Browsing: Hurricane Irma

Cruising Life
By

Bitter End To Reopen, Starting with a New Nautical Village

Almost two years after it was devastated by Hurricane Irma, the Bitter End Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands is coming back, starting with the building of a new quarterdeck that will overlook the marina (see the rendering above). The resort, one of the most popular in the British Virgin Islands, has been closed since the hurricane in September, 2017. Since then, the owners have removed damage from more than 100 buildings and cleaned up and restored more than 64 acres. Now they say they want to reopen the Bitter End with a nautical village, yacht management programs, a…

Cruising Life
By

Recovered from Irma, St. Barts, an Island Gem, Has Regained Its Luster

With a combination of French and Swedish history, St. Barts is one of the most alluring islands in the Caribbean. Its harbor, in the main city of Gustavus, has more than a touch of Caribbean-style cosmopolitan charm, while the pristine white-sand beaches and occasional  anchorages around the island make it a worldwide cruising or vacation destination. The New York Times just ran one of its popular “36 Hours” stories about St. Barts, giving a sample itinerary of what to do and where to go if were able to get there for that period of time. For anyone cruising or chartering there,…

Cruising Life
By

Eight Months Later, Canals in the Florida Keys Are Still Clogged from Hurricane Irma

Eight months after Hurricane Irma, canals in the Florida Keys are still choked with debris, while county and Federal officials are debating how to pay for the cleanup. Meanwhile, according to the Miami Herald, the aftermath of the hurricane has also complicated the recovery of seagrass in Florida Bay. To date, only 16 canals in the Keys have been cleared, involving about 3,000 cubic yards of debris, leaving another 97,000 cubic yards (with everything from awnings to RVs) to go. The debris is blocking boats from using the canals; it also is blocking the canals for manatees and other marine…

Cruising Life
By

Navionics To Remap South Florida Waters Hit by Irma; Will Work with Local Community

When Hurricane Irma hit Florida on Sept. 10, it damaged marine resources, changing and rearranging shorelines and bottom contours, making existing charts and maps out of date. Now, Navionics, working with industry leaders and the South Florida boating community, is starting an effort to remap the area’s marine and inland waterways to make them safer in the future. The month-long remapping will start on Jan. 19, and individual boaters can help. You can record and upload sonar logs to Navionics from any boat, because Navionics accepts sonar data from all major brands. Boaters can record sonar logs on their plotter…

Cruising Life
By

Coast Guard Removes 1,968 “Displaced” Florida Boats To Avoid Pollution

The toll is staggering. So far, the Coast Guard and other government agencies have removed 1,968 vessels from Florida waters that were “displaced” by Hurricane Irma in September – meaning they sank or were damaged so badly that they couldn’t be moved by their owners. (Some 1,434 of these were from the Florida Keys.)  And more boats are being added to that total every day. The Coast Guard is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove the boats based on their potential environmental impact. But they also are urging boat owners…

Cruising Life
By

Harvey and Irma Hit 63,500 Boats, Almost an All-Time High, Says BoatUS

Now it’s time to put some numbers on the damage caused by this season’s two hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, and they aren’t good. In fact, BoatUS says that 63,500 recreational boats, worth $655 million, were damaged or destroyed by the two storms. That dollar amount includes damage just to boats themselves; it doesn’t count damage to marinas, waterfront property or anything else. By comparison, five years ago Hurricane Sandy caused the largest loss ever, with 65,000 boats destroyed or damaged. This hurricane season Irma hit 50,000 recreational boats, causing $500 million in damage, while Harvey hit 13,500 boats and caused…

Cruising Life
By

St. Thomas Family Survives Irma, Killing Chicken with a Slingshot for Food. Finally Take a Catamaran to Safety — San Juan.

A St. Thomas family survived Hurricane Irma for six days, killing chicken with a slingshot for food, until they finally paid a catamaran company to take them to safety — Puerto Rico. Here’s the story they told to CNN as they wait out their second historic storm in the Caribbean. Jessica Mangiaracina and Bob Perkins thought they were ready for Hurricane Irma. They bought extra food and supplies for their home in St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, for themselves and their two children, ages 7 and 9. But then Irma hit as a Category 5 storm. “It’s like…

Cruising Life
By

After Irma, Foxy’s, with Almost Nothing Left, Is the Command Center for Jost Van Dyke

Now, a week after Hurricane Irma tore through the British Virgin Islands with historic force, Foxy’s, the iconic beachfront bar on Jost Van Dyke, the must-stop destination for most of us who’ve cruised or chartered there, is a mess (see the picture, above). As The New York Times reports, without electricity, running water or phone lines, the island’s 298 inhabitants are surviving on what they have left: a sat phone, a chain saw, some food. But Foxy’s has a working generator and people are rationing food and cooking meals twice a day there. “Anyone that comes, we feed,” said Tom Warner, Foxy’s…

Cruising Life
By

See What Happened When Irma Drained Water Out of Bays in the Bahamas and Florida. Videos and Pictures

One of the most bizarre scenes during Hurricane Irma was the sight of water draining away, going out into the ocean, leaving the shoreline empty of water occasionally for hundreds of yards. This effect was most pronounced in parts of the Bahamas, in the Florida Keys and in Fort Myers and even Tampa Bay. One scientist explained that Irma was so strong that it was sucking water from its surroundings into its core. At one point, for example, the wind on Long Island in the Bahamas was from the southeast to the northwest. On the northwest side of the island,…

Cruising Life
By

St. Martin: “All the Food Is Gone. People Are Fighting in the Streets for What’s Left.”

Irma absolutely devastated many islands in the Caribbean. St. Martin, along with Barbuda, was one of those hardest hit. Now that the storm itself has passed and some communications are opening up again, we’re finding out how bad it really is. Looting had already been reported in St. Martin, but now, as survivors struggle with severe food and water shortages, the social fabric is unraveling. “All the food is gone,” one said. “People are fighting in the streets for what is left.” Read more: :https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/world/americas/irma-caribbean-st-martin.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region&region=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region&_r=0

1 2