The Caribbean post Hurricanes

The past July we decided to shake up our normal holiday routine of gathering in Austin and planned a Caribbean cruise for all of us.  Of course, the plan was prior to the two Cat 5 hurricanes which roared through the Caribbean and flattened all three of our destination islands:  Grand Turk, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas.  Having paid our money, we had little choice but to trust the cruise line not to drop us off in a place which shouldn't be entertaining visitors.

The reality turned out to be the residents of all these three islands were pathetically grateful to see us tourists in their midst.  Tourism is the economic mainstay of the Caribbean.  It was obvious the priority for clean up and restoration has been concentrated in the places which are 'attractions' for the tourists.  Old San Juan (the oldest part of Puerto Rico) and the spot when the cruise ships anchor, seemed completely unaffected.  That is, until you started talking to people.  I didn't talk to a single local who hadn't sustained some type of damage to their home or business, and you know me - I talked to everybody!

Grand Turk, famous only for its snorkeling and beaches, is very tiny.  It's only seven miles in length and a couple of miles in width.  We rented a car, and it allowed us to tour the entire island since I wanted to see the lighthouse, the museum, and a couple of churches.  It was here we really saw the depth of the damage even months later.  The lighthouse still looked pretty

battered.  The museum was closed for water damage, and the churches were tightly shut. 
Every roof was either new, partially new, or still tarped in blue plastic.  Windows were missing.  There was still a lot of water damage from storm surge.  There were no street signs as well as missing or weirdly tilted stop signs.   I learned most of the island had been without power for about three months, so that restoration has accelerated the repairs.   Almost every electrical pole was brand new.  The local 'home depot' was absolutely roaring with business.  There was a traffic jam of cars and trucks around it.  The constant refrain of the island was power tools.

As an aside, the other thing which makes Grand Turk 'famous' is this is the area where John Glenn's Mercury capsule splashed down in 1962 after he circled the earth three times.  The capsule is an actual display in a small park.  Right before we left, we watched the movie "The Right Stuff" in which the seven astronauts argued with the tech staff for a 'window' to be part of the capsule design.  Here's the infamous window.

Of the three islands, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was my favorite stop.  The tourist part of the town is utterly charming. The old part of the city is built around a series of plazas, and is encircled with a twenty foot thick wall which dates back to the 17th century.

San Felipe del Morro, a defensive fort also originally built in the 17th century, was destroyed by the 1789 hurricane and rebuilt.  Cat 5 hurricanes are well known in this part of the world.  El Morro is now part of the United States National Park system, and it's massive and impressive.

Here's 'El Morro' as we are coming into the San Juan Harbor

Speaking of Ponce de Leon, the famous Spanish conquistador, is supposedly buried at the San Juan Cathedral.  This is a massive Catholic church constructed in the style of the great cathedrals of Europe, but instead of marble and stone, it's constructed of adobe and wood.  An advantage of seeing this church in December was it was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

To me, the 'wall' was the most fascinating part of San Juan.  I can't imagine the labor it took (mostly slave, I'm sure), to built it.  It's twenty feet thick throughout while the height varies depending on location.  There were originally multiple gates cut into the wall, of which, only one survives.  That gate is called 'The Red Gate'  Here's Drake doing his job as 'perspective'.  Using him as a measure, it's easy to see the massive structure.

Perhaps the most obvious  damage in the tourist areas from the hurricanes was on St. Thomas.  We took an open air touring vehicle up to the top of the island to take in the overlook view.  Most of the 'resorts' including a massive Marriott resort are still not open.  The Marriott property sits right on a promontory overlooking the beach.  It was battered. 

Normally, we could have taken the gondola to the mountain top, but the snapped cables were still not repaired.  When we arrived on top of the island, we were rewarded with this stunning view.  We also saw this:

Here's the hurricanes' handiwork:  a rolled up cell tower.  Its replacement is just behind it.  Our driver lost his entire home.  He spent eight hours holding a door in place to save the lives of himself and his family.  He was sporting a cast on one arm, not because he broke it, but because he strained the ligaments in his hand, thumb, and lower arm.  Fortunately, he had insurance on his vehicle and his home.  Want to live on St. Thomas?  The taxes are low, but the cost of real estate is high (limited landmass).  The cost of home insurance is sky high.  According to the driver, his home insurance runs about $15,000 a year.  Worth every penny to him now since it will fund his re-built.  It was brutally apparent as always in these natural disasters the poorest people who live precariously are the hardest hit.   

St. Thomas didn't even receive the brunt of the hurricanes in the US Virgin Islands.  That honor was reserved for St. John, its sister island, which contains a massive national park.  All the parks, both on Puerto Rico and on St. John are taking a back seat to the repairs for people and their personal property as well as infrastructure.  El Junque in Puerto Rico, the only topical rainforest in United States,  and the Virgin Islands National Park were severely damaged.  The carefully built trails  really suffered, and they are almost all still closed.  We didn't even try to get to either one.  

Our Holland America ship was brand new.  It was exquisitely decorated for Christmas.  I couldn't have taken pictures of all of the decorations since they were so numerous.  The one which really caught my eye was the gingerbread houses/villages scattered throughout the main areas.  Here's a sample of those.

We did have a wonderful time.  The scenery was beautiful.  It is always so breathtaking, you understand why people brave the inevitable hurricanes.

As always, if you want to see the rest of my photographs, click on the link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UuWdVi8sZRyLJpNx2