Great... Thanks Jesse

If any of the brave souls that will be roughing it out on the island could take pics and email them it would be lovely. I would be especially interested in CC pics for the Chronicles. We are a poor community paper, however, and can ill afford to pay for snaps.

Thanks and cheers,
Wendy

Sorry about that... the email is islandgirl@btl.net.

Thanks and cheers,
Wendy

Pictures of the approachings storm would be great, just so long as safety is the first rule.

Everyone staying for the duration, take care! Keep us informed as long as it is safe and you're not busy doing other preparations.

It looks like we'll have one major subject to talk about in November.

From Dr. Jeff Masters:
Hurricane Dean is headed west towards the Yucatan, still packing Category 4 winds, with the potential to add even more punch. Dean is over waters with some of the highest heat content anywhere in the Atlantic, and could well take advantage of this energy source and become a Category 5 hurricane today. Landfall will occur late tonight or early Tuesday morning over the Yucatan Peninsula. Landfall should occur over 100 miles south of Cozumel, so the Mexican Riviera areas of Cancun and Cozumel will only experience tropical storm force winds. The region where Dean is expected to hit, just north of the border with Belize, has one large city, Chetumal. Chetumal is well inland, and the expected storm surge of up to 11 feet will mostly flood very sparsely populated areas. Damage from Dean in Mexico may be considerably higher for the storm's second landfall, if it hits the major city of Tampico in the western Gulf of Mexico.

winds will come from the lagoon only if the storm stays to the north. if it drops below the island winds will come from the east. the path continues to drop south

Hi Guys! All my thoughts are with you. In the UK just now and 7 months pregnant but my husband is still there (hopefully leaving CC right now) and so many friends as well as our home. I met loads of you AC folks doing the Rough Guide research too. In fact can't get through to him just now, so just wondering if any banks/ATMs are still open in BC or elsewhere? Are buses still running out of BC? Really hope no one is going to try and cash in from this, and that everyone can afford to get out safely. I've even caught myself praying for you all (and that's not me!)Thanks to all of you with the updates, but please put your personal safety first. Property can be replaced in time. Lives can't! Keep safe!

late afternoon we should start feeling the effects, tho there is already some activity beyond the reef. waves are picking up as is the wind

Hurricane Dean close-up taken from the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Saturday
August 18, 2007 at 1pm EDT.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 205
MILES...335 KM.

REPEATING THE 1100 AM EDT POSITION...17.9 N...82.4 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST NEAR 21 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...150 MPH.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...925 MB.

Anyone know if BTL is turned off already? It rings but doesn't go through to answer phones, just wondering...desperately!