Omar pictures...a quick look at what we saw...

JC · Post by JC » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:38 pm

Our Omar experience in a nutshell...all of this took place AFTER we filled the bathtubs with water, pulled all of the deck furniture into the condo, grocery shopped, flashlight and battery shopped, and declined a generous offer to move to the Westin for safety!

Just before the curfew took effect last Wednesday afternoon before Omar...we left QM and here is what we saw...

No Happy Hour at Woody's...

No one on the street...quite an eerie feeling...

No one waiting for the ferry...

One last stop at the Beach Bar...where we visited with the die hards...Ruth, Ron, Capt John, Mary, Wade, Boo and others...

The storm moving in (from the BB)...

Everyting preparing...

Lavender Hill preparing...

LH Palms semi-peacefully waiting...

Cruz Bay before (notice NO ferries...all in the creek!)...

My cousin preparing...it's really beginning to rain hard...

Cruz Bay with the runoff progressively getting worse...

We spent quite a bit of time out on the deck...just watching...and waiting. Having the storm shutters on the condo gave new meaning to cabin fever. Thank goodness for rum and Amstel Light!

At 2:15am, we got up and went to the deck to see the storm "hit". These are the same palm trees as in the picture above. I overexposed the picture to see the trees. The picture cannot do the wind justice...however. We were able to stand on the inside portion of the deck...but no way could we make the corner to face Cruz Bay. We heard all sorts of guesstimates on the wind speed...anywhere from 50-80mph. I have no idea what the actual speed was...but I'll tell you it sure felt like 80mph...whether it was...or not! Back to bed! Once I was able to "see" the storm...I fell back to sleep and slept like baby!

And finally...the morning after!

Cruz Bay the morning after...the first ferry returns from the creek!

The curfew was lifted at 11am...we went to see what we could see!

Still...no one...

Clean up slowly began...

And to Maho we went...affectionately named Tootsie Roll Bay...at least for that day...

...but for obvious reasons...we did not stay. Wow.

We decided to head to Hawksnest. There we were pleasantly surprised! A little beach...with many rollers! Can you belive this gut though...this was really amazing...far right side as you look out...

The water that ran from the gut was incredibly cold cold cold!!! Must have been about four feet deep!!!

Remarkably...here hangs these beautiful little seagrape survivors!

An elevator was near necessary just to get back "up" to the sidewalk!

As a side note...this all occured after three days of what I call Monsoon Rain. I'd bet we had near 10 inches of rain from Sunday through Thursday morning. It was reported that 2.5 inches of rain fell at Trunk Bay in just 45 minutes on Wednesday afternoon alone!

And lastly...a side to the side...we awoke to the 6.1 earthquake the previous Saturday morning! At that precise moment...however...we weren't sure if it was an earthquake...or just the side effects from one too many at the QM the night before! Low and behold...an earthquake! Had we only known what was to come!

What a ride!

March...soon come!

augie · Post by **augie** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:54 pm

Thanks for sharing those.

The pictures of the Cruz Bay "ghost town" really look weird.

As a resident of a hurricane prone state, the nature shots don't seem as unusual to me, but I would imagine that being in hunker down mode on vacation would be - I mean, if I want to ride out tropical weather systems, I can do that at home!

David- n Hampton, VA · Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:00 pm

Great Pics JC, glad you and everyone came through okay. Your pics convince us all that the same St John is still there waiting for our pleasure.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:04 pm

Great pictures! Thanks!

Chet · Post by **Chet** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:07 pm

Thanks for the pix JC. Coral Bay turned into Chocolate Hole.

sailorgirl · Post by **sailorgirl** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:08 pm

I can't beelive how many boats were left in Cruz bay, it must e more protected that I thought. Chocolate hole pretty much cleared out.

Pianogrl · Post by **Pianogrl** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:25 pm

Wow...thanks for sharing your "adventure" with us. So glad everyone is ok.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:28 pm

Thank you for the photos! They are very interesting.

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:57 pm

Thanks for the pic's and report - a vacation you won't forget

Pia

Post by **Anthony** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:53 pm

Great photos - thanks for the report.

Ksea · Post by **Ksea** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:16 pm

Thank you for sharing the great pics. Now I know what a gut is

islandgirlstuckinVA · Post by **islandgirlstuckinVA** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:04 pm

Great pictures! It's so unusual to see Cruz Bay so deserted...I stayed at L.H. in May, can't imagine having to use the storm shutters...i imagine you would've needed A LOT of rum

Great place though!

Thanks for sharing!

ccasebolt · Post by **ccasebolt** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:04 pm

Great shots - thanks for sharing!

mcdomzal · Post by **mcdomzal** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:25 pm

Great pics! Really give those of us who weren't there a sense of what those of you who were went through.

nascarfan59 · Post by **nascarfan59** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:43 pm

Thanks for the pics and report.

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Omar pictures...a quick look at what we saw...

Omar pictures...a quick look at what we saw...