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.