Hurricane Ivan Before and After

[KathyV]

Apparently September 11 is also an important day of remembrance for the Caymanians because Hurricane Ivan devastated the Cayman Islands on 9/11/2004 causing terrible destruction, especially on Grand Cayman.

The link below by Deep Blue Images was posted on another forum and it includes before and after pics of Ivan that are very sobering, especially during the current threat of Hurricane Florence to the Carolinas.

I recognized some of the locations but not others. Two images that caught my attention were the picture of the Reef Divers boat "Cayman Sister" sitting on Yacht Club Road, and also the image of the Tarpon Alley dive site, covered in sand and devoid of life.

The good news is that the "after pics" in the collection show images of remarkable renewal and recovery.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the individuals currently injured or threatened by storms in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific!


Then & Now, Hurricane Ivan - Deep Blue Images - Grand Cayman Underwater and Topside Photography Experts

 

[mi000ke]

We were diving one of the sites off SMB last year that was named for a house located straight toward shore (I think it was Mitch Miller Reef, named for Mitch Miller's house) that no longer existed. The DM said the house was "Ivanized," which is now the verb they use to describe a structure that was destroyed by Ivan. Unfortunately a huge part of the island was Ivanized. One consolation was that Cayman adopted a much more stringent hurricane-resistant building code after that. Cayman has been pretty lucky since then, and I hope the luck holds out.

My brother-in-law lives in Wilmington NC, and while he evacuated in time, we're hoping he has a house to return to in a few days. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the storm- threatened residents as well.

 

[AggieDiver]

We were supposed to fly through GC that day on our way to Little Cayman. Instead we ended up waiting a few months and going in early November I believe. It was interesting after the storm, because for a period of time (about 3 weeks maybe?), they had closed the Caymans to all except residents and relief workers coming in to help. After that, they opened up the Sister Islands for passengers coming through GC, but GC remained closed to incoming tourists. Most of the airlines started flying to GC again within a few weeks, but Continental kept waiting until Friday night or Saturday morning to cancel their Saturday flight from Houston to GC. We were flying Continental on points, so we couldn't just switch airlines.

Finally, with our rescheduled date coming up, I started calling around to Continental to find out if they were flying for sure and to make sure that they knew we expected them to get us there that day whether they were planning to fly or not. Continental kept trying to tell me that the airport was closed to commercial traffic and I kept explaining to them that they were wrong and directing them to news articles saying they were open and that other airlines were flying. Finally, I managed to get a phone number for the Continental VP in charge of flight operations. I also managed to get a number for the director of the Cayman Airlines Airport system. The Cayman director was very helpful and told me that they were for sure open and they were waiting for Continental to tell them they were starting flights again. On the Thursday before our Saturday flight was supposed to go, I called the Continental VP and asked him if they were flying. He tried to tell me they were not because the airport was closed. I gave him the number for the Cayman airport head and said "This gentlemen assured me that they are open and they are eagerly waiting to hear from you regarding when Continental will be resuming their flights." No surprise that the next day we got a call from Continental rescheduling us onto a flight to Miami to connect with a Cayman Airways flight.

I always look back on the whole episode and laugh, because clearly Continental didn't want to fly a mostly empty plane down there. If the flight was cancelled because the airport was closed, they wouldn't be required to put me on another airline. But I don't think they expected me to start calling around and call them on their lie about the airport being closed. It made me much more independent regarding believing information given to me by the airlines in general. I rarely take what they say at face value anymore when it comes to planes being delayed or flights being cancelled.

 

[KathyV]

We were supposed to fly through GC that day on our way to Little Cayman. Instead we ended up waiting a few months and going in early November I believe. It was interesting after the storm, because for a period of time (about 3 weeks maybe?), they had closed the Caymans to all except residents and relief workers coming in to help. After that, they opened up the Sister Islands for passengers coming through GC, but GC remained closed to incoming tourists. Most of the airlines started flying to GC again within a few weeks, but Continental kept waiting until Friday night or Saturday morning to cancel their Saturday flight from Houston to GC. We were flying Continental on points, so we couldn't just switch airlines.

Finally, with our rescheduled date coming up, I started calling around to Continental to find out if they were flying for sure and to make sure that they knew we expected them to get us there that day whether they were planning to fly or not. Continental kept trying to tell me that the airport was closed to commercial traffic and I kept explaining to them that they were wrong and directing them to news articles saying they were open and that other airlines were flying. Finally, I managed to get a phone number for the Continental VP in charge of flight operations. I also managed to get a number for the director of the Cayman Airlines Airport system. The Cayman director was very helpful and told me that they were for sure open and they were waiting for Continental to tell them they were starting flights again. On the Thursday before our Saturday flight was supposed to go, I called the Continental VP and asked him if they were flying. He tried to tell me they were not because the airport was closed. I gave him the number for the Cayman airport head and said "This gentlemen assured me that they are open and they are eagerly waiting to hear from you regarding when Continental will be resuming their flights." No surprise that the next day we got a call from Continental rescheduling us onto a flight to Miami to connect with a Cayman Airways flight.

