I've been out of pocket for the last few days and wonder if anyone has heard any post-Iris reports on the offshore cayes in central and southern Belize -- Tobacco, Glover's Reef, Laughing Bird, the Sapodilla cayes, etc.

--Lan Sluder

Or Morris Caye?

Hi Lan - have not heard anything about Glovers. But I have heard that all of the cayes north of Placentia are just fine. Some minor dock and / or roof damage to places like Blue Horizon (but they were due to re-open for business on Saturday). Others like Tobacco and South Water (Blue Marlin Lodge) came through unscathed. Turneffe is also fine.

How about Ranguana and Silk Cayes?

Whipray Caye (www.WhiprayCaye.com) has a posting on the hurricane damage at their site. They are due east of Placencia, and had a pretty direct hit. We are pulling for you Julian!

We are the managers for International Zoological Expeditions/Leslie Cottages on South Water Caye. There was damage here, as well as Tobacco Caye, and Southwest Caye out at Glovers.
Manta Resort on Southwest Caye reportedly received significant damage - they are south of Slick Rock on Long Caye/Glovers who had submitted a report to this message board.
At Tobacco Caye two of the resorts lost buildings - completely washed away, all except one dock gone. One of these buildings, the kitchen for Reef's End lodge ended up on the beach in the vicinity of Jaguar Reef Lodge in Hopkins, 20 miles away!
Here at South Water Caye there was damage to docks, a roof at Pelican Beach Resort, and other buildings on the caye, including some of our guest cabanas.
Nevertheless, our dedicated hardworking staff has been busy, and we will be able to welcome guests in November.
John McDougall
Jennifer Hall

John and Jennifer,

Thanks for the update. Your report is contrary to that above from "EP," which claimed no damage at Tobacco.

Beside's Reef's End, which lodge was washed away?

Sorry to hear about your damage at Southwater.

Thanks.

--Lan Sluder

Lan

We had two persons ride out the storm at Franks Caye (Serenade Island Resort / Caribbean Divers) in the Sapodillas.

We were able to get through to them the day after the storm on a solar powered cell phone that we keep on the island.

The report from our personnel was that there was no damage other than shifted sand.

I spoke to the crew today and we are in operation and in fact had divers in from Guatamala for the last couple of days.

All other cayes in the Sapodilla Range should be the same condition as they are even farther South than we are.

Bobby,

Thanks for the update on the Sapodilla cayes. Glad to hear there wasn't much storm damage.

--Lan Sluder

My cousin, Mark Bradley from Tobacco said that there was no damage to his hotel, Tobacco Caye Lodge, however, there was damage to some of the other hotels on Tobacco. Second Nature Divers has a report of little damage to the reef around the SWC Marine Reserve posted on Naturalite's website.
Gail Bradley Miller, UnBelizeable Adventures

Good morning!
The other lodge that lost a building was Gaviota.
The information we have is first hand - not sure where EP got theirs!
We personally are dealing with repairs that are mostly labor intensive, not requiring large amounts of lumber - thank goodness- whch surely will become in short supply, especially lumber that is thoroughly dried.
There is always erosion involved. We have had a lot of shorline erosion on the caye in recent years - more extensive than just shifting sand. Each hurricane seems to claim a "chunk"!
The wind damage out here was minimal - only about three trees down on thewhole caye. The damage came from the storm surge, which did wash over most of the caye.
Down at Blue Creek, our sister lodge, the situation is bleak. The canopy walk is gone, damage to some of the buildings, but more importantly,in the words of the villagers there "Our rainforest is gone". And gone it is. One cannot look at photos and fully comprehend the loss. It has to be a first hand erperience. We took a trip down there on Sunday with supplies- mostly water- for the village.
We are also working with Anselma Christiana, who is John's aunt, to try to resurrect Over the Waves in Hopkins. Meanwhile, for all of her loyal followers, she is in full swing at Jabiru Restaurant on the entrance road to Hopkins. Jabiru has turned into a garden oasis and provide a lovely atmosphere for dining. An internet cafe will also be opening at Jabiru sometime in November.
Sincerely,
John and Jennifer

Can someone tell me how Bert (from Gaviota) is doing?? When I was ther last spring his health was not very good and I worry how he is doing with all the wotk involved with rebuilding.