Hurricane Ivan news and updates here

[curly4dana]

this morning on the local west palm news, they say that jeanne has, yes, been upgraded and now at least 2 computer models show her coming ashore right here! what the heck????
still trying to loacte some friends in alabama...i guess their power is out and the cell lines are down...
this is some hurriane season!!!! dh going for the plywood as we speak...he's in construction, so fortunately he just has to call his supplier...crap!
i'll keep y'all posted as i find out more,..although it looks as though monday or tuesday could be the begining of another nitemare week for us....

[curly4dana]

[img]http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT11/refresh/AL1104W+GIF/160938W.gif[/img]
new update from noaa......

[LuvMyVette]

[font=Georgia][color=black][i]Hi Everyone:[/i][/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][i][color=black][b]Jamrenjer[/b] ~ I'm new here but glad to know that you made it through Ivan. So much damage was done and I feel so bad for everyone that has been affected by this tragic hurricane. I wish you and everyone the best of luck in getting things back to normal again. [/color][/i][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=black][i]Cayman was hit pretty hard and I have some pictures of the damage that was done on the island. DH/I own a timeshare on East End (Morritt's Tortuga Club) and we finally received some information yesterday on the damage. It survived with a lot of damage but can be repaired. A few of the restaurants we've been to on the island are no longer existing. Other places we've been too are either gone or destroyed beyond repair. Looking at the pictures last night floored me. We've been to Cayman several times and seeing the destruction there makes me speechless. [/i][/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=black][i]I have relatives and friends in Florida and thank goodness they are all okay. Damage to their homes but luckily none of them are homeless. [/i][/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=black][i]This hurricane season has been unreal this year... it's really scary. I hope by the time I go on the cruise next week that the Caribbean weather will calm down a bit! I'm keeping my fingers crossed![/i][/color][/font]

[font=Georgia][color=black][i]Take care everyone and for those out there that will/may get hit by Ivan, good luck![/i][/color][/font]

[curly4dana]

trish...do youknow anything about the stingrays in stingray city??? we were in gc in april and took a sotostour. we fell in love with the teenaged boy that took out our boat. he said his uncle owned the tour company. anyway, i was just wondering about those beautiful stingrays we swam with...especially darth vader the older black female..

[LuvMyVette]

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]Hi Curly4Dana:[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]So happy that you went swimming with the Stingrays.. isn't that a great excursion? My DH/I done that several times and we never get enough of them. Last time we done that I was talking to one of the guides and a female stringray ended up on my back. It was a riot but it didn't scare me. They are beautiful creatures and very mysterious. DH loves to feed them and I take the pictures. [/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]We actually saw the black female stingray and we were following it to get a picture of it. DH fed it and I got a great picture of it as well. She is one gorgeous stingray and huge! I think she is around 60 years old and about six feet long. I haven't been to Cayman in three years so a lot has changed since then.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]I don't know a lot about the stingrays except for the basics. Male/baby stingrays are small and tend to stay closer to the sand, females are the larger creatures and more aggresive than the male rays. Don't touch their tail, don't try to pick them up on your own, etc. [/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]Soto Tours is very popular in Grand Cayman and they have been around for many years. Never took a tour with them. The tours we went on was via cruise ship (RCI) or with our Cayman timeshare. Don't remember off hand if the tour with RCI was with Soto or not... been many years.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]Hope this was somewhat helpful but if you have anymore questions please let me know. How did you like Cayman BTW? Ivan caused a lot of destruction on the island, so sad.[/color][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][color=black]C Ya![/color][/font]

[curly4dana]

trish...darth vader is the black female and i have the greatest pictures of me holding her!!! i fell so in love with those strange creatures in gc. i also had been to gc about 15 yrs ago for a week of scuba with an old boyfriend, so it was great to get back last april and see the growth...i guess they'll have to do some real growing again...:(

i do have to tell you my dh is afraid of the water (since jaws) and he stayed on the boat and took pics instead...tee hee...he really missed the thrill of a lifetime!!

