Hurricane Rina Churns Towards Mexico's Caribbean

(Dive Travel Business News - October 26, 2011) -- Mexico issued a hurricane watch along the Yucatan coast and readied 1,130 storm shelters in Quintana Roo, the state that includes Cancun and Cozumel.  Authorities are evacuating fishing communities on Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast and some tourists began to leave, as Hurricane Rina took aim at Cancun and the island of Cozumel on Wednesday. 

Rina’s maximum sustained winds remained steady at about 110 mph (175 kph) early Wednesday, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun.

State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez said there were about 83,000 tourists in the state, with about 45,000 of those on a stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen, and almost 28,000 in Cancun.

In the case of Cozumel, which could be hit hardest, there were only about 1,719 tourists in Cozumel, and many of them were leaving, Gonzalez Hernandez said.

The hurricane was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south-southeast of Cozumel early Wednesday and was moving west at near 4 mph (6 kph), the Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning is in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun.

Forecasters said Rina was likely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of about 115 mph (185 kph) later Wednesday. The storm’s current track puts it near Cancun by Thursday.

The projected track shows it curving east toward Cuba and the Straits of Florida by early next week, though the Hurricane Center cautioned “there is great uncertainty as to where Rina will be located by the weekend.”

American and JetBlue are among the airlines that have waived cancellation and change fees on flights to Cancun and Cozumel as Hurricane Rina churns towards Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Customers holding tickets on American for flights through Oct. 29 can rebook for travel through Oct. 31 with no change fee. JetBlue customers headed for Cancun on Oct. 27 and 28 must rebook and travel by Nov. 1.

Rina is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and officially ends Nov. 30.

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