Hurricane Ivan Before and After

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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.
They did anchor in the mangroves surrounding the Yacht Club, like numerous other boat owners, but it was in Grand Cayman. A number of those boats ended up in the yards of folks living on Governors Harbor. The ground floor condos in our strata, had nearly 5 feet of water sweep through them, as did homes in Snug Harbor, and Brittania. among others.
 
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.
Ours had come down as well, and then the Caribbean as a whole, suffered badly last hurricane season, and once again we've seen an increase.
 
Here's some sage advice from Cayman Man (aka Barefootman, George Nowak) and he should know because he has often referenced Caribbean hurricanes in his songs, such as "Ivan the Hurricane" and the infamous "She Loves my Deck!" - that is full of smutty (but hilarious) innuendos and double entendres, but which is purported to be about losing and rebuilding his beloved house (and its deck) due to Ivan!

CaymanManBePrepared.jpg
 
They did anchor in the mangroves surrounding the Yacht Club, like numerous other boat owners, but it was in Grand Cayman. A number of those boats ended up in the yards of folks living on Governors Harbor. The ground floor condos in our strata, had nearly 5 feet of water sweep through them, as did homes in Snug Harbor, and Brittania. among others.

Correct, I should have been clearer...they put them into the mangroves on GC. Not sure there are any mangroves you could get a boat into on the sister islands.
 
Ah, Ivan. I was living on GCM, East End, when Ivan hit. Going through the hurricane wasn't too bad. Luckily we were on a small hill in a beach house that held up fairly well, with only one unexpected incident which we dealt with. It was afterwards that wasn't pleasant: no power for months, the nasty smell afterwards, limited access to the grocery stores, limited ability to drive around for the first couple of weeks, sand drifts all over the roads as well as boats all over the place on land, tore up roads (on one section the road was blocked by an apartment building so we drove on the complex's foundation to get around), and of course looting. The two boats we had in the canals ended up in someone's yard, which is what happened to all the boats in the canals. There was a huge boat on top of cars in the Hyatt parking lot (sadly I lost the picture of it) that was across the street from the beach. To my recollection all of the docks were destroyed during the storm.

It was a mess for quite a while. I stayed till the end of the year. Most of the work was clean up and rebuild. The dive operator I was with, Ocean Frontiers, opened up on Thanksgiving weekend with limited customers. It was rather nice when the British Navy came in with food and portable showers for us in the east end. The ironic part was I had an island junker for a car and it was the only one, out of all the dive staff, that survived the storm. Sometimes the hood would fly up when driving and I had to put water in the radiator every time I drove into town and back.

When I was in NC last week, just before the storm, I told my family going through a hurricane isn't too bad, so long as they are away from the surge, falling trees, or flying debris. It is afterwards that is not fun; quite unpleasant and frustrating to say the least.
 
Ours had come down as well, and then the Caribbean as a whole, suffered badly last hurricane season, and once again we've seen an increase.

Same deal with our Strata. The insurance rates ticked up this year due to the impacts of last year's storms.
 
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