HURRICANE IVAN

HURRICANE IVAN

We had been sailing for almost four or five months trying to position ourselves out of the path of any hurricanes. Our trip along the eastern US coast had been filled with surprises but then it was the first time I had seriously sailed being a farmers daughter. The closest I came to sailing was in an inner tube in our cow pond. My husband however was from Denmark and there was no doubting that Viking blood ran through his veins. He was never happier than when he was sailing.

We had been married only four years, give or take a few months when we had made the decision to stop working, rent our home and live onboard a sailboat. Oh, and I believe we also talked of sailing around the World. Yep, just like that. Turning eighty this year I must laugh at myself. Of course, just give up a teaching job, which paid a decent salary on Long Island and taking off in a sailboat which I knew nothing about was irrational, but that was then and this is now.

We had bought a $5,000 sailboat christened her Hasard which loosely translated in Danish was like playing cards with more than you had in your hand, in other words gambling. Hasard was another sailor’s dream gone amok. It took us over a year to repair and outfit the boat so we could live on it meanwhile we worked and saved money.That year was filled with its own set of stories but I’m getting off track, this story is about weather. Sailing is all about the weather. Vacations in the sun-drenched Bahamas drinking champagne on the beach is what I thought I had signed up for. I was up for a big surprise.

We were sailing from Long Island with sailing around the world as our loose goal. Once we hit the Carolinas we started to watch the weather a little more closely as we were approaching the season for hurricanes. People spoke of their insurance rates going up or being canceled until they reached Grenada Hurricanes never reached Grenada, or so we were told. Since we had no insurance, are you surprised? If Hasard got totaled what would be the big deal we would just return to New York and continue working. It wasn’t as if we were sailing a million-dollar boat.

So, after leaving southern Florida we leisurely island hopped through the Bahamas and the Lesser Antilles. We would throw out an anchor and hang for a few days simply enjoying the beautiful blue water and sun filled days and soft breezes.This time of year, you would always keep running into the same boaters and it was nothing but fun partying and talking about future sailing plans. We made friends with people from all over the world an aspect of traveling I have always enjoyed. It was a big international floating community. After leaving the US and British Virgin Islands we continued to places like Martinique, St. Vincent the Grenadines before reaching Grenada. June to November was the rule of thumb as to when hurricanes usually hit. We were taking a chance sailing through the Islands, but we always felt at least with hurricanes there was advance notice and the Islands were close to each other so we figured you could always tuck in somewhere.

We arrived in Grenada the last week of August in 2004. We were safe, we thought. As I said, sailing is all about the weather and every morning we would turn on the weather channel. I have to say the best weather report came from the Bahamians themselves. They would tell you to just look out the window to see what the weather was that day. I believe they were right.

Ivan started as a tropical depression off the coast of South Africa and slowly built in intensity. None of us boaters were afraid of it, after all we were in Grenada. Unfortunately, Grenada did not get the memo. As it churned across the Atlantic it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, it did a crazy loop turn and ended hitting Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Panhandle. Phew, we were safe. Famous last words.

We became close with another couple from the States who survived a hurricane years before and lost their boat. They were watching all the reports, but we just thought they were getting a little paranoid. They talked of moving on down to Venezuela just to be safe. Hey, we had been lucky so far, did someone ever say sometimes your luck runs out.

We were anchored in a bay with probably a hundred other boats. Safety in numbers? Boy we were wrong. Our friends left for Venezuela, and we sat waiting for Ivan to dissipate before heading south. We went into town, ate great food, and saw the sights. All was good. Then we started hearing some bad news. It seemed Ivan had taken another unexpected turn and was heading, you guessed it, right for Grenada.

Everyone started securing their boats. We set out 3 anchors and took down all the sails and everything on deck. All except one sailor left his boat and looked for a safe place on shore. We all ended up in an abandoned hotel that was situated midway up a hill. One of the locals told us it was the safest place as it had a stone arch, and an arch was the strongest structure and could withstand the winds.

Up we all trudged up not knowing if our boats would still be where we left them. Packing up food and liquor we all decided this was a fun experience, none of us had experienced a hurricane and the couple who did was long gone to Venezuela.

Standing under the arch and getting drunk I started to hear what sounded like a freight train, I think I felt the earth under me start to shift. Then, came a roar which was deafening. The harbor was between two mountains and from my position I could see the Atlantic waters rolling as if alive and becoming bigger and bigger as they approached land.

Ivan had arrived. A couple of the men my husband included decided to go back to the dock when the eye of the hurricane passed figuring they had at least a half an hour before it turned around. Wrong again. The rest of us moved to the caretaker’s part of the hotel that was one level lower and tucked into the mountain. Staring out the door we watched as trees were uprooted and flying diagonally across the sky. There were points where you couldn’t see anything and then a tree or a roof would fly by.

Meanwhile my husband and 3 other men and a woman from Australia took refuge in a men’s concrete shower on the dock. They figured it looked like the safest place as it was made out of concrete, except the roof. As the wind blew off the roof came. My husband said the woman looked up to say, “Honest this is the first time I’ve been in a shower with 3 men”. A little levity goes a long way.

Yes, the storm passed as they all do and we proceeded to go down the mountain and survey the damage. Ivan was a category 5 hurricane with peak winds recorded at 168m.p.h. I never expected to see our boat but other than pulling out an anchor and being hit by another boat, incurring minimal damage, we were still floating. We were one of a small handful of boats still intact. Grenada looked as if a giant weedwhacker had flattened every tree and house across the Island which it pretty much did.It took us about three days to figure out we had to get out. The harbor was full of floating oil and fuel from all the boats and people were getting a little crazy. The locals were stripping the destroyed boats and boaters had formed a watch group with guns to keep them away. This is where we drew the line. We were one of the few boats who did not carry a gun. We don’t feel anything is cured with guns.

When we made the decision to leave, we went to the customs office except you guessed it no office. It had been demolished. We could not check out of the Island, which is a law, you must check out before entering the next Island. We decided to take a chance and leave for Venezuela our next port.There was hardly any food for the Islanders forget about a bunch of boatless sailors. The night before leaving we heard gunshots. That sealed it for us.

As we sailed away, we viewed Grenada from our boat. There was nothing left. We had experienced our first and hopefully last hurricane.

As I sit here typing, I look around me forty years later. We’re living in our dream home. Where you ask. Of course, on the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina. Prime hurricane country. The difference is this time if a hurricane hits, I’ll be in my car heading west. One hurricane is enough for me.