Turtle Gal
Contributor
Hi everyone just got this E-mail today thought I would pass it along. Turtle Gal
Today is day one of Internet access.We get public water 1 hour in the morning & evening. Power is still about 3-4 weeks away. There is hardly one telephone pole standing,even the concrete poles snapped.Ivan was one god fearing storm. The force of the wind and the duration from 9PM Saturday to 6PM Sunday is hard to describe. 12,500 residents have now left the island and over 5,000 are homeless. One day,I would like to open your bottle of Port and recall the experience.
Our West Bay weather station down loaded the following data on September 15th,91/2 hours of 165 mph winds and two spikes of 240 & 265 mph.Cobalt Coast and Divetech was defiantly on the right side of the island during the storm surge.The massive damage on the South and East end was the big surge and two massive waves.It has been 17 days since the storm and I have not gone East of Georgetown. It would be way to depressing to see the destruction.The Hotel and dive shop just lost some shingles,a couple windows,wet carpets and the dock perfrormed like it was designed to do,blow out the boards,Now everyone wants my dock design. The dock structure was back together in 3 days and the hotel was full of felief workers(communtcation,power company & Insurance workers). That is how we faired. Our sailboat broke all 12 lines and 4 anchors and drove herself into the mangroves,turned herself on her side and the keel into the wind. When the storm wind dropped down to around 80mph she righted herself and then the surge came down and floated her back into the canel with 3 hooks in the mangroves. The eye witness said it was like she had a mind of her own
The dive boats took a good beating but they are now up on stands with patching and painting going on. They should be back in the water in about 3 weeks. All pretty with a fresh new look. The boats were scheduled to be pulled and painted this fall anyways. Gov't wants a October 29th opening date for tourist. Some hotels (Westin,Holiday Inn & Hyatt) could easily make that date but they will have to diplace relief workers and homeless.Relief workers (specialist) staying here at Cobalt think a November 15th date is more realistic. Some hotels and Condo's are looking at a March 2005 opening with others like Indies Suites (no roof) maybe June. Then there is the East end, maybe one year away.
We have gone diving a couple of days and found the reefs out front Cobalt to be in great shape with minimal sponge damage, lots of marine life (turtles,rays,and eels)and cold water (before Ivan 85 & after 81). Some of our staff have been diving for the Dept of the Enviorment to report on the other sites.Bonnies arch,Orange Canyon,and Big Tunnels have had 5 feet of sand removed,exposing more tunnels and swim throughs.It is a whole new world out there.Stingray City dive sites and sand bars are all fine with hungry rays.It is amazing that only the 12-20foot depth range had the most damage. That is what we see in our normal Northwesters storms.
We start tomorrow putting back Turtle Reef dive shop with new doors,windows and patio trellis. We will have her looking pretty in a couple of weeks with a new paint job. But Nancy and me feel that we will open our doors November 15th.We have endured a massive historical storm and plan on all staff and us taking a weeks vacation in early November before we open again. We now apperciate the simple things in life, like a cold beer and a shower. Nancy and Brandee have been keeping the staff well fed with our veggie diet. Nancy had stocked the shelves knowing it was going to be a bad storm. I used the Sat phone on the sail boat to make calls to order generators,suoolies and then chartered a cargo plane to bring down the supplies. Still have not seen that bill,But it was items needed to start recovery.
All is well and thanks for thinking of us.
Jay & Nancy Easterbrook
Today is day one of Internet access.We get public water 1 hour in the morning & evening. Power is still about 3-4 weeks away. There is hardly one telephone pole standing,even the concrete poles snapped.Ivan was one god fearing storm. The force of the wind and the duration from 9PM Saturday to 6PM Sunday is hard to describe. 12,500 residents have now left the island and over 5,000 are homeless. One day,I would like to open your bottle of Port and recall the experience.
Our West Bay weather station down loaded the following data on September 15th,91/2 hours of 165 mph winds and two spikes of 240 & 265 mph.Cobalt Coast and Divetech was defiantly on the right side of the island during the storm surge.The massive damage on the South and East end was the big surge and two massive waves.It has been 17 days since the storm and I have not gone East of Georgetown. It would be way to depressing to see the destruction.The Hotel and dive shop just lost some shingles,a couple windows,wet carpets and the dock perfrormed like it was designed to do,blow out the boards,Now everyone wants my dock design. The dock structure was back together in 3 days and the hotel was full of felief workers(communtcation,power company & Insurance workers). That is how we faired. Our sailboat broke all 12 lines and 4 anchors and drove herself into the mangroves,turned herself on her side and the keel into the wind. When the storm wind dropped down to around 80mph she righted herself and then the surge came down and floated her back into the canel with 3 hooks in the mangroves. The eye witness said it was like she had a mind of her own
The dive boats took a good beating but they are now up on stands with patching and painting going on. They should be back in the water in about 3 weeks. All pretty with a fresh new look. The boats were scheduled to be pulled and painted this fall anyways. Gov't wants a October 29th opening date for tourist. Some hotels (Westin,Holiday Inn & Hyatt) could easily make that date but they will have to diplace relief workers and homeless.Relief workers (specialist) staying here at Cobalt think a November 15th date is more realistic. Some hotels and Condo's are looking at a March 2005 opening with others like Indies Suites (no roof) maybe June. Then there is the East end, maybe one year away.
We have gone diving a couple of days and found the reefs out front Cobalt to be in great shape with minimal sponge damage, lots of marine life (turtles,rays,and eels)and cold water (before Ivan 85 & after 81). Some of our staff have been diving for the Dept of the Enviorment to report on the other sites.Bonnies arch,Orange Canyon,and Big Tunnels have had 5 feet of sand removed,exposing more tunnels and swim throughs.It is a whole new world out there.Stingray City dive sites and sand bars are all fine with hungry rays.It is amazing that only the 12-20foot depth range had the most damage. That is what we see in our normal Northwesters storms.
We start tomorrow putting back Turtle Reef dive shop with new doors,windows and patio trellis. We will have her looking pretty in a couple of weeks with a new paint job. But Nancy and me feel that we will open our doors November 15th.We have endured a massive historical storm and plan on all staff and us taking a weeks vacation in early November before we open again. We now apperciate the simple things in life, like a cold beer and a shower. Nancy and Brandee have been keeping the staff well fed with our veggie diet. Nancy had stocked the shelves knowing it was going to be a bad storm. I used the Sat phone on the sail boat to make calls to order generators,suoolies and then chartered a cargo plane to bring down the supplies. Still have not seen that bill,But it was items needed to start recovery.
All is well and thanks for thinking of us.
Jay & Nancy Easterbrook
