Hurricane Irma - September 12, 2017

The flight wasn't until after lunch but I needed just a little cash to pay for the taxi to the airport. I tried too early. I was eventually successful and we arrived to the airport. There were no delays in Nassau but when we landed in Charlotte, there was a 2 hour delay. All thanks to Hurricane Irma and the flight crew being delayed elsewhere. We eventually made it home. And when we arrived to work the following day, we were heroes for surviving the hurricane. It was exciting, adventurous, and stressful but ultimately, we were never in any danger and we had a good time. I will be back next year twice to enjoy the Bahamas again. And if there's another hurricane, I will be slightly more prepared.

Hurricane Irma - September 11, 2017

Today was our final day in the Bahamas and we were determined to have fun! Please note all the closed businesses behind me. This is next to where the cruise ships park but they weren't due to arrive for two more days.

Fortunately, John Watling's distillery was open. Felix was pouring us some wonderful drinks and we were feeling quite good. But we were also hungry and there's no food at the distillery.

Down the hill was the Hark Rock Café and thankfully were open. The place was quite empty but we didn't mind. I enjoyed my cheese burger with a Kalik.

After lunch, we wandered back to John Watlings because everyone was still closed. After enjoying a good time with our Bahamian friends, we found that Subway was open (finally!) and had a small dinner before heading to bed.

There's one final day to recap of the trip but the hurricane part was definitely over for us.

Hurricane Irma - September 10, 2017

Mr. Delancy agreed to pick us up and take us to the Hilton. He had been so helpful and accommodating the entire time. He was running late for church but he did let us take this photo really quickly. The first room we had was not agreeable. The window was too small and it was right next to the elevator. I talked my way to a much nicer room on the executive floor and an obstructed view of the ocean. Now that's a decent room!

We walk around looking for lunch and things to do but all the businesses are boarded up. It was Sunday and nobody was in a rush to get back to business. The cruise ships weren't going to come until later this week. We even tried Subway but they were closed. I brought some snacks from our hurricane food shopping trip but not lunch. We had sandwiches from the café at the hotel.

With a lot of facebooking, I found one bar open around us. We obviously had to go.

There were about 30 people there, which was probably all the tourists in the area as most had already evacuated.

These are $8 Guinness pints. Bahamian beer is modestly priced and we quickly switched. The rest of the night was more yahtzee and weather watching. Irma was hitting Florida this night and there were plenty of angles to watch the carnage.

The ocean was much calmer on this side of New Providence.

Hurricane Irma - September 9, 2017

The outer bands of Irma came through starting at 1am with wind, rain, and lightening. The storm was not outside of a typical storm in Oklahoma City. We were very lucky because we didn't take a direct hit like Hurricane Matthew the year before. Cuba and Puerto Rico took most of the force away from the Bahamas.

We were worried about storm surge and flooding. Mr. Delancy predicted correctly and none of that was an issue. We did lose power as the storm came through. And it came back on at 4 am briefly. By 11 am, we had our power back. We checked and the storm had fully passed the Bahamas. We were in the clear!

The airport announced that it will be open for limited operations on Sunday, which was the day we were supposed to leave. I called American and found out there were no flights that day. We decided to keep our Tuesday flight, as Monday would have been standby.

It was time to explore. The ocean was angry and the wind was whipping the sand all around us. A hat was no protection for the sand. We found one shell and headed back quickly. After much debate, we decided to head over to the other side of the island and stay at the British Colonial Hilton. There's more food options and we were hoping for some fun before it was time to leave. Surprisingly, the Hilton had space for us. Originally, we were going to stay there on September 9th but with the Hurricane, I decided to cancel that reservation.

The rest of the night, we ate, played yahtzee, watched the storm out to sea and watched tv. We never really unpacked, so we were ready to head to the Hilton the next day.  When we were packing for the trip, Ryan never thought that Hurricane Irma would come and mess up our trip. For a good amount of time, the storm was a category 5. An F5 tornado is the largest recorded tornado. His insight in packing was impressive.

Hurricane Irma - September 8, 2017

The morning before the storm, the ocean was calm. We did some walking today. We forgot salsa and dish soap, which prompted us to walk to the nearest food store. Several people stopped to see if we needed a ride and in the store we needed help finding salsa. Bahamians don't love salsa like I do. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Once again, the store had plenty of supplies and the salsa was tucked away in a corner.

