IRMA

So on September 6th 2017. we experienced Hurricane Irma.

(this isn't a usual post guys and gals, there wont be any pictures, its mainly our diary of how it went

we felt it was more important than just posting pictures of people's loss)

5 weeks ago today, we saw Hurricane Irma destroy our home. (our boat and the island)

a place we'd come to love, a place where we had made life long friends, found our favourite restaurants and enjoyed the local activities.

What we saw after it hit was pure devastation.

This was our experience before and after:

Sunday 3rd Septmeber 9am 03/09/17 ------------ [66 Hours to go]

We'd said goodbye to our guests from the previous week, and waited in trepidation to find out if our guests for this week would cancel or not. Whilst working to prep the boat, the food and drinks, James and I kept looking at weather updates. We'd seen this tropical cyclone building over the past two weeks and finally the whole island knew the inevitable.

A hurricane was heading towards us. Currently swaying between a cat 3 and a cat 4

we knew it could make some serious damage.

Finally the call came that our boat HOME was the only one that would be heading out, as our guests hadn't cancelled. (all other boats had their guests cancel). Safe to say I was not happy and ended up crying with frustration. All I kept thinking was 'How!? how can these people be serious about going on a yacht charter during a hurricane?'

To add to the pressure, our windlass (the motor that hoists and lowers the anchor) had been paying out chain on its own, just before the guests were due to arrive.

Brilliant.

a boat with a possessed windlass is just what I need when I'm worried about huge winds hitting our island in a few short days.....

Luckily our Engineer Joe manages to botch it enough to pull the chain back in and give us his best estimate

"uh...you'll probably get 80% of it working....it's all I can guarantee-sorry!"

so with a band aid applied to this issue, we carry on. At this point my nails are bitten to death and I've cried at least 5 times. James is trying to comfort me, as is the whole team on the dock.(thanks to Alina especially)

Our plan is to leave the marina, we will anchor one night outside the marina, head to Tintamarre, then anchor in Grand Casse for another evening. After that we head immediately back to the marina and get the guests off. (pretty expensive day sail if you ask me!)

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Monday 4th September/ 8am --------- [42 hours to go]

We've arrived back in the marina after a questionable few days out of 'charter' if you can call it that.

The guests leave for the hotel, and we begin our journey to the Dutch Bridge from Marigot. James has been told we have to make the bridge otherwise we'll be stuck without protection. So we go full pelt and race our way around just in time!

During the journey I was packing our things, now this isn't your usual pack for a holiday or anything. we were told pack your essentials, you'll be back on the boat by Thursday.... [Yeah right]

Once we've packed down the boat; removed our suitcases with the few things we packed, taken the food and drink for guests, we arrive at the hotel. Safe to say it didn't look like the strongest structure. Now I'm not saying it's a shack, it's concrete but there's no wooden boards covering the windows. (like the rest of the buildings without hurricane shutters in Simpson Bay)

Our manager Neil asks multiple times why they haven't done this procedure and they tell us it's plexiglass, a bendy glass that will withstand. [oh how we laughed]

Appalled at this our group begins to decide what is the best course of action. Right now we have water, power, wifi etc and a ridiculous amount of food because 4 boats were due to go on charter and only our boat ended up going. nonetheless we have tons of food too. We decide to stay the night there but would reassess in the morning if we should move to the Atrium Hotel across the road (it has hurricane shutters and looks much sturdier than

The weather reports are telling us it will hit the early hours of Wednesday morning (2am onwards). The mood is odd, we're happy to not be chartering, but the group is a mix of anxiety, excitement, fatigue and more as we drink at the local bar down the road.

James and I end up swimming in the sea, losing our flip-flops and getting my wallet soaked. Not what either of us expected but I think storms bring that craziness out in people.

you forget to be 'normal' or 'proper' and just go a bit nuts. [kind of easy to see why people are crazy after it all passes too...]

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Tuesday 5th September ------- [18 hours to go]

We wake up and once we join the group we decide that we should move across to the Atrium and all be together rather than risk all being in separate rooms.

this doesn't go down well with everyone in the group but eventually everyone accepts it and stays together.

We begin the process of moving everything over from the baker suites to the atrium (well-what is necessary and that we can carry)

We manage to cook some food before the power is shut off and the enormous hurricane shutters are officially closed by hotel management.

That's it. We're on lock down for the night, we drink, we talk and eventually some of us go to sleep.

I struggle to sleep and end up outside in the corridor with Denis the maintenance guy for our boats.

It's a very different feeling from the previous night. Nobody's filled with the panic induced excitement. everyone is downright nervous.

once we are all in bed, we don't have long till Big Tom on the floor wakes us up with 'Ah fuck! there's water on the floor!'

Lights on!

We all wake up, it's around 2am, theres a bit of a weird moment as we know the room is flooding because of the amount of rain being brought in by the outer layers of IRMA but there's very little we can all do about it.

