Friday, January 2nd Epic Windstorm!

In spite of having so few days left, this wasn't a day I could get out and do much. There were warnings of strong winds which arrived early and blew all day, and rains that would be coming in in the evening. The temperature was in the low 70's, and with the wind, it felt quite chilly out. Adding in the effect of the wind all day on the visibility in the water, and it wasn't the day for snorkeling. To top it off, my impending departure and having to waste a day put me a little into the dumps.

I decided to work on making some progress on updating this blog and spent the day uploading photos and creating blog posts. I did enjoy the peace and quiet and the process of writing and creating, however, by the time Harry got home I had gotten so stir crazy I was heading down to the beach to take stormy sunset photos.

I was energized by the waves crashing, the spraying surf crashing against the sea wall that protects the beach by the jetty-walk, and the palm trees thrashing in the wind. A group of like-minded storm watchers were on the jetty too, watching waves and foolhardy surfers and boogie boarders. By the time dusk was falling and I turned for home my blues were gone, and I felt quite bouncy with energy and good spirits.

The rain started later in the evening and rained really hard. The wind had been steady in the 20-25 MPH range, with gusts up in the 30's. We heard the wind was stronger on the windward side, up to 50 MPH. There were a lot of people on the island without power during the night and widespread damage from fallen limbs, toppled trees and other things being blown about.

During the evening I looked out occasionally and saw that water was accumulating in the street in large puddles. A pink blow up swimming tube had been blown in behind the building and various bangs and clatters warned of other items blowing about.

 We saw the aftermath of the storm everywhere on the windward side in the following days and were told by residents that the storm and its damage was unusual, worse even than the most recent hurricanes.