Walk into Town at High Tide: Hurricane Rina & Belize

Let me just start with this picture of Coconut Leo in what he is calling his “evacuation center at Wild Mango’s” (they obviously hadn’t opened yet for the day).  He asks that you drop off beer and coconuts to make this “shelter”  (which happens to be about 10 feet from the sea) more bareable.  He thanks you in advance.

Here is what I saw on the walk to town:  The Banana Beach, Mata Rocks and Royal Palms beaches seem to be getting quite a bit of wave action (due to a cut in the reef).  The beach is starting to wash away where I live…you can see how high the water is.

Same area yesterday afternoon.

The crew at Mata Rocks is starting to remove some boards from their dock.

There are some big beach logs washing up on shore (and bobbing around in the water) as well as tons of sea grass.  Probably best to stay out of the water all together.  (BTB has suggested cancellation of all water tours for today – and surely tomorrow – anyway.)

Water sports at Carribbean Villas is packing up all of their Hobie cats and moving them to storage.  Just in case of a storm surge…

Here is what I did NOT see:

Tropic Air seemed to be like any other day.  Not too many people waiting in the terminal.

I didn’t see many dive boats making any move yet.  Ramon’s and Searious adventures were just preparing to move their boats to the lagoon side of the island.

I didn’t see any kids going to school.  School was cancelled for today and tomorrow.  Here is the empty Island Academy (potentially the world’s prettiest elementary school with the best view).

And lastly, I saw no boarding up yet.  Here is Holiday Hotel, right on the beach, open for business!

Don’t get me wrong…everyone in town is talking about it, groups of tourists are huddling on the beach to discuss their next move…but this is what I saw on a 9am walk into town.

Big Shout out to everyone staying at Mata Rocks who actually reads my blogs!