Cortez Explorers - Hurricane John Special Update

The Short of It...

As you may or may not know, Mulege was hit by a severe flood after the rains of Hurricane John passed overhead. The long and the short of it is that Mick and Maria survived the ordeal (as well as lady the dive centers mascot). They are currently living at the dive center while they work to make their house habitable again.

We have decided to keep the dive center closed for trips until October 1st, while we are open for air fills and rentals. Our schedule will be a little open/closed on a day to day basis, so if you are in town and need us, leave a note on the door. If this changes, we will let people know via the web site.

Our final disappointment from the disaster is that we had just been approved to host an alternate location PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC). This would have been the closest IDC run to the US border. Instead we will have to postpone this event until early in 2007.

Mick, Maria and myself would like to express our thanks to all those who have contacted us, offering help, advise and support. As Winston Churchill once wrote, "the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"; all those in the Mulege area are looking at the situation with an optimistic eye on the future...

Finally, there is a more long-winded version of what happened (and some pictures) to follow below... When you come to town I am sure Mick will tell you a story or two over a beer...

The long of it...

Early on the morning of September 3rd Mick and Maria were awoken by their dog Lady. Already there was 2 feet of water in the house and is was rising fast... Several hours earlier, they and a few diving friends had watched the remnants of Hurricane John travel overhead and head West into the mountains. Watching the rain come down and assuming, as most had that evening, that the worst was behind them, they went to bed.

The rain continued to fall as it headed across the peninsula and made its way to the pacific. What happened next was shocking, and for those who know the area, these pictures really tell the story.

The water was rising so fast, by the time lady woke Mick and Maria up and they exited the building, they had to swim to safety - there are estimates that the water was rising about a foot each minute at its peak. On the Western edge of town, where the inlet is narrow, the water rose over 60 feet and knocked down anything in its path.

Both Mick and Maria survived the ordeal intact, as did the pets. However everything else in the house was lost as the water submerged it to the rafters. It was not until late on the 3rd that they were able to see the extent of the damage to the house. Everything that was inside had gone, replaced with other peoples furniture, clothing and the like. Maria's Geo Metro was suspended on a neighbors fence (and actually still is at the time of writing this).

The dive center was untouched, the water coming within just a few hundred feet of our front door. We quickly became a meeting point for those needing assistance in the area. For the next couple of days outside contact was non-existent. It was not until the 5th, late in the evening, that the electricity came back to the dive center and Mick was able to call out to San Diego to let everyone else know the situation.

Our dive boat the Palomita survived, however she is now on a new island. Yes, the lighthouse is currently not connected to the mainland (see the picture below). There is one other slight problem: she is out of the water and attached to our tow truck with no way to get the truck off of this new island!

Mick and Maria are currently staying at the dive center. We have closed down until October 1st due to the need to continue to help those in the comminuty (as well as cleaning out Maria's house). If you wish to help out the Mulege community, then contact Mick or myself via email, or call him at +52-615-153-0500. The needs are changing day-to-day, so it is best to get updates from the horses mouth...

Once again thanks for all your support during this time and we expect to get the Dive Center back to some form of normality within the next few weeks.

Regards-
Matthew & Mick