Hurricane Season in the Tropics

Hello Family and Friends,

Woohoo, Hurricane Season is officially over.  Did you guys realize the season was extended?  It starts June 1st and ends November 30th.  The season use to end October 31st.  This was our 1st season to weather the storms.  We had some nice ones.

I got say this was truly a learning experience for us.  Sure we've been on hurricane alerts while living in Houston and yes, hurricane Ike hit before we left states but let me tell ya living on an island really puts things into prospective.

Prior to moving here we did some homework on the hurricanes that passed thru the island of Guanaja.  Hurricane Mitch was the most devastating at a Cat 5 for 72 hours on this island back in 1998.  He liked it so much that he wouldn't move.  Well, just like Texas...The history of a major hurricane hitting the islands is once every 25 years.  No problem; we can handle that!  Yeah right!  Never have we paid so much attention to the weather updates as we did during this season.  One late evening we were surprised by a TS Alex that developed 8 miles from here and quickly turned into a hurricane as it passed us.  We were woken with the heavy rain and strong winds that night.   I should say, "I was woken".  Sleeping Beauty Bob heard absolutely nothing.  TS Alex was a wake up call for me.  You have to be prepared for this tropical season especially knowing how quickly a system can develop without much notice.   

I don't know how many of you have looked at map and know exactly where we are.  I've learned my coordinates are 16 latitude and 85 longitude.  (Apparently that's Island Living 101).  Anyway, we're a very small island off the mainland of Honduras.  But not only is Guanaja a small island of 9 miles long and 3 miles wide; we live on a much smaller island called Clark Cay (pronounced Key) which is only a 4 acre private island located on the south side of Guanaja.  Let me tell ya...we feel the winds a lot stronger out here than those on the island of Guanaja and not to mention we are at sea level.   This arrangement has shed a lot of light on owning your own island for me.  I used to think having your own island would be the bomb, I'm sorry to say I've changed my tune.  It's freakin scary out here.  Now some of the other cays around us are a lot more protected with abundance of trees, plants and have higher elevation in the center of their island; they can barely see the ocean from their house but not Clark Cay.  You can see the ocean all around ya.

This is our apartment.  As you can see its elevated and due to
where it sits on the property captures best winds all year around. 
We leave all our doors open and catches all the trade winds thru out the apt.
HOWEVER, with that being said... Not so comfortable in 50+ mph winds.

We have amazing views from our deck.
We can see all the bone and reef fish swimming by in the shallows



This is Clark Ark.  A 40 ft panga that is tied up to the dock out front
As you can see it's totally exposed to the rough seas during a storm.
We have the responsibility of moving the boat out to a protected marina
near by.

A view from the dock out front.  We face the island of Guanaja.
Literally a 5 min boat ride.
This is just a cloudy day with a few rain showers. 
Wish I had pictures of the ocean during a TS.
The waters were extremely rough with lots of large white caps;
which is why you want to move the boat out early.
You don't want to be caught in the waters under these conditions.

Hurricane season isn't bad at all as long as you have a prep sheet ready, monitor the system often, tend to the boats early and clean up lose items.   All the cabanas here on Clark Cay have hurricane shutters and are very easy to close and lock.  We made sure to move all the patio furniture inside and remove possible flying objects.  All you folks who like to find conch shells and cool driftwood to display around the grounds...Thanks!  We have to pick up all that stuff and put in the bodega.  ha-ha-ha.

Now here was the major problem I had during this time...BOB!
Bob thinks I over react to "possible" storms.  Which he is probably correct BUT, living on an island with little time to react isn't a bad thing.  He always "assumes" the storms will stay on path and by-pass us or worse treat them as tropical storms.  He thought I was crazy when I wanted to pack up things such as water, food, flashlights, dogs, etc and be ready to vacate the grounds for safer shelter.   We fought a lot needless to say.  Safety wasn't his priority.  He felt we could do everything at the last minute and be OK.  I don't operate that way.  I would rather be ahead of the game than scramble at the last minute. 