[LuvMyVette]

Hey There

Great to read your post! You must have been thrilled holding DV in a picture. WTG! Stingrays are beautiful creatures. The first time we did this excursion was on my honeymoon in 1995. I had two of the female stingrays "sucking" on my right leg. I freaked and made the tour guy come over and get them away from me. After a few minutes of being scared out of my wits I got used to them. Now I can't get enough of them. On another excursion the tour guy tossed squid at me since I refused to feed them and then the stingrays started following me all over the place and they were coming right up to me. It was a riot and the pictures were really cool. I can't wait to go back to Cayman but not sure when. It's going to take a long time to rebuild Cayman again...:(

Sorry to hear that DH is afraid of water. I bet he enjoyed it in his own way and seeing you having fun probably made his day!:)

[curly4dana]

actually, i kinda knew that my dh was afraid of the water, but i had no idea he really meant that when he said that...lol it really was funny, because we were already out in the water and i had my flippers on and was putting on my mask, when he says, "honey, i think i'll just stay on the boat, ok?" i looked at him like he was crazy and went in the water to snorkel. we moved to where the stingrays were and he still refused to go in the water...lol when i got back on board the boat, i still couldn't figure out why he wasn't in the water...when he told me it was because of the movie jaws(!), i fell over laughing!!! sorry...that movie freaked me out when i was 16, but i'm 45 yrs. old now....LMAO!!!!

anyway, i'd like to get back to gc sometime next year, but i;m not sure if the island will be back to health yet...such a shame...

in the meantime, we're staring down another hurricane lurking on our shores here in south east florida!!! oh boy...what fun! :( here we go again...*sigh* i'm keeping my fingers crossed jeanne goes east, east, east.....

[flamingosun]

Dana -

 

We have something in common.

I practically have gills - and DH is afraid of the water!

 

Several years ago, I booked the two of us for a swim with the rays. After listening to the instructor, and letting me help him get geared up, he stood ankle deep in the water and moaned through his snorkel "It's too cold... It's too cold... It's too cold."

He was actually afraid, but had managed to hide that fact from me for years. (He always had something else to do, or some plausable excuse before.)

 

Guess that's what I get for marrying someone who grew up on a farm way INLAND!

[curly4dana]

LMAO!!! i got the cold cold cold thing, too!!!!! do they all do that??? i kept saying it's warmer in the water, honey, but there was NO getting in that water for him! LOL

i have to say that when i was snorkeling off the boat and was enjoying myself, taking pictures and basically just paddling around, i suddenly looked up and realized i'd swam away from the boat and was out in the water all by myself...needless to say the jaws theme started playing in my head and, i swear, you never saw a woman swim so fast back to a boat in your life!!! i'd have won gold if i did that in the olympics!!! LOL

i LOVE the water, but occasionally i get nervous, because i'm not a very strong swimmer. i have a bad hip and 2 lousy ankles... but the rays were in shallow enough water that they were just plain awesome! the moray eels were pretty cool, too!

 

so, it looks like we may have gotten a break from jeanne and karl...whew!!!!!!!!! if anyone needs it, i'd say florida does...

[flamingosun]

Dana -

 

Last Sovereign trip, I convinced him to try Kayaking. Well, wouldn't you know it, we capsized about 200 yards from shore. It was all he could do to present a calm demeanor when the guide asked him if he was ok. I knew he was panicing inside. He was hanging onto the kayak for dear life... while standing in about 5' of water!!!

 

After ridding myself of my shoes and that annoying 'safety vest', and righting the kayak, I began swim-towing him and it back to shore. He kept trying to plant his feet on the bottom, which made towing a bit difficult.. (This is a 250 lb man, BTW)

It practically took an act of congress to convince him to just LIFT his feet and FLOAT... he was absolutely convinced that upon lifting his feet he would SINK.... WHILE wearing a life vest and hanging on to a floating object in bouyant salt water!!!

