Hurricane Dean Eyewitness Report - Gay, Ed, and Martha

John: hello.
Regarding hurricane Dean: as we tracked the hurricane on the Weather Channel and NOAA website frequently, we kept seeing it was coming directly for Jamaica, and south of Grand Cayman. So whatever hit Grand Cayman, we are 80 miles away. This helps us, with the winds being a bit less dramatic, but these storms, can always at the last minute change course (as we saw happen.). Since we knew it would be a category 5, we acted as if that was going to happen. All of our guests left the island on Saturday, August 18th, on the morning flight, except for four who decided to stay, at least they thought they would stay, but then a mandatory evacuation was announced.
Saturday morning, we started prepping. The top pieces of the dock were dismantled, put on a trailer and brought to the resort. The idea is that the base of the dock, will survive (although ours did not this time). There were about 4 docks that were taken out and about 4 docks made it. We put away anything that could be flying debris. Rope lights, chairs, tables, water maker pump pulled from the beach, hammocks, coconuts off the beach. Anything that can be made airborne, can become a danger to property and surely, people. That is why during a hurricane you NEVER go out, until the winds have subsided. That is how people get hurt. They want to “see” what is happening, and flying palm fronds, etc, become very dangerous.
At about 3:00 we were looking good, but still had the dive boat to secure up on our hurricane mooring (the anchor is about the size for a cruise ship, HUGE rope also.), pull the skiff, and board up the windows. At about 3:30, our guys had heard about a charter flight out of Cayman Brac, and they wanted on it. Martha and I convinced Gladys to go. So, Ed, Martha and I continued putting up the boards, until late in the day. There was an outside chance of an early flight out, but we knew we would not make it, timewise. Martha also has a cat, and did not want to leave her cat. Our decision was based on the securing of our dive boat. That was more important to us than getting off the island. A policeman came by, and had us sign waivers if we “chose” to stay.
Sunday, we finished boarding up the resort, then went and boarded up two of the four condos at Sunset Point. Then we went to secure the dive boat, and pull our skiff out of the water, and tied it to a telephone pole. Once we had everything secured, we started getting set up, for however many days, we would be bound inside. The first shocker was that at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, they shut the power. Typically, they will run until it looks like a threat to any lines, or damage to the power plant. Power was DOWN, Sunday 8:00 a.m. We found out later that they told the power plant’s engineers that they HAD to leave. They were willing to stay. So, now with NO power, we set about getting flashlights, food in igloos, water, drinks, pillows, etc, to get as comfortable as possible. We made a port a potty, because no running water, with no power. Ed rigged up a car battery, a converter, and for about 5 hours on the stillest night, we had two fans, that helped us sleep for a few hours. You could not open windows, because of possible damage, or rain. We stayed at our new house, which is like a fortress, with all the block. The condo did well also, and we were lucky that the new sea wall, deterred any waves from coming and stealing our sand. Ha. So, not knowing how bad the storm was, where it was, was the scariest part. I read as long as I could by flashlight, then slept a little. At 6:00 a.m. it sounded as if there was a lull in the wind, so I went to the beach to see HUGE breaking waves, crashing the shore. As I looked from our house, to Gladys’ about 1/ 4 mile away, it looked like the waves were breaking and they were matching the size of her house, from where I was………. Unreal. Looking towards the sound was this solid white water, and white mist flying off the sea. The sound was almost deafening, as the waves crashed on the beach. At our condo, the huge rollers were coming from the south, and coming from the north, and at our corner, for some reason, that is where they meet. They come together in this high spray of water, and help each other cancel the other out. The leftover water, washes towards the beach, but since all it sees is a seawall, it rushes up, gives up, then falls back to the ocean. We were lucky on this one.
Monday, with no power, we decided to get outdoors, after being cramped inside with no power. Ed ran the generator at the resort, so we could shower, and also, for a couple of hours, to keep the food. Many of the residents, thinking to buy up food, so that they could survive for awhile if needed, lost their food, since the power was shut off.
Martha and I walked the beach by Pirates Point Resort, and found LOTS of conch up by the tree line. The waves were so big, they crashed on the beach and threw conch up high. We walked about a mile from the resort, and threw about 25 conch back into the water, hoping they would stand a chance of surviving. They could have never made the march back down to the water. the hard part, was finding a quite spot between waves, to get close enough to throw the conch back in. !!!! This area is inside the reef, yet there were 4 foot rollers coming in! Crazy.
Tuesday, about 9:00 a.m. power came back on. That was three full days without power. Neither of the other islands, lost power at all. Along with loss of power, came no phones. We could not call and tell people how we were doing, until Tuesday. Even cell phones would not work. That was a bit scary. Tuesday afternoon, people started coming back in. We lost only a dock, and that is due to the fact that the storm took a huge turn and went somewhere else. What is scary is……….. what if it would have hit us full force?? I never worry about the rain, or the wind. It is the sea conditions that become dangerous. Flooding, surge,,,,,,,,,,,, it could have been really much worse. We are SOOOOOOOOO glad that Dean, decided he liked Mexico better than Cayman. Safe in Little Cayman.
Gay and ed and Martha.