Hurricane Wilma

Surviving Hurricane Wilma
By Ginny Ripley, Freelance Writer

March 2007

The last day of a vacation is always a bittersweet race against Preparing for a gourmet dinner on the beach, a worker digs a huge hole in the sand. time, trying not to waste a single precious moment, dreading the return to “The Real World” and the vile job of packing. Our first trip to the Turks & Caicos Islands had been a huge success. The water, beaches and snorkeling were as promised—simply spectacular. We had perfect weather during the day, and just some brilliant lightning and thunder shows a couple of nights.

We had saved the best for last: we were looking forward to Coral Gardens' "Gourmet Tide Affair" dinner on the beach. They serve a 5-course meal beachside, with a different glass of wine with each course to just 12 lucky people.

All afternoon, Charles dug a long deep trench in the sand that looked ominously like a grave site. We were told that dinner guests sit on top of the trench with legs and tables inside. Absolutely no shoes allowed, which suited us just fine. The hotel staff must not have seen the storm coming to have gone to as much trouble as they did. By 5 pm, the skies were definitely threatening, so they moved the dinner party off the beach and up into the open-air Beach Cafe. By 7 pm, we gathered to meet our dinner companions, and started on the 1st course, an incredible pumpkin soup with rich cream on top.

We w The fury of Hurrican Wilma approaches across the water. ere only two spoonfuls in when the fury of Hurricane Wilma's outer bands was unleashed. We all huddled together as far into the flimsy structure as we could as lightning came straight down in front of us like bayonets. The thunder was deafening and non-stop. Furious winds blew over the dinner table, crashing the wine goblets and china all over the place. Beach and pool furniture were rolling down the beach like tumbleweeds. And then the final blow, the power went out.

After 45 minutes of chaos, we all quickly realized that the storm was not subsiding anytime soon. The wonderful Coral Gardens staff calmed everyone, cooked our entrees on the gas stove and packed them up for us to enjoy in the relative safety of our rooms.

Fortunately, Mike and I pack like Boy Scouts these days. We dug out our flashlight, candles and hooded rain ponchos. Our umbrella flipped inside out in the first step outside. We helped people back to their rooms, which was a difficult feat with 8 inches of water obscuring the steps, wickedly slippery tile and total darkness beyond our flashlight beam.

The staff gave us a bottle of wine to enjoy in our rooms for our rescue efforts. At first, it was quite romantic. Candles, wine, beef tenderloin, grouper. But then you realize there’s no air conditioning, no running water, and only one flush in each toilet until who knows when.

It seemed highly likely that tomorrow’s afternoon flight would be cancelled. At this point, after nine wonderful days and seven wonderful nights, we were ready to call it a vacation and go home.

We opened windows and the roaring crosswinds helped us make it through the sweltering night to a gray-skied but eerily calm day. Phones were down so we were unable to check our flight. Computers were down, so we couldn't properly check-out--Verne said he would mail or fax our invoice. With the power still out, we couldn't get our rented DVD out of the machine, and will have to buy that when we get home.

We decided to hope for the best and get to the airport. Jerry's Taxi showed up a little early and we m The flooded streets were a difficult obstacle on the way to the airport. ade our watery way to the airport, taking back roads to avoid flooded streets, driving around underwater vehicles and windblown obstacles. All the while, the radio announcer was imploring people not to drive.

Inside the airport were more hot, miserable tourists. Trapped inside with two hours to kill, stifling heat, disgusting bathroom conditions, and squabbling kids (and who could blame them)?

To our amazement, our Delta flight departed right on time. We were only too happy to strap ourselves into the air-cooled plane and head for home.

Will we come back to the Turks & Caicos Islands? Definitely. Will we travel again during Hurricane Season? Probably. The deals can be unbelievable, and this region of the Caribbean is rarely hit with hurricanes. After our relatively mild—but wild—experience, we definitely have a lot of empathy for all the hurricane-hit people in Cancun, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Cuba, Florida, New Orleans and Houston. It was bad enough just being sideswiped by Wilma; we can vividly imagine what taking a direct hit must be like.

**All Photos by Ginny Ripley

If You Go

www.turksandcaicostourism.com