We found lots of coral and chatted with Mr. Delancy as he was making preparations for all of his properties. The talk was all about the storm. Hurricane Matthew hit this area around the same time in 2016. Thirty foot Austrian pines were pulled from the ground but there was no flooding. We thought that was odd because the property is right up to a canal and the ocean is just across the street. Mr. Delancy said there were no flooding concerns and being on the second floor was not nearly as safe. The storm could have hit at any time after 6pm. It wasn't until 1 am the following morning that the storm made landfall.

Hurricane Irma - September 7, 2017

This day was packed with activity! It was a very long day.

The hurricane was supposed to arrive the following day. Here we are at the airport and this is the host, Noel Turquist. It is 8am. I am spending lots of time on hold for American Airlines, trying to get out of the Bahamas. It was at least a 30 minute wait.

American Airlines had cancelled our flight on Sunday September 10th but there was no return flight scheduled. I couldn't get us out of Nassau this day with American. I had to abandon the hunt because our flight off Long Island arrived early. When we landed, I called Mr. Delancy and he came to pick us up. Once we settled into his other property, I was able to get us a flight with American for the following day, right before the hurricane was likely to arrive.  So, we agreed lunch was a good idea.

There was a little bar just down the road from us and they served decent burgers. While we were eating our lunch and watching the weather, the bartender told us that the airport would be closed tomorrow. I thought she was joking since American had us booked for that day. We decided to double check her facts when we got back to our room.

Oh yes, the airport was closed tomorrow. Everyone needed to get out today. I tried to get us a flight with Air Canada but it was also booked. Our hearts sank (and there was some mild cussing), as we realized our fate was to ride out the storm at this location. We didn't rent a car and now realized that we needed supplies to get us through the storm. I called us a taxi from the airport because that's how you get a taxi in the Bahamas.

The grocery store was definitely packed but the shelves weren't empty. We were able to purchase all the needed food for a relatively unknown period of time. We watched the weather and played yahtzee until bed time.

Hurricane Irma - September 6, 2017

We got our last use of the kayak today and Noel picked us up for lunch. When we arrived at Max's Conch Bar, we finally had access to wifi. Our phones were blowing up from our friends. They were trying to reach us regarding Irma. The storm was quite large at this point and it was headed towards the Bahamas. At this point, I was trying to find a place for us to stay Thursday night. I called several hotels but there was no availability. I called the owner of the island, William Delancy, and he said that he does have a place for us to stay.

Sad. It was our last day on the island and our trip was cut short. When we got back to the island, we enjoyed the rest of the fish and as much beer as we could drink. We also got started on packing. The next morning was coming early because we had to be at the airport by 8am.

Hurricane Irma - September 5, 2017

Tuesday, September 5, 2017. The singers were up early, as usual. We were getting up and preparing the coffee. Before the coffee was ready, we received a call from Noel, the host of Little Deadman's Cay. The conversation went like this: "She's coming." Me, "ok?". "Yeah, the hurricane. I think she's coming. But I got you a place and you can drive my jeep." Me, "So, we need to leave the island." "Yeah, we need to get you off the Cay before she arrives." Shocking news at 7 am. Unexpected. 9 am. Mr. Delancy calls to check on us. I explained my brief conversation with Noel and Mr. Delancy agreed that was a good set up for us. 10 am. We attempt a quick kayak but get a call from Noel. The airline, Southern Airlines, was trying to reach us. Noel wasn't really sure what was going on but told me to call them. I call the airline and the representative breathes a sigh of relief. She explained the hurricane was coming and we were being evacuated on Thursday September 7th. After a heated discussion on what we should do, I call the airline back just to make sure. The representative gave a light laugh and said our plane tickets were good for a year but there was no guarantee of us getting out before the hurricane hit. So I said, "ok, see you on Thursday at 8 am." We made arrangements with Noel to take us to Max's Conch Bar for some lunch and research. To this point in the trip, we had been blissfully unaware of any hurricane coming our way. It was time to see what all the commotion was about.

Hurricane Irma - September 4, 2017

Monday, September 4, 2017. The moon was brilliant and vibrant. That day was spent kayaking, playing yahtzee and drinking beer. It was a good relaxing day, with no cares in the world. More photos to follow.