So the storms that were close to home and we monitored along the way was TS Matthew, TS Paula and Hurricane Richard.
TS Matthew went directly between us and the mainland.  We got zero rain but high winds.  The winds actually pushed the reef closer to us.  TS Paula was minimal too but turned into a hurricane shortly after she passed us.  Now Hurricane Richard which I had renamed to "Dick".  He headed directly to Guanaja at a Cat 1.  OK we knew Dick was coming and Bob didn't want to leave Clark Cay.  I did however make him sleep down in one of the other cabanas.  I sure as hell didn't want to be up in our apt with all that wind whipping around.  Like I said, we knew it was already a Cat 1 and could become stronger as it approached.   As the hurricane was approaching us; I was on the Internet "facebook" with all my other island friends.  It was actually fun and comforting.  They had all been thru hurricanes before and told me not to worry.  The island can handle up to Cat 3 without any problems.  Homes are built for this situation and the surge is minimal within the reef.  At 2:00 a.m. all the power went out and lost communications with my friends.  Bob and I got the dogs, went to one of the cabanas and barricaded ourselves in.  My sleeping beauty Bob was out like a light.  As soon as the hurricane was upon us.  I was up.  The windows were rattling and I kept shining the flashlight in Bob's eyes to wake him up.  I told him maybe it was best to move into the bathroom.  He wasn't too happy with me and told me to go back to sleep.  How in the hell am I suppose to sleep?  This is my 1st hurricane.

Well, Dick was renamed once again to Lil' Richard.  He actually  was a small Cat 1 with 60-65 mph winds by the time he hit.  The property sustained minimal damage.  We had some large trees uprooted and tons of debris on the beach.  Took us a full week to get the beach cleaned up.  We're very thankful that all the storms that came our directions and didn't amount to anything but that just gives Bob ammunition that I over react.  So, do we balance each other out?  I would say we stress each other out.  ha-ha-ha!  More importantly...He's alive to tell his side of the story.

Well, we are into Rainy season now.  Our friends at Half Moon Cay informed us the best time to trim all the plants is October 16.  That's when we'll start seeing some rain.  Well, I'll be damn!  Oct 14th the rain started.  It rained every day for 4 weeks solid.  After that we would have some nice heavy rain around 2:00 a.m. till 6:oo a.m. and then the sun would come out during the day.  Loved it.  November is just about over and the weather has been fantastic.  Cooler temps high 70's,  lots of sunshine and rain in the evenings or early morning hours. 

Well that's my tale of the hurricane season.  Hope you enjoyed.
As always wishing you and your family true blessings,
Bonnie

1st Honduran Surgery

Hey!  How is everyone doing?  It's been a long time.  Bob & I have been doing very well.  We got thru our 1st hurricane season and that's worth a post on its own.  (stay tuned)

Some of you may know that I've been dealing with bone spurs for at least 2+ years now.   It has been a painful experience but decided surgery wasn't an option due to what I've heard of the procedure, not to mention the recovery time. 

Well, my friend Sharon talked me into seeing her doctor on the mainland (San Pedro Sula).  I agreed but was looking more forward to shopping after the doctor visit.  I had no idea I would be engaging in this type of surgery especially so fast.

The doc said the spurs were pretty big in both feet but the one on my right; x-rays indicated that the bone spur had broken and the fragments were embedding on my tendon which was causing pain.  He was adamant that surgery was the only option if I wanted relief.  GEEZ, not what I wanted to hear but OK. 