 

Needless to say, I'll leave him out of any excursions that don't involve completely dry land in the future.

 

Yep - we sure could use a break from these tropical events, couldn't we? Maybe we will even have power all next week! :)

[LuvMyVette]

:D LMAO! Your posts with your DH's are a riot! I feel bad for both of you but reading this made my night.:D

 

I'm like a fish and I hate getting out of the water, especially if I'm snorkeling or just hanging out. I was snorkeling in Cozumel one time (Chaukanaub) (sp?) and when I finally came out of the water I looked like a prune. Our friends were laughing at me but I didn't care since I had a blast. I wear a floatation device around my waist to keep me afloat when I can't touch bottom. For some reason I panic if my feet aren't planted on the sand. Also, since I'm "Mrs. Kodak" I need to focus on taking pictures so that helps as well.

 

DH is really good about the water and loves to snorkel. It's the only sport he likes to do. I'm the active one in the marriage (horseback riding, skiing, bowling, going to the gym, snorkeling, etc.). I guess he's the opposite ~ likes water activities but doesn't get into land activities. LOL I still love him!

 

I think Cayman is going to take a long time to get back to where it once was. Here's a link to the pictures that I've been looking at. Note: Since there are so many people on this site, it hangs a lot, but by "refreshing" the page or just clicking on another picture clears it up.

 

http://www.davidolson.com/Cayman/nfpicturepro/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0

 

C Ya!

[flamingosun]

This morning Jeanne looks like she has either decided to leave us alone... or to tease us a while longer before making her intentions known. One or the other.

 

(Sigh)

[curly4dana]

wow!!!! trish those pictures ae wild!! how sad...that just breaks my heart. my heart has been broken with the damage in gc, here, and now what ivan did on the gulf coast...geez!!!!! it's so awful! thank heavens jeanne has fallen apart, so far...fs, you may be right...she may just be out there taunting us...wouldn't that just suck???

by the way, my dh weighs in at 260, so i'm right there with you when it comes to the float, not float thing...LOLOLOL!!!

yup...excursions that involve LAND only for him from now on!!! tee hee...

[LuvMyVette]

Hi Dana:

Thought you would be shocked looking at the Cayman pictures. I nearly fell off my chair a few times looking at some of them. Mother Nature can be very powerful at times and it's sad that so many people suffer. So much is destroyed and it will take a very long time to rebuild what was lost and/or damaged.

Loved the "float comment"! LOL :D

C Ya!

[LuvMyVette]

Hi Dana

 

I went to the timeshare website and someone posted pictures of "East End" and the timeshare that DH/I own. The pictures made my eyes water, especially our timeshare. It survived but has significant damage. We had our honeymoon there in 1995 and been back there a few times already. So many memories there and now a lot of it is destroyed. Some pictures in the beginning is prior to Ivan.

 

Here's the link if you want to see more pictures.

http://www.eastend.demon.co.uk/Page.html

 

Whatever pictures you see with peach color buildings is part of our timeshare resort. The pictures with the pink buildings and blue roofs (more modern as well) is another timeshare next to ours by the same owner. The bar, restaurant, lobby, patio, windsurf building, dock were completely destroyed. Our actual building/unit are in a few of the pictures so it was good to see it even though there is damage to it. It's so sad seeing this but luckily I have a lot of memories there and many pictures.

 

I read on the Caymannetnews that it will take at least six to eight months for the island to get back into full swing. After seeing the pictures the last few days I definitely believe it.

 

Charley, Frances and Ivan sure left their mark, it's very sad.

[curly4dana]

soooo sad...i still need to find out how darth vader fared!! i have one emil out to soto tours...i'll try sending another one...

have a great nite!!! talk with y'all in tomorrow!!

[LuvMyVette]

Hi Dana

Glad you were able to obtain the pictures. It's really sad to see all of the damage and the island will never be the same. Still will be pretty but a lot of the landscaping was destroyed as well as homes and businesses.

Were you in GC just on a cruise or did you stay on the island as well?

