Coco View in October

[Doc]

For Mitch, no one really knew where the safe 'hurricane holes' were for boat protection etc--because it had been so long since they had a severe storm...

A whole lot of boats were driven up to safety into the mangroves on the South side. Must have been the old Captains.

Part of my post Mitch task involved the search for a lost 300' Motor Sailing Vessel. They found no safe access to harborage on the (storm) lee side of Roatan and made a fateful run to the South East, trying for the Cape of Honduras. Instead, they wound up bisecting this storm's unanticipated Southerly track.

Where it really kicked ass was in Guanaja, but the savvy fishing fleet just skeedaddled or they left Bonacca Key and nosed up into the South shore of Guanaja. Not a whole lot of losses in the Bay Islands, considering the brutality of Mitch- it just stalled out over that island and beat the snot out of it.

For those who understand the simple geographical facts of the islands, it was an easy choice. Everybody enjoys talking about the historical pirate enclaves of the Bay Islands. If you look at the maps, it's easy to see why French Harbor environs was a good anchorage, even more obvious why Port Royal (South side Roatan, far East) was the perfect place to defend and drop anchor.

Another reason to experience CCV is the two weekly lecturettes done by local denizen of the deep, Doc Radawski. He was on the Discovery Channel speaking about his intimate knowledge of the Pirate settlements, harborages, treasure and yes- even Crystal Skulls. He has been a member of the CocoView Zoo and on display since the early 1970's

 

[chillyinCanada]

In an attempt to clarify my earlier post, anyone planning to travel into a hurricane area during hurricane season may want to consider insurance.

I was in Cozumel for Mitch. We waited it out while 10s of thousands did their best to leave Coz and Cancun. Despite Mitch's change in direction, Coz still had some serious weather and property loss, particularly on the east side of the island.

One should not think that just because your chosen vacation spot isn't within the main track, that there's not going to be any serious problems.

 

[diver 85]

So basically your big thing was not hearing from a teenage boy for over a week, A pretty regular occurrence, after a storm caused minimal damage planes were in and out well before 9 days and there was some phone service as well, seems more of a parenting thing than a hurricane thing

Were you living on Roatan @ the time??........I did reach Don Goings by phone---know him??, dr from Colorado that eventually built(& sold) Luna Beach on WE---on about Thursday( if I remember correctly) of it's 1 week departure(@ the time he had the house directly across from us in Sandy Bay).....My father was alive then & a ham & could not get thru------although he did 'reach' the Fantome while they were all still alive, via 20 meters I think it was......

 

[RTBDiver]

And to also clarify earlier post, Mitch was serious and could have been brutal for Roatan, same can be said about Wilma, My point all along has been how silly it seems, to me anyway, to plan a trip for even rainier times because a hurricane just might come by. What have there been, 5 storms in October that remotely threatened Roatan in the last 50 -60 years? Mitch, the biggie was not even a strong hurricane where is caused so many deaths, it was the rain and mudslides, very little of the bay Islands can flood, the water falls off into the sea, During Mitch the water never even came close to my place but it did scare a neighbor who moved away on the first flight out and did not return until about 5 years ago to take care of paperwork to sell his place.
Anyone on Vacation that stayed for Mitch or Wilma did so by choice or waited too long to decide it was not a good idea, they might not have gotten good flights home but certainly could have gotten away from the storm and these days there are even more options as well as communications, seems to me someone as the one recommending not to visit in Oct would have moved away from NC, I could be mistaken but I believe even Guanaja which took the hardest winds attributed just one death to the storm and Tom Fouke of Bayman Bay club was in touch with people within days, On Roatan there were phones available in West End within a few days as well, We did not put in landline at our place until well later

 

[mtldiver]

Thanks everyone!!!! I booked and I'm going with my eyes wide open....trip insurance...check