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Tropical island report: Ivan the Terrible
Oct 22, 2004 23: 05 EST
Published Oct 15, 2004 08: 51 EST
A few years ago, we sailed into the tropical bay of Bequia. Santa Maria was in a bad shape. Something was up with her engine and the electrical. Slowly, our lamps died down, and then everything else, unit by unit. In fact, we entered the harbor on a dark and silent wreck.
The weather was bad, we were freezing, and we needed a boat mechanic - fast. Paddling our dinghy around the harbor for a while, we heard of Fixman.
A Norwegian, named Peter, he too had come to the island once on a boat in need of repairs: Or more exactly, it lacked a mast. When that was taken care of, Peter tried to leave again, but a rogue wave wrecked him soon after and Peter returned to Bequia. Learning from his own hands-on experience he set up the boat-fixing shop "Fixman" and stayed for the next dozen years, at times writing about his life on the little island. With the Florida hurricanes fresh in memory, here's a 3-part series by Peter the "Fixman" on hurricane Ivan's recent visit to Bequia:
We were well prepared
One hundred and ten years have passed since Bequia experienced a hurricane, that was way back in 1894. There is of course nobody around today to tell the story.
We are used to the regular warnings of approaching storms during hurricane season, and we are well aware of the horrible consequences of being victims to the unbelievable forces of Mother Nature. We have seen and heard repeatedly on TV and radio about the damage and suffering caused by these tropical disturbances. So we are well prepared.
During my past twenty years on Bequia I have witnessed so many occasions where these warnings have sent people scuttling for plywood, batteries and supplies – and nothing happens.
The storms have turned away and passed by, some a bit too close, but far enough away not to cause anything else that a sleepless night and a hangover the next day.
This time there was to be an exception.
All the church leaders organized a prayer-chain
Only a couple a hundred of miles out in the Atlantic, hurricane Ivan was charging straight for Bequia. The massive storm had been on a straight and steady course for several days and there didn’t seem any reason for Ivan to change his direction.
But then, as it seemed as doomsday itself was approaching, all the church leaders along the Windward Islands got together and organized a prayer-chain to persuade the Lord to make the threatening monster go away or, best of all, just make it disappear.
And lo and behold, Ivan did a wobble and veered a bit to the south as if Someone had told Ivan to do so because not enough people further south down in Grenada took part in the praying scenario...
Good news for us and bad for the "Southerners"
The meteorological experts up in Miami said it was due to an upper level shear, whatever that means. Anyway, it was to be good news for us and bad for the "Southerners".
I’m not going to bore you too much trying to describe the screaming winds and descriptions of stuff flying through the air, but I have to mention that on several occasions I could hear a sort of elongated moooooooo in between the shattering gusts. The only thing that came to my mind was a possible flying cow.
Tomorrow part 2: Wine and sex in the face of Doom's day
Image of Bequia courtesy ambafrance.org
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