Hurricane season has taken on a whole new meaning for us since we have moved to St Thomas. What used to be a foreign news story is now a part of our seasonal business and life. And while the official season begins in June – the actual storm activity usually begins in August and September after a couple months of humid and windless conditions.
This year forecasters have been predicting a more active storm season with multiple named storms. It’s a bit of a sport and certainly always the topic of conversation. Despite the warnings and broadcasts for seasonal preparedness, human nature lends itself to varying degrees of procrastination - putting off the things we deem necessary but not quite as fun. Why bother with mundane house projects and shopping when you can go to the beach? Indeed. When news reports were quickly confirming that Hurricane Earl was, in fact, making its way for an uninvited visit to our islands, it was somewhat like finding out that you had 20 dinner guests arriving in an hour when you didn’t have any food and the house is a mess. Mayhem. Grocery stores were filled with people (stocking up on some of the oddest items), gas stations had long queues and storm shutters were being put in place.
I was at the grocery store three times the day before the storm - the final visit to buy some beer for the guys who helped us move the boat. There was an older man buying provisions in front of me - three bottles of single malt scotch and a variety of canned items. He smiled at my little six-pack and said he hoped I had more than that to get me through the storm. I went through another mental check list. What did I have at home?
Of course, we can include ourselves in this group of procrastinators as we were scrambling to move our boat from the yacht club which had declared the mooring field closed Sunday morning, to the safer haven of the boatyard. We were unable to get the boat out of the water before the storm and realized that we were relegated to the mangroves.
Hiding boats among the mangroves is a favoured option for many – especially live-a-boards. The concept is simple: find a good spot that isn’t too close to your neighbour, tie one end to mangrove trees, throw out a couple of anchors on the other end, hope for the best. The end product is a spider web of boat and anchor lines making the trip in and out an interesting challenge.
Our trip was fairly straightforward after we were kicked out of our first spot which was deemed to be someone else’s hurricane spot since the beginning of time. Apparently we were not versed in hurricane mooring history and thanked them for this new insight. Max was determined to steer the boat during this trip which was a little tricky in light of all the anchor lines waiting to catch unsuspecting keels and propellers. We slipped into a nicely protected spot under the watchful eye of various new neighbours who were all more than willing to lend advice on where we should tie and how far our anchor should be from their line. Mark climbed into the mangroves and tied the boat, I threw out and secured a couple of anchors and then we went back to shore in our friend’s dingy. Good luck little boat. Be safe.
As I type this out I am actually having a hard time recalling the blur of what fortunately turned out to be a close call. Hurricane Earl was a category four storm that hit us August 30th in the early evening. Our team at work really stepped up to the plate before and after the storm - and were out until the 6pm curfew and(just before) it was lifted. School was scheduled to start this day and was cancelled once the storm was confirmed. Our two little men were dragged to work with us until we decided it was time to be safe at home.
At home - we watched the wind whip by with some impressive gusts and from a very unusual direction than the consistent easterly Tradewinds. As it increased in intensity, we watched the system take over - sinking a few boats and clearing some areas. We stood outside for a while watching the excitement until things started to crack and fly by at a concerning rate. I was having flashbacks from Wizard of Oz while I watched airborne branches, pots, debris . No witches on bicycles but I brought the boys bikes inside, just in case. The video clip below is taken from the deck.
The aftermath of this storm has been interesting and consuming. The day after the storm, Mark left the house first, breaking curfew with our (quasi)"essential service" status to be followed pretty quickly by the boys and I. There were many trees, branches and things blocking roads not to mention every police vehicle out with flashing lights. Julian sat in the back seat taking photos with my phone (great attempts...) – trees down, boats with no rig, and a lot of debris. Before we even awoke, we were getting call after call regarding generators that were down or not running properly. It was a very, very busy week where our team was working long days and getting many people up and running.
A good portion of St Thomas and St John was without power for up to a week. For those with functioning generators that provided seamless power – the outage wasn’t too inconvenient. However, for the many people without generators, there were huge problems where they couldn’t get water from their cisterns, couldn’t keep food from spoiling in their freezers or didn’t have ways to cook. After we got through the initial back log of emergency response – we then graduated to the next level of dealing with machines that had been running for a week and were getting tired. Refuelling became another challenge as the port was closed for a couple of days and the diesel supply was limited. We were desperately trying to get diesel from our supplier and others to fill our fuel truck and keep up with the demand. Patience levels were wavering and we all had to move quickly to keep businesses and homes running.
One of the other challenges was cellular service. For a few days the service was very poor. In fact the day after the storm it was just about non-existent which meant dispatching the technicians was difficult and customers had to be patient getting through to our office. Our phone lines were so busy that all lines were constantly ringing and there were always voicemails and messages. Slowly as service and functionality returned to the island – our demand continued as there was a steady demand for repairs and information on new machines. We started to sell smaller portable generators which were selling before they even arrived at the port. And we coordinated repairs of smaller units that were getting dropped off at our shop and quickly piling up. The schools and government offices stayed closed for a couple of days due to power outages.
Julian and Max finally started school on Thursday which was a very exciting day for everyone. Julian was so ready to start Grade Three that he was dressed and ready before I even got up that morning (5:45). Can we leave? Can we leave?
With a season unpredictable weather and busy school schedules - there is no time to lament the fact that the boat is now out of the water for a couple of months. Julian and Max, however, are continuing with their sailing program after school and on weekends. After ten weeks of a sailing program this summer, it is no wonder than even Max who just turned five years old is mastering sailing.
