Here Comes Hurricane Dean....!

[DandyDon]

Thanks - Cont Air put a special flight into Cancun for tomorrow, and I switched to it before it filled. Monday probly would have worked, as Dean seems to have slowed his progress some, but I want to sure I'm gone. I will be

 

[alohagal]

Scroll down the web page for real-time view of Hurricane Dean

http://www.gocayman.ky/content/view/46/102/

 

[snepdiver]

Thanks - Cont Air put a special flight into Cancun for tomorrow, and I switched to it before it filled. Monday probly would have worked, as Dean seems to have slowed his progress some, but I want to sure I'm gone. I will be

Let us know when you get back to Texas all safe and sound, Will ya?

 

[Jim Baldwin]

The hurricane is a bigger threat than ever, and everyone is evacuating as possible.

I booked a flight out on Monday last night - took an hour, then went out on a boat trip this morning, while the others stayed behind to depart or to make their escape arrangements. I think I got my reservation changed to a new flight just added by Cont out of Cancun tomorrow. It's a hassle, but it'll be me out a day early, home a day earlier. Got to leave the hotel around 3am for the 5am ferry, then get a bus to Cancun to check in early, blah blah blah - gonna be a loooong day.

OMG, a cab just delivered 4 tourists who just arrived?! I suggested they get back on the cab and run for it like the rest of us, but they didn't want to hear it. I had to offer that suggestion; bet they remember it when they're hunkered down in a sealed room listening to H.Dean howling.
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Don,

I had a call yesterday afternoon from my buddy who owns a dive op on Cozumel. He was updating me on all the things he had been doing to prepare for the storm. He had just gotten his dive boat in drydock yesterday morning. His crew had gotten more fuel for the generator and his wife had been buying extra propane, water and food.

He had secured his home and mine as well and I feel honored to call him a friend. He and his wife and children along with his boat captain and 1st mate and their families will all be staying at our house since it's on higher ground and has a whole house generator just in case they're out of power for a while.

He tells me that yesterday afternoon about 3 p.m. he gets a call from two divers that just arrived on Cozumel and are calling him to arrange for diving for Sunday and Monday.

He said he told them that no one was diving and that everyone that could has gotten their boats out of the water. He asked them if they had been looking at the weather and they told him that they figured that they would get a couple of days of diving in before the storm hit.

Let's see, boat's out of the water, shop is secured, plywood and storm shutters in place, everything that can be done is being done and these crazy people have just arrived and are upset that he is not diving on Sunday and Monday. They do not have a clue what they're in for. Either a direct or indirect hit from a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane.

Don, here you are working to find a way off the island and these people are upset that their vacation plans have been disrupted. Doubtful they will be able to get off the island and will get to see, "what it's really like." I bet after a week they'll be looking forward to getting back home.

 

[DandyDon]

That is sad. Saw that most of the shops on front street i Coz were already boarded. I've been at the Cancun airport since 7-something to make sure I got out as well as out of the way. Many people slept on the floor here last night, some will again tonight.

 

[Marvel]

That is sad. Saw that most of the shops on front street i Coz were already boarded. I've been at the Cancun airport since 7-something to make sure I got out as well as out of the way. Many people slept on the floor here last night, some will again tonight.

A problem which could have been alleviated a bit if more divers had not been so intent on getting in as many dives as possible before leaving &/or had recognized that there was a very real possibility that this would happen & not gone to Cozumel at all. As long as people are down there pushing for diving, these businesses are going to do their best to accommodate them until it is no longer possible. After all, if they say no, those same divers are going to go back to the States & kvetch about how they were denied a "perfectly good day or two of diving" because businesses & individuals were more intent on protecting the future of their businesses & their families.

I'm sorry, Don, but I have to say that, given how long you stayed, you are the pot calling the kettle black when you continue to speak disparagingly about the divers who were continuing to come to Cozumel. By staying as long as you did, you & others contributed to diverting human resources best put to use ensuring that their businesses could reopen as quickly as possible & their families were safe. In the overall scheme of things, just how important were those extra days to you & the others who stayed so long? That is the point that many have been trying to make to you all along but you never seemed to get.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok Ty

 

[Belmont]

I'm sorry, Don, but I have to say that, given how long you stayed, you are the pot calling the kettle black when you continue to speak disparagingly about the divers who were continuing to come to Cozumel. By staying as long as you did, you & others contributed to diverting human resources best put to use ensuring that their businesses could reopen as quickly as possible & their families were safe. In the overall scheme of things, just how important were those extra days to you & the others who stayed so long? That is the point that many have been trying to make to you all along but you never seemed to get.

Now, that's pretty harsh, I give the locals enough savvy to figure when it's time to pull the shutters. I figure that if every one stops traveling to those destinations weeks before any impending storm they would be doubly hit in their pocket books.

There is a difference between being already on site for a week and arriving the day before the storm hits to witness a "cool event" and thus becoming a burden on the resources.

 

[DandyDon]

Now, that's pretty harsh, I give the locals enough savvy to figure when it's time to pull the shutters. I figure that if every one stops traveling to those destinations weeks before any impending storm they would be doubly hit in their pocket books.

There is a difference between being already on site for a week and arriving the day before the storm hits to witness a "cool event" and thus becoming a burden on the resources.

Yep, and thanks for that. I wasn't going to argue - certainly not at the time...

I did feel iffy about going at the time, with a hurricane headed that way to arrive about 5 days later, but - a 5 day forecast is not very meaningful to me, I really don't know much about hurricane behaviors, and at the time it did not look like I could get any of my $2,000+ back if I canceled. I made the best decisions I could with the info I could find, and when I asked her for suggestions - made the best of the answers, ignoring the rude ones.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Yep, and thanks for that. I wasn't going to argue - certainly not at the time...

I did feel iffy about going at the time, with a hurricane headed that way to arrive about 5 days later, but - a 5 day forecast is not very meaningful to me, I really don't know much about hurricane behaviors, and at the time it did not look like I could get any of my $2,000+ back if I canceled. I made the best decisions I could with the info I could find, and when I asked her for suggestions - made the best of the answers, ignoring the rude ones.

No, you've got to switch to the black hat - you know you want to

You might check your DAN coverage - I believe there's trip interruption coverage, which you probably qualify for. Heck if a cat 5 hurricane headed straight at you doesn't qualify you, I don't know what would.

Hope you at least got some good dives in.