Well, two storms having gone by us in about a week’s time. Wilma passed us last week leaving a path of devastation behind it. And Hurricane Beta passed us well to the south last night, making landfall on Nicaragua. The storm was considerably smaller than Wilma, but a category 2 nonetheless. It’s breaking up over southern Nicaragua, though it can form back into a hurricane when its center goes over the Pacific.
Today’s Halloween, and I’ve got a couple of parties to go to, but thanks to what’s left of Beta, we’re being deluged with non-stop rain, so that may affect things somewhat. In the meantime, I’m just keeping dry down below.
So, gotta get this off my chest. Over the past week, more and more details have been coming out as to the true level of devastation that Wilma inflicted on Mexico and Belize. Both countries’ coasts have sustained a significant amount of damage, as most of us all know by now.
Isla Mujeres, Andiamo’s first port of call after leaving Florida last summer, was absolutely slammed. The storm lingered over it for more than a day, just pounding it. It was a direct hit, as it was on Cozumel, Cancun, and Playa del Carmen.
There were many cruisers and boats “summering” there, which made absolutely no sense to me considering the close calls last year. After going through Ivan last year on Isla Mujeres, I have no idea why ANYBODY would risk getting caught in a major hurricane.
But yet, some boaters are so unaware and I’ll venture to say rather foolish enough to choose to be there during the busiest hurricane season ever, and it’s not even over yet.
We know that island’s devastation was pretty complete and total. They will be without power and potable water for weeks, perhaps even months. Most of the island is beneath a foot or more of sand and mud. It is not pretty. What we don’t know is how the boats that were there fared out, presumably nestled in the lagoon, like Andiamo was last year. Because of the cutoff in power and communication, there is just no way of knowing yet.
I know I learned my lesson to not be that vulnerable during what I expected would be the busiest hurricane season ever recorded (and it is, and it’s not even OVER yet). You’d think that others would have learned too. Why people don’t learn how to respect hurricanes enough to take proper precautions and just plain AVOID THEM when they can be avoided is beyond me. The people on the island didn’t have the same choices and options that boaters did.
I wonder if the lesson was learned now. Perhaps at too high a cost this time? Who knows.
We’ll see next year about this time, how many boats insist on staying there through the summer. Ok, rant over.
In the meantime, things continue to get done as planned on Andiamo. A few medium-sized projects to go and things should be just peachy. I might get done with things so soon, that I might JUST be able to take a couple of weeks in November and head down to Nicaragua and Costa Rica to do some inland traveling. We’ll see what happens.
Oh, and some blog news! Thanks to Mietsie, we have some improvements going up on the site. Just some updated graphics, new pics on the header, and some other stuff. I just got tired of this look and having to see the back of my head every time I posted to the site, so new stuff!
And I’m installing an online photo gallery that will make it easier for me to post and manage my pics. This is why I haven’t made any new updates to my Europe photos. I just need to make a couple of cosmetic updates to the album, and we’re in business. So stay tuned!
Oh, and Happy Halloween! 
Comment from: mietsie [Visitor]
We did it, yay!!!!
mietsie
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Comment from: Bonnie Thompson [Visitor]
A certain “young lady” is trying to get in touch with you!