Hurricane Felix – an unwanted house guest

Storm Watch

Weather in is not always perfect, especially  not during Belize hurricane season and it looks like we may soon have an unwanted guest with hurricane Felix. It is looking like we could get a direct hit 🙁

I was so relieved Felix does not look as bad on the radar as it did when we went to bed but that does not mean we are free from harms way yet. Beto our landlord is up early and already adding more boards to his house. Paul said after I have my coffee first thing I should be doing is packing my “holy shit bag”

Making plans

Everyone is on the coconut phone this morning (messenger) and talking about their plans for riding out the storm.

Sandy and Ed have reserved at Banana Beach and Sharon will go there too same as she did last time.Carole’s already in Guatemala, will go right to Flores la and Dick will meet her there when he flies out with all the Tropic Air planes. Lara is heading back this way already and Andrea (being a tropic pilot) will also go to Flores.

9:06 am - Cindy came and got Paul to help board up at their place. He took the leather gloves and a roll of gorilla tape that Bill and Becky sent down for us with Sandy and Ed along with a couple of flashlights.I have not packed my “hs” bag yet, instead I got final load of laundry done and am making our supply kits.

Looking for some inspiration during this hectic time, I pulled a Kryon card and my message was….Those who sit in the circle of their own creation are the ones who are peaceful.

I think that is very fitting and goes back to what Maya said yesterday about how we have such a strong support group in San Pedro. This also extends to all of you reading this and helping from a far with useful items and well wishes. We have all created this and it really does help to bring us peace of mind right now.

10:00 am – Paul is back and helping Beto board up Karen’s Klothes Konnection below, lots of banging going on. Sandy and Ed just left to go check the water taxi and Tropic Air. So far their plan is to stay at Banana Beach tonight and fly to from there.

According to Reef Radio  and TV, water could be off as early as 10:00 am tomorrow. Jim Janmohamed will be speaking throughout the day, he is head of NEMO here and has very solid information.

Sandy just called now and they have made an executive decision because they need to be back in the states by a certain date, they decided to leave today so they will not have to worry about what air and land traffic will be like after the storm. They are leaving on the 2:00 pm flight to Corozal, from there they have made arrangements to get to Chetumal and then will continue onward towards home.

Spoke to Francis (volunteer coordinator at Holy Cross School) and got her list of people staying on the island at Belizean Shores… Jenna, Glen, Colleen, Fred Sommes, Francis and Vernon Wilson. Linda Carter and Cathy from Beach n Kitchen will stay put where they are north of the bridge in Palapa bar area.

Carole decided to come back  to the island first and Dick has a meeting at 4 pm to see when they leave for Flores. Lara is back in town and headed home to get sorted there, I will update with her plans when she tells us more. Tazmara has got the book store all sorted out and she is heading back up North soon.

2:23 pm - Paul and I went to super buy for some supplies and Hacal Kiik to stock up on good bread. I asked Paul if we could circle the block to go to Save On and see if they had apples and who do we run into at the counter but Ed so we walked to Maya island Air with him to say good bye’s. Ed and Sandy are gone now and once they hit Chetumal they will decide to go to Cozumel or Merida.

Sharon from Banyan Bay left me an off line message regarding Banyan Bay. She said… most guests are leaving and all but one family will be gone by tomorrow. I just spoke to Carole and Lara on messenger. They are both unpacking and doing laundry to be able to repack again straight away and get to their safe places.

5:19 pm – Dick popping me now and saying they will most likely stay here now. The storm is far enough south of Punta Gorda. He said it will likely be a cat 1 with 160 mph winds. Tropic Air will have another meeting at 6:00 am and give a final decision as to weather the planes stay or go.

9:46 pm – Went for a walk through town and stopped to see Carole. We got to see her trip pics and all the cool things she bought in Guatemala. Then we all walked to the park in town to order Chinese from one + One. Paul and Cindy called and decided to join us, after we all got our food we dropped Carole off at Oasis to see Bonnie and the kids and we went to the cut to go eat at a picnic table. They invited us to drive around a bit more but we were both too tired and decided just to hop off the cart at our house. I just checked 5 day forecast on wunderground and it looks even better.

Belize weather in September

September temps  average around  27°C or 81°F  , with highs of 30°C or 86°F. We generally experience a bit more rain and tends to happen in early mornings and later night, leaving us with hot sunny days. Aside fro good weather,
Visiting in September is a great time to  enjoy fun activities in the form of the many  festivals and events that happen during the month to celebrate Belize’s independence. Belizeans have strong national price and they go all out especially in Sept 21st which is independence day.