Well, the sky definitely looms ominous, and dark clouds are circling everywhere. We can tell that the storm is almost upon us.
I took my children into the City on a 6:00 a.m. water taxi where they will go to Orange Walk for shelter with their father. I can only hope and pray that they will be ok.
The water taxi ride into the City was calm and unstressful, although you could not help but notice the cloud action. At one spot, there were about a million birds in a cluster over the water.
I was hoping to be able to pick up my baby from Dangriga where he is with relatives, since it seems like the eye will be going down South, but no Tropic of Maya flights down South today. They are busy evacuating San Pedro. I was hoping to be able to get him and take a flight out of the country today. But since no flights from Dangriga, that option was snuffed out.
So, I opted to return to Caye Caulker and ride the storm out, together with my sister Tina, a friend - Bobbi, Tina's tenant upstairs - Jim Spence. This is the land of my birth, the land of my heart, and I guess, probably the land of my death if it comes to that (I hope not!)
We are all packed and ready, as packed as we can be. We moved upstairs into Jim's 2nd floor apartment, since the threat of 13 - 18' storm surges. We have a rope, life jackets, food, candles, lanterns, water, and for now - tv updates.
The wave action is now moving from north to south (southernly direction), making me believe that the beginning of the hurricane is creeping up on us now.
It is not raining. In fact, the sun is shining. Boats are still moving across the water in front of us and it seems like water taxis are still evacuating people - although I do not see any crush of people waiting to evacuate as in previous times.
I will try to update as often as I can, but no telling how long the power will last.
In the meantime, we sit on our verandah staring out at the gloominess out to see expectantly....
Wendy Auxillou