Tourists flee Mexico Caribbean from Hurricane Dean

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Thousands of frightened tourists lined up for hours to flee Mexico's Caribbean resorts on Sunday as Hurricane Dean threatened to become the second powerful hurricane to thrash the coastline since 2005.

Vacationers slept in Cancun airport overnight and anxious families waited on stand-by for flights home as shop owners and residents in nearby sun-kissed islands frantically boarded up windows and hotels moved guests to shelters.

The hurricane could yet strengthen into a rare and potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm when it pounds the area on Monday or Tuesday as forecast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"I came to Cancun to get married ... I hope I can come back to finish my honeymoon," said newlywed Raymond Steves, 27, from Naples, Florida, alongside wife Ingrid on their way home early at Cancun airport.

Mexico aimed to evacuate 26,000 tourists on Sunday after sending 23,000 people home on Saturday.

Dean bore down on Jamaica on Sunday and people in the island's low-lying areas were urged to find shelter. The storm killed five people on its path through the Caribbean.

Home to soft white beaches and turquoise waters, Mexico's "Mayan Riviera" of Caribbean resorts like Cancun and Playa del Carmen has not fully recovered from the devastating Hurricane Wilma which struck in October 2005 and killed at least seven people.

Wilma howled over the area two days, sucking away entire beaches, stranding tens of thousands of tourists and causing $2.6 billion in damages.

The Quintana Roo state government, criticized two years ago for not evacuating tourists in time, was taking few chances this time, even though the latest prediction on Sunday showed Dean making landfall just south of the main resorts.

'GOING TO BE HELL'

Charter boats canceled excursions on the island of Cozumel, one of world's top scuba diving destinations, and hastily pulled boats out of the water as tourists headed for the airport and municipal workers removed street lights.

Done Henderson, a businessman from Texas was part of a group of 16 divers who planned to dive at Cozumel and other islands in the area. Now only four are left.

"We are all escaping ... My hotel is a sturdy one but this hurricane is going to be hell," he said as he tracked Dean's path online.

Diving businesses on Cozumel loaded scuba diving equipment into vans to store inland. "The last hurricane destroyed everything," said diving center manager Jorge Marin.

Mexico has started to evacuate 13,360 workers from its Gulf of Mexico oil rigs as the storm nears, state oil company Pemex said.

The Gulf oil ports were open at the weekend, but Pemex said production would be affected by the evacuation of its 13,360 workers and it will know the impact on output on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Cozumel and Robin Emmott in Monterrey)