Post Gustav

While Grand Cayman was spared, the sister islands took a real beating from Hurricane Gustav. And while I feel for the people on the island, my thoughts always turn to the wildlife which is abundant on both these islands. It has been reported that 2004's Category 5 Hurricane Ivan all but wiped out many of the species of wildlife on the sister islands, so much so that many made the endangered list. Four years later numbers are finally beginning to increase and I am hoping that Gustav managed to leave the wildlife alone.

Here on Grand Cayman, no sooner than Saturday morning hit we were up and about ready to take a drive around town to see what's what. We first had to wait for our car to arrive. The one thing that people worry about on this island during hurricanes and the flood that follow is their cars. Grand Cayman is as flat as they come and many cars get flooded. Most park theirs on any higher ground they find. We left our with friends living in West Bay, which is more elevated than where we are. Peace of mind is everything during a storm and our car was one less thing we had to worry about. Of course, this time around we hardly had any rain.

We were guided to some of the hotspots to check out on Saturday and here are some shots & videos (pre & post Gustav) that made the cut.


Gas pumps that were properly secured in preparation of Gustav. This is something we definitely didn't see happening in Bermuda during Hurricane Flory.

Georgetown was a virtual ghost town on Saturday afternoon.

As we drove by, you couldn't help but look at the iridescent pale green ocean courtesy of hurricane induced stormy waters. Bermuda's waters were very much the same after Hurricane Flory.










And here are my favourite nature shots, of things as they seem and of little treasures washed up on shore.












Which one's your favourite?

And just how windy was it? Check out the videos below to see for yourself. Keep in mind that it's even more intense than captured on film. Those that took advantage of the winds and waves, left me wishing that this was me!