Storm-damaged resorts slow to recover
Littered across my desk on any given Wednesday are bits of travel lore. The tidbits I pulled out today bear no obvious relationship to each other, but in an obscure six-degrees-of-separation way, there are interconnections.

Hurricane Dean, the first of the 2007 season to make landfall and seriously impact tourist areas, has left its calling card on the Mexican coastline. If you follow news reports at all, you will know that the main tourist areas - Cancun and Cozumel - were spared the fiercest onslaught of wind and wave. They're still recuperating - in Cancun, especially - from Hurricane Wilma in October 2005. Wilma is perhaps not as well remembered as cousins Katrina and Rita, but the resorts and beaches in Cancun and Cozumel are still recovering from its 125-mph winds. As in New Orleans, some places clean up more quickly than others.

Dean pummeled Costa Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula, a recently developed area. The concrete dock that accommodates cruise ships in port was severely damaged by high waves. It's estimated it will take eight months to repair the damaged structure. In the meantime, cruise lines are scrambling to replace the port call on itineraries for the duration of the repairs. One such substituted stop for Carnival Cruise Lines is Progreso, Mexico. The Carnival Fantasy, which left out of (hurricane ravaged) New Orleans, made that substitution, as will the Carnival Glory and Carnival Legend on at least a few August sailings out of Florida.

Of course, Florida, too, is often in the path of hurricanes either coming or going. Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Sure, it was "only" a Category 3 by the time it hit Florida. It was also the eighth hurricane to hit Florida in the space of 15 months.

The year before, it was Ivan. Like Dean, it was a Category 5 storm that struck a number of Caribbean islands in its path and closed resorts in places such

as the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Cuba and Grenada. The LaSource Resort on Grenada, a 100-room all-inclusive destination, has announced a December reopening after the devastation. Reports are that insurance issues delayed reconstruction. That speaks to the complicated process of recovery that plagues areas hard hit by these seasonal storms.

So what does this have to do with the Venetian Macao, said to be the largest single-structure hotel in Asia and the second largest building in the world? Its open ing in August spells huge investment in the Pacific and competition for Las Vegas. Unlike Las Vegas, though, it's on a Pacific island, not landlocked in the desert. Macao endured Typhoon Utor in January 2001, sustaining damage mostly from flooding and stalled transportation. It will be a matter of time before a storm of greater strength hits this huge structure.

Hurricanes and typhoons impact vacationers worldwide. Choose your destination and your window of travel accordingly.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)