Bahamas in Conclusion

A storm swept our island again on Friday night. It was almost as bad as Hurricane Sandy. In some ways it was worse. Sandy kept a solid one-direction wind that slowly built up in speed. The wind drove the waves from left to right across our horizon. This allowed the reefs to protect us somewhat. The rain and the humidity were horrible, but it kept the sand on the ground.

The second storm, not even mentioned on the weather channel, was fairly dry and extremely gusty. Wind whipped every direction in gusts close to 100 MPH. walking on the beach Friday evening was difficult, but Saturday it was treacherous. It felt like a sand storm! I had to hold the beach-walk rail to keep from being knocked down. The bay looked like a giant Jacuzzi with the jets on high. Waves came from all directions, crashing into each other creating frothy white caps. Of course Joe and a couple of other fools felt it necessary to swim in it. I sat safely up at the beach bar with a Venezuelan friend and watched while trying to pin all of our belongings down.

This visit to Club Med resulted in some deeper friendships than usual. I think it was because of the hurricane. Instead of hanging out at the beach all day or diving, we were sort of stuck together in each other’s space. I remember after remember after our big meeting (when they told us we would be confined to our rooms), one older gentleman was really angry. He cornered the English speaking representative and starting raising his voice. He wanted to know “Why did Club Med say this would be a tropical storm? They should have told us the truth!” the rep tried to explain the vagaries of weather and how Cuba was supposed to knock it down to a tropical storm, but instead it just escalated. The man just got madder. Some older guests stepped in and instead of defending the rep or trying to convince the older guy they consoled him. A man his own age put his hand on the guys shoulder and said “Sir, it’s okay. We are going to be okay. Just stay calm.” The man looked completely deflated and even got teary-eyed. He looked around in embarrassment, but no one was making fun of him. Several of the older men surrounded him, gently reassuring him. I was in awe. I wonder if this was a little bit of PTSD peeking out.

I heard later that many of the guests snuck out of their rooms and went to each other’s rooms so they wouldn’t be alone. They played cards and the visiting guest talent, David Carver, played his guitar. Cigars and wine accompanied the storm. Some guests had preloaded movies on their laptops, so their rooms became mini home theaters. Most couples just stayed put and enjoyed the forced ‘alone time’ (I suspect their will be some babies named Sandy in July). The next day people were closer. We’d made it! Together.

I feel bad for the upper East Coast people who are going home to deal with this all over again, while we head off to sunny California.

The San Salvador Airport is amazingly small. I snapped some photos while we waited in the bar area.

The flight crew played a game involving dominoes while they waited for the plane to be made ready.

The passengers sat around in the waiting area and chatted.

By- the-way, Joe’s birthday was fabulous with a special cake and Ralph bought two bottles of champagne.