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Story and photo of a boatless Akumal Bay (above) by Kate Robinhawk
Hurricane season is a time of year when all Akumalians worry about the weather. From June until October, we constantly check the Internet weather sites for news on anything brewing out in the Atlantic or closer to home in the Caribbean. And the truth is that hurricanes have arrived as late as November. We had a small hurricane in 1988, Keith, on Thanksgiving Day, but that is very unusual.
I, personally, do not worry about the storms until the dive shops begin taking the boats out of the water. So I can remember that day clearly. I just had checked the NOAA discussion on Ivan the Terrible and had breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed we were going to be blessed with no storm—then I heard the cries from the beach, "Jale! Jale! Jale!" My heart sank because I knew what that meant: the boats were being pulled out of the water. Did the dive shop guys know something NOAA and I didn’t? I went directly to the Akumal Dive Shop and asked Tarzan what he knew. It turned out he knew nothing; they were just getting a head start on the job.
-Larry Gindhart
-Larry Gindhart
Jumping right to work, and on a Sunday, too, CEA staff and helpful tourists began unplugging and covering equipment, and generally securing the CEA office. The CEA señores, our groundskeepers, working under the supervision of Mauricio Bautista, began the chore of boarding up the windows. Forget the tape, it won’t help! Jorge Vera bought more plywood for the dorm windows and Ukana office.
-Larry Gindhart
My office/kitchen became Weather Central for the CEA staff and interested tourists. Every time there was an update, we all gathered to talk about how it looked for us. So far, so good—the Quintana Roo coast looked clear, or so they were telling us.
However, having been through a Category 5 hurricane, Gilbert, we did not take our eyes off of the weather reports and we had a plan of evacuation for all of the CEA people. David was housesitting and had 2 automobiles we could use. Those vehicles, plus the two CEA trucks, were going to drive us out of town. We planned to head south in the opposite direction from the storm.
As luck would have it, Ivan was passing far enough northeast of Akumal, the final nail was pounded into the plywood storm windows, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief that we had been spared. We didn’t ask the señores to remove the boards from the windows for several days, just in case.
October is here and we are almost out of the woods. Keep your fingers crossed for us that, while we just had to do a practice drill and buy a bunch of plywood, things will continue to be much better for us than the hurricane-devastated areas. Our thoughts are with those who were not as fortunate during this hurricane season.
-Kate Robinhawk
-Kate Robinhawk
To learn about Larry Gindhart's work, click here.
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