Hurricane Gilbert made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula on September 14th, 1988 after destroying the island of Jamaica just a couple of days prior.  It would go down in history as one of the worst hurricanes to hit the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

The beaches of Playa del Carmen following Hurricane Gilbert in 1988

During this time, I was working as a Purser on the SS VeraCruz and based out of Tampa, Florida.  The cruise ship was scheduled to leave port with an itinerary to include Cozumel and Playa del Carmen for a five day voyage.  It was determined that the hurricane would most likely continue its path heading west with a slight direction towards the north, but the Captain decided to set sail.  In hopes that we would miss the hurricane, the ship headed north towards New Orleans with the possibility of docking in Progresso.

As you can imagine, our ship did not make it to Cozumel that week and no sooner did the ship depart out of the Port of Tampa, it was determined that the ship needed to head north towards New Orleans to avoid the hurricane.  With swells reaching over 30 feet in height, we waited out the storm only to return back to Tampa.  Gilbert would eventually hit the Yucatan Peninsula resulting in massive damage and destruction.

According to the website Hurricanes: Science and Society, there was $1 – 2 billion dollars worth of damage to Mexico alone.   Ships were tossed ashore and 341 people lost their lives.  

Hurricane Gilbert was documented as a category 5 hurricane that resulted in 83 ships sinking, 60,000 homes destroyed and 35,000 people left homeless.

It was later learned that the aftermath of the hurricane had an impact on Mexico again in 1989 when wildfires went out of control as a result of the debris left by the hurricane, burning 460 square miles.

According to the website source, there were storm surges that reached heights of 20 feet causing ships to be washed ashore.

Some of the ships were literally tossed out of the water, making contact with the buildings ashore. This created additional destruction to hotels, homes, and other coastal establishments.

I visited the ports of Cozumel and Playa del Carmen weeks after Hurricane Gilbert touched down.  In addition to damaging the coral reefs and buildings, we couldn’t believe the condition of the beaches which looked as though they were under demolition.

The island of Cozumel and resort town of Playa del Carmen have long since recuperated from the destruction of the hurricane, but for those who were there or visited the Yucatan shortly thereafter, it will forever have a long lasting impact on their lives.

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