Blue Hole closure in Santa Rosa affecting businesses

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Blue Hole, a New Mexico tourist hotspot that attracts thousands during the summertime, is closed to divers and swimmers. Businesses in the area that rely heavily on the influx of summer visitors looking to enjoy all the water recreation the city has to offer are now dealing with the effects of the closure.

People come from all over the country for the experience but the recent announcement has drastically reduced how many people are coming into town. City officials said the closure is due to a large boulder falling on the west side of the hole that brought other rocks with it.

Officials said hundreds of stones now cover the bottom. “Public safety comes first. We’ll make sure before we reopen to the public, we’ll make sure everything is protected and we’ll try to get more inspection on it,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Nelson Kotiar.

Due to the closure, businesses in town aren’t seeing the number of customers they usually do. That includes the Comet II Drive & Restaurant that’s been operating for over 90 years. “We rely on the tourists here, and without a lot of the vital things that we have here, we don’t have that,” said owner Casey Martinez.

Normally, Martinez said he could expect thousands of customers during the summer. He said since the closure, business has decreased by 30%-40%. “We have the divers that come in here. On a given weekend, we’d have 100 divers in here. Now, we’re lucky if we have five or ten,” said Martinez.

City officials said they will be conducting more inspections and expect the spot to open within the next 2-4 weeks.