I wrote some posts earlier this week about what’s happening with Hurricanes Irma and Maria and how travel is being affected. But I didn’t have time to do a full-on, exhaustive story.
The New York Times, however, did just a story that I found online today; a fine wrap-up that shows just what folks can expect and where you can take your holidays in the next little while.
As I wrote earlier, it looks like St. Martin’s tourism sector has been devastated. Sunwing has cancelled all flights through April, while Air Canada has said it won’t be flying down this winter, either, at least not at this point.
The Caribbean Journal reports that one hotel, The Grand Case Beach Club, has started a crowdfunding program to help its workers; a lovely idea.
Their website also noted that some other islands got off fairly easy and that the wonderful Four Seasons Resort in Nevis (an excellent golf course and a fun bar next door called Sunshine’s) will re-open on Friday, Sept. 29 after post-Maria inspections.
Hurricane Maria devastated the Caribbean island of Dominica.
Somehow the NY Times story doesn’t address the situation in Dominica. But things look dismal. Dominica is a beautiful island (at least it was) I visited earlier this year and wrote a story for Sun Media. I fell in love with the jungle-clad mountains and deep valleys and had a couple of fantastic hotels, including Beau Rive, The Champs and the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, the capital.
Alas, the photos and video I’ve seen of the island show almost total devastation; mountains that were clad in lush jungle growth denuded by hurricane winds; homes blown apart and lives almost certainly destroyed. The crops people grow for their own use or for sale have been torn apart and ruined, CNN said in this video report.
“No greenery left,” the CNN reporter says in his report. “This island has been hit, and hit hard.”
The situation is beyond dire for the 73,000 people who live on this island. I fear for their future, as well as those affected in Puerto Rico (where some folks could be without power for months), Anguilla, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Barbuda and other islands.
