#EpicAdventure addendum – Hurricane Rina

Well. As if the adventure wasn’t epic enough, now there’s a hurricane upon us. We arrived in Cozumel late on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 19. One of our friends mentioned that day that he felt the likelihood of a hurricane this season was tiny, based on the storms and amount of rain the island had received…

We began preparations to receive Hurricane Rina on Monday, October 24. That day was basic prep; Matthew had planned to fly to Toronto for some gigs, leaving Thursday, Oct 27th. Due to the 5-day forecast for the storm, we felt it would be best for him to get off the island on Tuesday. So flights were changed, airport hotel booked (when one flies out of the Cancun airport, what is known as “the bag drag” is necessary – a ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen, followed by a taxi (expensive) or a bus (cheap) to the Cancun Airport).

Tuesday, October 25 we made sure we had lots of drinking water, filled the truck with gas and got some groceries. Non-perishable food items. It’s nice that here, milk and juice are “non-perishable.” Matthew left for the mainland, and I eventually went for a walk around the neighbourhood.

lots of people pulling their boats into shelter

the local bbq place... buena suerte, billy's!

here we go!

Right now it’s Wednesday at about 1:30 p.m. Sunny and hot at the moment. Hopefully, this remains a boring day.

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Wednesday, October 26 – turns out this day has been remarkably uneventful. Thankfully.

The overnight was a bit rainy, but as morning came on the skies cleared up. Humid day, hot, mostly sunny. Very little wind, a sprinkle of rain from time to time but nothing to speak of. The NOAA and various other weather forecasting agencies continued to downgrade the storm as the day went on; what began as a Category 3 hurricane, projected to hit the island as that on Thursday has become a Category 1, projected to make landfall as that or a Tropical Storm. Quite a difference. My family at home are quite relieved; it’s windier today in Wembley, Alberta than it is here, waiting for Hurricane Rina.

hummingbird

Cozumel Emerald Hummingbird, endemic to the island, nesting outside my kitchen window

awesome sky, on the eve of Hurricane Rina

It’s 10:37 p.m. on Wednesday. Here’s hoping tomorrow is as dull as today!

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It’s now 10:25 a.m. on Friday, October 28. Thursday was Rina’s day. And what a day it was… the “old timers” on the island who had been here through Wilma were unconcerned. When we woke up on Thursday Rina had been further downgraded to Tropical Storm, and was projected to remain that way and perhaps dump some rain on the island in the late afternoon/evening, and maybe cause it to be a bit windy. The day remained uneventful, humid, cloudy… around 4 or so, it started to sprinkle.

left off my front roof, around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday

left off my front roof, around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday

it just keeps raining...

...and raining.

it was pitch black and pouring rain...

...and then the lightning would flash. Wow.

casualty in the neighbours' yard

Today, we are returning to normal. My friends at KG Country called this morning, and we had a little chat to discuss the event, which you can listen to here. You can also follow them on twitter. They’re award-winning. They’re awesome. @TeraLee_ and @TheGregShannon.Yes, it is true; #ScottTheCat slept through the whole thing.

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~ by ktatkins on October 26, 2011.