Watch Out for Wilma!

[Gonz]

Hey all you Florida folks,

Watch out for this storm and get your stuff ready! I'm in Belize right now and folks down here are taking this pretty seriously. All of the dive shops on the piers have packed up and moved everything either inland or onto the other side of the island (we're on Ambergris Caye). The surge and swells are up considerably over the last 24 hours, and the water is washing right up to the patio for our inn. I guess we're ok since we're on the 3rd floor? And we're only supposed to get tropical storm intesity wind and rain here. That's assuming the storm does what it's supposed to, which everyone here knows all too well what happens when they don't (Gilbert I believe).

We're just going to ride it out here on the island as long as the storm moves N or NE. Otherwise we're getting the hell out of here tomorrow.

And to think I've only got 3 cigars left for this, RASS, VSG Enchantment and Opus X Robusto.

And only 11 beers left in the fridge.

 

[loanshark]

Good luck

 

[tdog]

Stay safe Gonz, our thoughts are with you.

 

[junkman_56]

Be careful Gonz, this will be a bad one.
It went from a category 2 to a category 5 storm overnight.
It now has the lowest barometric pressure in history with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour.
3 day track
5 day track

Be safe dude.

 

[cvmfour]

Stay safe Gonz! I remember when we cruised to Belize, they weren't even going to dock (read: set anchor and charter us in) because the waters were so rough. And I don't believe a storm was present at the time.

 

[Gonz]

You know, it's actually somewhat strange that there's a hurricane approaching, and folks are packing up their entire businesses, and yet I still have wireless internet access to post here!

I'm not too worried about this. A couple guys from the dive shop are going to come over later once their done packing up, and we're going to have drinks and watch the storm come in from the rooftop deck.

I just hope the folks in FL have enough time to get their **** together before this hits them. Which is a couple days away and it seems like they've got plenty of warning this time.

 

[DevilsMilk]

I am right above the big mass of water near the middle of Florida called Okeechobee Lake. They have the path going right below the lake. Hmmm. Well here goes another fine year!

 

[Gonz]

Well, it's pretty crazy down here. The wind and rain are not really an issue, however most all of the piers and building that sit on them are sustaining some damage, and a few are splinters at this point. The waves coming in are over the tops of the planks, and running up the beach into the first floor of alot of buildings. And as one resident here told us, only white people insure things, and even if we wanted to, no one will insure a pier. Hopefully the surf will let up in the next 12 hours or so, and the damage can remain minimal. And hopefully our flights tomorrow will be running close to normal.

 

[inflatus]

Gonz;

Take it easy brother and be safe.