Please let me know how DV made out. Sure hope those beautiful creatures are okay.

Take care and thanks for the reply.

C Ya!

[curly4dana]

let's see...when i was there in '88, i stayed at the hyatt for 10 days and we were stuck in some tropical storm for 9 days...i was living in nyc then, so i didn't even know anything about tropical storms or hurricanes for that matter! my ex boyfriend had to charter a plane for us to get off the island, finally, becuase no airlines were flying out. we wound up stuck in orlando for another three days...it was rough...lol all we could do was drive around in our jeep and drink all day...we couldn't go scuba diving or snorkeling because they had closed the beaches. the pool bar at the hyatt got a lot of our attention...LOL :rolleyes:

when i was there this past april, i was there on the brilliance of the seas, so i was only there for one day. we had lunch at a place at the pier called breezes. it was awesome! it was on the second floor and faced the pier and the food was terrific!! i wonder if it's ok??

 

looks like jeanne and karl are history???? i lost my tv today..my direct tv isn't working, so at last report this morning, i think i heard that they were going away??? yes???

whew!!!!

 

by the way trish...did you see my link to my cc group cruise??? rci all the way!!!! it's the jewel in 2006...great ship and an 8 day sailing! we LOVE rci!

[LuvMyVette]

Hi Dana:

 

I had no clue that the Hyatt was there in 1988 - wow! We were there in 1995 and it looked brand new. Amazing how they kept the place looking so beautiful over the years. DH/I decided to go hotel hopping on 7 Mile Beach since we were staying at Morritt's on the East End just to check out the hotels on that side of the island. Very pretty area and some really cool places to hang out at. Never ventured over there for dinner since it was an hour drive back to the timeshare resort. Sounds like you had one heck of a vacation there. LOL:) Hanging out at the pool bar is a great idea especially if you were extremely limited with activities! :D

 

Never been to Breezes but I did read about it in one of the travel guides. Sounds like a really nice place. We had a favorite in George Town called "Wreck on the Rocks". You could sit inside or outside and had a great view of the cruise ships that were in port that day.

 

I hope the two storms are history.. all of us needs a break. I'm leaving for my cruise this Friday for ten days and the last thing I need to worry about is a storm in the caribbean!

 

How long did you live in NYC for? I bet you are happy to be out of there. I go to the city maybe twice a year around the holidays and that's it. Keep saying that I'm going to go in the warmer weather but never make it out there. Someday...

 

I didn't know you were an RCI fan! That's great. I read up on Jewel and the ship sounds gorgeous! I haven't been on the newer ships yet but maybe next year for my 10th wedding anniversary (trying to work that out now).

 

Will check out your other thread - thanks for telling me about it.

 

Hope your TV will work soon. Hang in there!

 

C Ya!

[curly4dana]

i think it was '88 it might have been '87 even...the hyatt was amazing! we had a 2 story room with glass french doors that looked out to the pool...it was just amazing! it also helped that my old boyfriend was a gazillionaire...lol

breezes was inside and out, too...how funny! we sat on the balcony and ate luch and looked out at the brilliance and i think maybe the coral princess?? that ship followed us everywhere on that trip.

i was born and raised in ny, on long island. i moved into manhattan, i guess, when i was around 20ish and stayed until 13 years ago when i moved here to south florida. i didn't miss ny until 9/11 and ever since then, i want to go home so badly! i never seem to have enough time or money...lol too many cruises booked!!! think that might be the problem??? lol

hope you'll look at the jewel. the brilliance is her sister ship and i have to say, we loved that ship! not quite as big as the explorer, which really liked, too, but sooo beautiful!! anyway, the group's not until 2006...we're starting to get a lot of bookings...it's amazing! i guess the people that post on this board are REAL cruise enthusiasts, so booking a cruise almost 2 yrs. out doesn't seem weird to them...fine by me!!! lol

[LuvMyVette]

Dana

 

I'm going to send you an email on your aol account. Check it out in a little bit.