Hurricane Irma - September 3, 2017

The views from Little Deadmans Cay to Long Island are stunning when the sun is out. Today, we had a kayak on rent and it was delivered. We enjoyed a short kayak to hunt for shells on another island. At this point, we still didn't realize the hurricane was on its way.



Hurricane Irma - September 2, 2017

Our flight to Deadman's Cay, Long Island was originally scheduled for 7 am. We got to the airport and discovered that the flight was cancelled. The airline sent us an email to notify us but we didn't read the fine print. Sigh. It was so tiny and the picture looked like the original confirmation email. Fortunately, I still had the hotel room key. I weaseled $60 out of the representative and we taxied back to the hotel, leaving our checked bags.

We watched some tv and then went down to Fat Tuesday for a drink. Finally, it was time to leave for the airport and get to our island vacation. We always go to Max's Conch Bar for conch fritters (above), cracked conch, beer and wifi. This is our only place to connect to the internet. At this point, the hurricane started to turn towards the Bahamas. We were blissfully unaware.



After going to the food store, fisherman, and liquor store it was time to load up the boat and get to Little Deadman's Cay. These supplies should suffice for the week on the cay (pronounced key in Bahamian.) It was sunny and steamy hot.

The view of Long Island from Little Deadmans Cay. This is one of many beaches on the cay.

The sun sets over the back deck of the house and it is stunning!

I was trying to capture the full beauty of the sunset. Photos never do it justice.

Hurricane Irma - September 1, 2017

We left Oklahoma City early in the morning and headed for Nassau, Bahamas. We had no issues with our flights and arrived on time. This was our first time checking in at the British Colonial Hilton and it did not disappoint. Right on ocean, next to where all the cruise ships park. We had Senor Frogs around the corner, Fat Tuesday down the street and John Watlings distillery up the hill. All within walking distance. There was no concern regarding hurricanes.

I love the John Watlings distillery. There's so much history and rum! Felix does the best job mixing up the drinks for us. After 3 years of visiting with Felix, each trip, we became Facebook friends.

We enjoyed a Sands and ate Mcdonalds for dinner. It was right across the street from the hotel. Talk about convenient!

The port is constantly full of cruise ships and it is the lifeblood of Nassau. The port can hold 5 ships and on some days, that's how many are there. This part of town is full of tourists and its a fun part of the Bahamas.

Blogger to Instagrammer

Dear Friends, I have run low on energy here on the blog. My phone died in the ocean and the borrowed phone is too small for me to blog from. Please follow my escapades on Instragram (which I am infatuated with). I've got a fun widget that updates with all my new instagrams (see above). I look forward to seeing you over there. Cheers!

Making wine

About 10 of us Oakie Wine Club members pooled our resources and bought two wine kits to make as a group. It's been fun getting together at The Brew Shop to go through the entire process together. And instead of 30 bottles of wine, we each should get at least 2.5 bottles. That's easier to store. 

This is a bucket of easy clean. It helps to make sure there is no contamination on anything used. 

We pitched the yeast on our second kit here.

It's a Sangiovese red wine and the grapes were grown in Italy. 

There's yeast, clay and wood chips.

That's a hydrometer and it's used to measure the alcohol content. 

This was our first kit, a big red. It's very big and apparently, needs a year to be properly aged. We moved it into a glass carboy for clarification.

In two weeks, we'll move it again into another carboy with no more wood chips. It will stay in there for at least 28 days before bottling. Next up, I'll be making hard cider. I tried to buy the cider at Whole Foods but they didn't have it yet. I have plans to pour it in November so I must get it started tomorrow. The pressure is on!

Red Earth Brewers

As I headed to the Red Earth Brewers club meeting, I seat belted my beer in for safety reasons. When I was pouring it, there was quite the mess. 

The current theory is that my pumpkin may have over carbonated the beer with its sugars. Still, the flavor profile was spot on.

We weren't the best at snacks this time but there was plenty of beer to try. Some of it was commercial and some were home crafted. We then had elections for our board. The member at large had 4 candidates. 

I can't remember who won, even though I stuck around for the announcement.

I gave this buddy a bottle to enjoy. I also asked about my next plans to brew. I've got cider plans and I wanted to make a lager. The lager will most definitely have to wait, as a fridge is necessary. I'll be making the cider this week because I hope it will be ready in time for a beer festival. 

The meeting was great and I look forward to next month!