So we do what brits do best.We make toast and tea. and mop. for some unbeknownst reason, we begin mopping....

2:30am------------------- 0 HOURS to go.

BANG. or rather POP!

The tiny window in the kitchen/diner/lounge area that didn't have a shutter on has just had a section get sucked clean out.

the barometric pressure instantly hits everyone and we all clasp our ears before grabbing our items and hurrying out of the room (which is a struggle because the hurricane is literally suck the door shut and we have to work together to pull it open!)

So we make our way down to the spa,

We already see some people moving about the halls, we've all grabbed our bags and moved, some of us are crying, i did, but i kind of sucked it up, even though it's terrifying.

The noise is insane. unlike anything you have ever heard, once we are in the spa, i realise just how many of us are there and i start feeling panicky. (i'm usually fine in small spaces but i think the stress got to me) so i stand by the door to the spa, and speak with our manager.

4am ----- Nearing the eye of the hurricane

it's getting worse as the hurricane eye draws closer, we're seeing trees and metal roof's being flung around from the entrance of the hotel. We start hearing more stories from more guests staying in the hotel. One lady in particular told us the ceiling in her bathroom had collapsed and after that, we decided as a team to help the hotel and try to evacuate rooms in an orderly fashion.

The hotel staff were at a loss, they explained they only had four people on duty and they would all rather be at home with their families.

We instantly said we'd help and they gave us their muster list and a master card for the doors.

We have radios on us and surprisingly they still work in amongst all this crazy weather!

Im stationed on the third floor, Michael is on the 6th and there are some of our team still in the spa.

James, Ryan, Neil and Big tom begin the lengthly process of knocking on doors from the 9th floor to the 1st!

this took over two hours, and whilst stationed on the stairs we had many people asking what's going on, and why were they being taken out their rooms. we escorted many down the stairs, the elderly and the young. many carrying suitcases and some not knowing if they should bring their belongings or not.

It was a crazy time, we explained best we could that it wasn't safe in the rooms as ceilings were collapsing and that if we were downstairs in the spa and the surrounding rooms/atrium we could account for everyone's safety.

Some of course were extremely annoyed to be 'woken up' or 'bothered' by a load of young captains banging on doors.

Ryan (our lovely Alabama friend and 1st mate) told us that one room they banged on; the guest actually said 'what's going on?'

to which ryan replied 'sir, it's okay we're sailors we deal with this weather a lot'

6am (i think?) the eye of the storm (roughly, it's hard to remember exactly when)

as fast as it came, suddenly the noise and rain and wind have dissipated. it's eerily quiet, we start seeing people moving around, coming out of their homes. There's cries of 'Is that iT? are we safe?'

to which some reply yes, but lots reply 'NO! this is the eye of the storm!"

we watch in horror as people come out of their homes and start cleaning huge metal roof slates from the road

some of us in the hotel start shouting to them (the gate to the outside is locked)

after about an hour the eye draws to a close, and the noise picks back up even more than before

we see the trees and roof's start flying the opposite way than previously.

all we know is that we're all exhausted with very little sleep, lots of work evacuating the rooms and now we're all standing/sitting in the lobby and waiting for the hurricane to pass.

myself and ryan are watching the glass roof above our heads, and realise the huge

'sails' that dart from balcony to balcony have these metal eyelets the size of softballs on.

One's broken loose and is darting everywhere, we see it nearly hit the glass roof above us, and we start getting nervous,

Just as we're deciding what to do about it, the eyelet hits the glass roof and cracks it.

In our shock i shout out like an army sergeant (thanks to army cadets im used to shouting loud....haha!)

'EVERYONE INSIDE!'

it felt like freaking Moses, people swept from the room to hide either side of the atrium! like the parting of the seas!

i walk over to Neil our manager, who rolls his eyes and says 'give a girl a radio!'...

okay so the glass didn't smash but it was hectic outside and the wind was blowing those eyelets out like crazy.

11am-------- Hurricane passes SXM

the hurricane finally slows and the dutch army guys who have been staying in the hotel start to organise themselves, and we see them bringing dogs to the hotel, and discussing whether to let us out immediately or not.

Finally the call comes and we're allowed to move.

instead of leaving straight away, i decide to head back to our room on the 3rd floor, grab the bag of beers and bring them to our group. we all have a beer and a toast to making it through 9 hours of the craziest storm of our lives.

But now what?

Myself and james decide to walk back to the boats, i take an instant print camera with me and we walk through the town of simpson bay. What a mess. We check on the dive shop and it's still in tact (thankfully) one of the Chinese restaurants is completely missing, another building is split in half, many don't have roof's but the thing we notice most is

the kindness from people. as we walk we're stopped and asked if we have enough water and food, or do we want somewhere to stay?

it was heart warming that in the wake of so much devastation people still put other's before themselves.

you really can call it the 'friendly island'

we arrived at the dry dock, and i had one of those horrible moments like in the movies where my hopes were up, i see ONE mast still upright. It's larger than most and i think its our boat , HOME safe and sound.