Now, I've had a lot of surgeries in my short life but I gotta say this is the 1st where the doc doesn't accept credit cards.  Cash Only.  Apparently the system is for me to pay him upfront and he then pays the hospital, assistant, anesthetic and whatever else is needed.  Humm!  OK.  No problem I have the money in the bank.  I'll make a trip around the corner and get the cash.  Nothing is that simple.  Bob & I have a Honduran savings account.  Even though I had ID; I wasn't able to withdraw the money needed.  Apparently I must present my banking card in order to withdraw cash.  They can't just look up my account and take the money out.  Nope, doesn't work that way.  Bob managed to go online and figured out how to transfer money from our account to the docs account.  No big deal, right?  Wrong!  That was a huge task for Bob to do on his own.  Online banking is in Spanish folks but he got it done.  Way to go Bob! 

Now that the doc is paid; the procedure was scheduled.  Technology has come a long way even in a "3rd World" country.  The incision would only require 2 stitches and only a week of crutches.  The thing that concerned me the most and made me actually have nightmares was the injection to my spinal cord.  Why in the world would you need to numb from my waist down?  But, guess it's a common thing.  Fortunately, my friend Sharon had the same procedure.  She told me not to freak out when I wake and I can't move my legs.   What?  Are you kidding me?   She wasn't.  That is a horrible feeling.  Even though I knew what to expect; when I came to, near the end of the surgery and couldn't move...panic started to set it.  It's a horrible feeling when you try to will your toes to wiggle or try to bend your leg and not be able to do it.  But the anesthetic wore off after several hours.  I truly did have nightmares.  I woke up in a sweat w/the idea of spinal injection going wrong and being paralyzed from it.   Crazy, huh?  I must get that from my Dad.  He's the worst at assuming things to go bad.  Thanks Dad.  I appreciate that gene you passed on to me. 

The doc ruined it for Sharon.  She thought she was going to have the hotel room to herself for a night.  I was suppose to stay one night in the hospital but the doc said I was doing really well and could go back to the hotel.  Poor Sharon.  Nurse duty immediately and no disco dancing for her.   She was fantastic.  She made sure my foot was elevated, made sure my ice pack was full and if I needed anything she was there. 

I was feeling really good that evening.  We ordered pizza and played cards.  Sharon didn't have much sympathy for me and took great pleasure in beating me at Rummy 500.  My story is and I'm sticking to it... "I was under the influence". 

The doc paid me a visit at my hotel room the day after surgery.  He gave me the green light to travel back to the island.  Sharon went out immediately to purchased our airlines tickets and hook us up with a taxi.  What I had failed to mention till now is that Sharon & I did some serious grocery shopping before I was laid up.  We both had full coolers and extra bags to tote w/us.  Thank God for hotel concierge and airport helpers.  I was absolutely no help.  I remained confined to the wheelchair.  To tell you how much we had; we had to pay $200 extra to cover the extra luggage weight we checked.

We finally made it back to the island of Guanaja but damn; for such a short flight we transferred planes 3 times.   My foot was throbbing something bad by the time we got to Guanaja.

I'm proud to say I managed to get in and out of the boat successfully and without injury.  It wasn't lady like but I managed.

I have to give HUGE kudos to my wonderful husband, Bob.   He has been fantastic.  He has cooked me some fabulous meals (he Hates to cook) and has made sure I have absolutely everything I need.  He's been awesome.   He's going to hate that I'm writing this, but I have to...Do you know he followed a recipe and made me some of the best homemade biscuits I've ever had.  Delicious.  I'm thinking he needs to cook for me on a more frequent basis.  Can you hear him now?  Not going to happen.  Bob, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You are the BEST.

Well, in a few days my stitches will be taken out by Mike Jones.  (Sharon's husband)  I saw him this afternoon and appears he's taking great pleasure in this task.  Should I be worried that he wants to bring his garden tools to pull out the stitches?  ha ha.  I'm sure he'll do a great job. 

I'd say this surgery has gone very nicely and I'm feeling better each day.  I haven't had any pain and by this coming week I'll be crutch free and wearing my own shoes.  I won't be dancing but that too will come in time.

Take care my friends and hope that all is going well for you.  Big hugs - Bonnie