, I have since stopped managing the eco-resort and tour company and began working with Trans Caribbean to bring people to this magical place on a regular basis. The big difference is that now, instead of taking resort guests on a mere day tour, the people I bring here are coming to live on the beach and make their home here. I invite you to do the same, before prices move out of reach for most people.

ENJOY THE COSTA MAYA!

Todd Newton, Senior Associate

PS: In the next issue look for new information and

discoveries about the manatees of Costa Maya.