I always look back on the whole episode and laugh, because clearly Continental didn't want to fly a mostly empty plane down there. If the flight was cancelled because the airport was closed, they wouldn't be required to put me on another airline. But I don't think they expected me to start calling around and call them on their lie about the airport being closed. It made me much more independent regarding believing information given to me by the airlines in general. I rarely take what they say at face value anymore when it comes to planes being delayed or flights being cancelled.

Good for you, I am glad that you made them honor their commitments!

 

[KathyV]

We were diving one of the sites off SMB last year that was named for a house located straight toward shore (I think it was Mitch Miller Reef, named for Mitch Miller's house) that no longer existed. The DM said the house was "Ivanized," which is now the verb they use to describe a structure that was destroyed by Ivan. Unfortunately a huge part of the island was Ivanized. One consolation was that Cayman adopted a much more stringent hurricane-resistant building code after that. Cayman has been pretty lucky since then, and I hope the luck holds out.

My brother-in-law lives in Wilmington NC, and while he evacuated in time, we're hoping he has a house to return to in a few days. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the storm- threatened residents as well.

I vaguely remember Mitch Miller from when I was a little girl. He was a band leader and had a TV show that my Mother liked a lot. I didn't know that there is a dive site on GC called Mitch Miller Reef!

 

[cgills]

Cayman Sister wasn't the only boat carried over to the Yacht Club drive. Ivan picked up the entire "A" dock and moved it inland! After initial forecasts showed a potential direct hit on the Brac, Reef Divers decided to move their boats over to GC for safe keeping. Ivan changed course, and the rest is history.
Owning property on the island, we had originally scheduled a visit down to the island the first week of October that year. It was a month later when we finally secured flights and the OK to visit. keep in mind, two months after the storm, there were still many without power and running water.
Mitch Millers Reef was one of the sites that Red Sail conducted a reef clean up. Volunteers, including myself, loaded storm debris on to sheets for the crew to haul up.It was very disturbing to see household items, just as kitchen ware, furniture, kids toys etc in 35-50 feet of water. The surprise came , when we realized how quickly the marine life had taken up residence in various containers, plastic plumbing , and what all. After unintentionally relocating a few to the back deck of the boat, we started shaking everything out, before the haul to the surface
.Sponges, sea fans, and any soft corals for the most part were wiped off the reef. Hoping for better results deeper, I was able to visit Trinity Caves. For those of you familiar with the site, the Cathedral, at 95ft depth had had a beautiful stand of black coral just inside the swim through. it was stripped bare. The [power of angry seas is never to be underestimated.
FWIW. the photos above show the inside of a house in the aftermath of Ivan. I know the couple and the house.. It was not waterfront property, but rather across the street. The husband, was out in the yard when he saw a "wall" of water coming. he made it inside, but ended up swimming and pulling his way up the staircase, barely making it to the 2nd floor.

 

[mi000ke]

I vaguely remember Mitch Miller from when I was a little girl. He was a band leader and had a TV show that my Mother liked a lot. I didn't know that there is a dive site on GC called Mitch Miller Reef!

Yes - Sing Along with Mitch

Pretty corny, and even creepy, but we watched it all the time as kids. Mitch had a house on SMB, until it was Ivanized. So they named the reef off shore from his house after him.

Mitch Miller's Reef | Scuba Diving in West Bay | iDive Cayman

 

[AggieDiver]

My understanding...and it may be faulty recollection from being many years ago...but I thought Reef Divers actually ran their boats up into canals in the mangroves and tried to stake the boats out with multiple anchors. But maybe I am thinking of something else. I know the two main impressions I had underwater when we went to LC two months after the storm were that the swim through along the wall had been blown wide open, and that the reef was covered with juvenile fish. I have never seen so many little juvenile trunkfish since that time.

 

[scubadada]

We owned a very nice time share on Grand Cayman at Indies Suites until Ivan. Turned out the property was underinsured by the criminal owner, Ron Foster. So much for our belief that Cayman was civilized, we lost the time share for the limited insurance payment. We did well, had many years of use, others did less well. They turned the site into dorms for their offshore medical school, what would you expect? A blessing in disguise, we branched out and visited many other fine locations

 

[mi000ke]

We owned a very nice time share on Grand Cayman at Indies Suites until Ivan. Turned out the property was underinsured by the criminal owner, Ron Foster. So much for our belief that Cayman was civilized, we lost the time share for the limited insurance payment. We did well, had many years of use, others did less well. They turned the site into dorms for their offshore medical school, what would you expect? A blessing in disguise, we branched out and visited many other fine locations

We heard similar stories before we bought a place on Grand Cayman. We made sure it was built after Ivan (so built to the upgraded building code) and that we were adequately insured for hurricanes and flooding. Our insurance rates have actually come down a lot over the years. At least the insurance company is optimistic.