I run around the corner of the wall and realise the mast that's up is just one of the small boats park the opposite side to ours.

i turn and see our boats. all collapsed on the floor, masts going everywhere and debris everywhere.

I burst into tears and james comforts me. we're in shock.

this is our home. our baby. our livelihood. Destroyed.

We realise we need to get onto the boat and try to get our stuff back. people are already in the boat yard taking fuel from smaller boats. We need to move fast.

James manages to climb up the boat, the door is blocked and wont budge so he drops in via our hatch that is smashed open. meaning 200mph wind and rain got into our cabin

he picks up clothes and some other items, we grab these bags and head back to the hotel to discuss the damage of the boats.

luckily i took photos, when Ian the head of maintenance is finally found we share these and he appreciates the proactiveness.

The next few days

with our hotel rooms wrecked by flooding and wind/damage we decide on where to stay, half can stay in the baker suites which most the rooms survived (much to our amazement!)

and ourselves, tom and Alina, big tom and Jen decide to check out the villa the company has on the island, we manage to get in (the keys given to us by ian couldn't work because the door jam had swelled too much)

We move in, and manage to start up the generator below the pool, we manage to have lights, an oven and power to. the freezers and fridges.

Time to cook!

We manage to make plenty of food to keep the peace between the two groups, us at the vill and those at the hotel. (there was some cabin fever anger that sparked out from both sides)

after a few days of drinking warm beer, eating what we can and being worried by the sounds in the dusk of the night (we'd heard stories of robbers and gangs)

we get told by Neil that 10 of us can get on a boat and head to Nevis a nearby island that wasn't hit by the hurricane.

WHAT?! AMAZING!

then people start arguing saying we can't leave those behind.

I think by this point i'm so tired and understand that some (the single people) wont take places if the crew couples can, so me and James volunteer (probably to the anger of some in the group) but it starts a dialogue that ryan points out what i've been thinking, let the couples go, theres not point separating them and the single guys can do more in terms of keeping the villa secure and there's plenty of food/water for them there.

So the decision is made, the crew couples and Arzu (Neil's wife who managed to hurt her ankle) will be leaving.

Cue the 5 hour wait in the baking sun at a cruise terminal. Some arguments with the 'manager of the dock' who was a bastard and didn't want us leaving the island. Then arguments with dutch customs who say we need to check out of the island!

(there's not dutch customs building anymore....and no internet to check on our documents!) Technology isn't good for every situation!

Finally we come to some kind of agreement with them (thank to Neil, who knows what he did but it worked!)

and the 10 of us say very weary goodbyes to big tom and Neil, and begin the three hour bumpy ride to Nevis.

Holy crap i've never been more scared, every-time we went over a bump i shot out of my seat!

Im also incredibly sunburnt by this point too!

We arrive in the dark after being stopped in st kitts by customs, having our disgusting smelly bags checked and finally making it to Nevis. We have no idea where we are or where we're going but a taxi picks us up and drops us to the houses that Magnus (our ceo) has arranged.

myself, James, Alina and tom are put in one house and the others are all in the house down the hill.

We see the villa and i think all of us just looked and thought (did we die?)

the lady gives us a tour and then leaves us to get settled. We haven't showered in a week and we stink. but then tom opens the door to the outside and we find an infinity pool!

Tom dives in and we all join him, splashing and thanking the world for water! (it's a serious commodity and luxury item to us now)

that felt like a movie ending right there.

We definitely died and went to heaven!

Cue showers, food, chatting and finally sleep.

we're safe.

Prologue:

the single guys who were amazing to let us couples leave first, all arrive a few days later, all tired and full of more stories of the crazy island.

the crew from the BVI's are rescued by the other bases boats and arrive to stay on the island too.

we watch Hurricane Jose pass and wait in trepadation for Maria to pass

we all manage to message our families and we spend a week here before myself, James, Tom and Alina will head back to the UK for a while (tom and Alina stay in the UK, but me and James head back to the Caribbean in November)

some others head back to the UK too, but some head to other bases and carry on working.

all in all it's been a crazy experience, with some very scary moments and some happy memories made with close friends.

we all relate to one another after going through what we did, and though we'll never be the same, we're all stronger for having survived as a team.

(but seriously. never again.)

ps: sorry for the long ass post,

i've cut out a lot of what happened after as in hindsight it seems irrelevant and a bit petty at times- tensions were high and whatnot- but i hope you don't feel the need to see pictures we took during it. they seem in poor taste now, there's so many online and people we know are even in them or their buildings are anyway. it just seems sad to post on people's loss.

We hope you understand :)