Devastation on Ambergris Caye, Belize

Click the YouTube icon for a short video of the Hurricane and the aftermath

We have spent an amazing week at Belizean Cove Estates on Ambergris Caye, San Pedro, Belize.  We were supposed to leave yesterday, Thursday August 4, 2016.  On Wednesday night August 3, 2016, however, we survived Hurricane Earl, a category One storm (with winds gusting to 85 or 90 mph, it was close to a cat Two storm) which swept across Central America, with Belize  and our island right in its path.  http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/04/hurricane-earl-downgraded/.  So, all flights out of Belize were cancelled, and the first we could get on is Saturday.

My BIG regret is that Thomas and I are missing the Pelotonia 100-mile bike ride on Saturday!  Hopefully we will be back Saturday night to go to Dexter MI to see Jessica in My Fair Lady at The Encore Musical Theatre on Sunday.

It was amazing to see the frenzy and energy in the  town of San Pedro, and around our condo at the Cove as everyone prepared for the storm, shuttering buildings, closing store, moving boats to safety.  In a driving storm with very strong winds in advance of the hurricane, we moved my boat to higher ground.

I took some pictures of the waves already breaking more than 10 feet high over the reef, 800 yards out.  The storm is expected to make landfall in about four hours.  The surge was already several feet higher than normal, with waves beginning to cover our dock, normally three feet above high tide.

We battened down and prepared to wait out the night in our condo.  The wind strengthened and the rain started pouring, with the waves now literally washing clear up and over our storm wall and up tp the condo.  At about 10 PM the electricity went out, and the storm started in full strength.

With the wind howling and rain battering our condo, we went to bed and hoped for the best.

We woke up at first light and wend outside in the still howling wind to inspect the damage.  It was devastating to see the exent and the power of a category 1 hurricane.  I cannot image a category three or four!

Our dock was almost completely destroyed.  They found the roof of the dock palapa (see the first photo in this blog) at El Pescador, a mile up the beach.  A section of our dock was lying next to Capricorn, 500 yards up the beach, and the benches from our dock palapa was at our neighbors’, three properties north!

Later in the day we took a golf cart to San Pedro.  We were just stunned by the damage.  No dock was spared.  Everyone had suffered complete or near-complete loss of anything facing the ocean.  I was old by our local friends that they had never seen this much damage before, even when they had a category three storm.  Since this storm came directly from the ocean, the storm surge just took everything in its path.

The spirit of these Belizian people is unbreakable.  As children play in the park, our friend, René sums it all up, “The price we pay to live in Paradise.”

Click the YouTube icon for a short video of the Hurricane and the aftermath

Post Script: August 6, 2016

For many years we have spent at least a day catching lobsters with our friend, Will Alamilla, father of our friend Crazee Eddie Alamilla. Almost every time we would end up cleaning the lobsters at Wills “castle/shack” on the water South of Ambergris Caye, making fresh civeche, and drinking a few Belikins (the local beer). On Tuesday this week (the day before Hurricane Earl struck) our sevn-year-old grandson, Ryusei, was delighted to catch a few fish as we enjoyed the company and wisdom of this wise Belizean lobster fisherman, who has been coming to this shack since he was 14.  Will is now 74, and still dives for lobster to supply the restaurants in San Pedro every day. 

Will LOVES his shack built on stilts on the water.  Once we were sitting there, taking in the horizon, waves breaking over the reef in the distance.  Will, who has had a hard life on this island, put life in perspective for me when he said, “Aren’t we lucky.  People in the world are suffering and we are sitting her in paradise having a good time.”  I love

I just had a call from Eddie to tell me that Will’s shack had been completely washed away by Hurricane Earl. That is devastating news.

Our hearts truly go out to Will and his family.

Update: August 11, 2016

Today I was able to reach Will by telephone.  He reported that to date he has only been able to find about 10% of his lobster traps and that he is heart broken about his shack on the water.  He reported that, since the shack was located in the Hol Chan Marine reserve, he would not be allowed to rebuild it unless he reconstructs it immediately.  The problem is that with greatly diminished income as a result of the loss of his traps, he would not be able to afford the materials.

This afternoon I wired Will the money to rebuild his shack – a token of the appreciation and respect we have for Will, a gift from my family to Will and his.