Hurricane Sandy
We’ve been in tropical storms before, one squall, we’ve even been sideswiped by a hurricane from a great distance. Never have we watched satellite imagery to see a hurricane heading towards our island. It is eerie to say the least. The hope is that it will drop to a tropical storm when it travels over Cuba’s mountains.
Right now I sit in my room and marvel at the change. This morning we dove. There was no current or surge, and the sea was calm. The calm before the storm. On the way back in from our last dive the skies opened up and it hasn’t stopped since. We are now essentially driven indoors by the magnitude of the winds and tremendous amount of rainfall. I can no longer see the difference between the sea and the sky on the horizon. The palm trees are thrashing about in front of my pretty little sunny balcony, as ~ 50 mile an hour winds rip past us. The storm is between Jamaica and Cuba! I can’t imagine what it will be like tomorrow night when it hits us.
 |
| Keeping us entertained and indoors, David Craver and bartender |
The GO team is feverishly trying to engage us in games. The food and booze seem endless. A thankful planeload of Europeans left this morning, leaving behind a nervous group of travelers. Their plane (a 747) made a low pass to check the runway, came back and landed, but immediately took off again. The third time was successful.
If Sandy is here Thursday and Friday only, we may be able to fly out on Saturday. Unfortunately she will be in Fort Lauderdale waiting for us. How this will all work out is a mystery to us. In the meantime we are napping a lot, and I’m finishing up my second novel, the second in my espionage series following Counterpart. I’m looking into my crystal ball and I see a hurricane in one of my books J
Part Two, Day One;
Joe and I finally got hungry enough to leave our room. Once down at the Verve Bar we found large numbers of other hungry savages. Our little table of two grew and grew until we numbered twelve. Six couples; the American singer and his elegant Swiss wife, the New Yorkers, the French man and his tall slinky French Canadian fiancé, the Italian couple, and the Southern Californians. A 60 dollar bottle of wine (bought by the New Yorkers) was passed around and I managed to have my glass out just in time to have some 2009 Popillo Chianti. I am now rationing my wine for fear we will be here for a while.
 |
| check out the bent over palm tree to the left |
We all walked through the storm to the dining room and talked so long that the restaurant staff was standing around waiting for us. It is really amazing all the different things people do for a living! As you all know, Joe and I love meeting people. So interesting, especially when the stress of a hurricane is looming over everyone.
Well, I’m guessing the dive boat won’t be going out tomorrow. I’ll probably write some more. Don’t know if I’ll be able to publish this dialogue on my blog anytime soon, but we’ll see. It is so odd how this storm seems to be providing some sort of energy for me to write. Hmmm?
Day Two 10/25/12;
We are being called to a mandatory meeting. The winds are twice as high. The rain is sporatic. Sandy is level two now and heading our way. We are on the right side of the trajectory. I will never view a hurricane the same again.
The white chocolate bread is still yummy though.
We may be given food rations and told to stay in our rooms . . . not sure yet?
No comments:
Post a Comment