Hurricane Emily

[Jo]

Watching CNN as well. Sad to hear that Taiwan is dealing with the same problem......

[playabum17]

Originally Posted by bobbypin

Thank you, Mofi. I have no doubt that our friends and family will depend upon and help one another. I just have a feeling that it's going to be very difficult to contact folks once this is over.

That's my fear as well. the not knowing is going to kill me.

Bobbypin- I agree it could be days before we here from friends and family there if the power is out........but what else can we do.............not to much just sit and wait.

[Kogia]

Michael, where in Playacar I is your condo? Is it right on the beach or further back?

I guess you can see by my spelling, that i am a little stressed right now.........really i know how to spell hear

[Seakony]

My friends just home from their honeymoon at the Royal Hideaway. They were due to leave at 11:40 am. and were notified that a jet would be there earlier, 9 am to pick them up. He said it had started to rain and big clouds were rolling in when they took off. The airport was packed with people trying to get out. He also guessed that alot of tourists were not going to be able to take off.

I will be up all night, (not unusual) watching for reports and praying for everyones safety.

[ryberg]

I'll try to make this quick as I don't know if this connection will hold up for long.

Thanks to Mulegirl for accretion! Knew there was a word for that. And speaking of which, some good accretion happening in this shot from about 1:30 today (more of the disappearing rock trick we pull):



It can also be seen in this shot, leading up to the line at about 6th street where all those rocks are, which is where the advantage of the currents and winds out of the north seems to end:



Moving farther south, the opposite intensfying, from about the same vantage point as one of my shots from early this morning:



There you had the water coming up and surprising people and them jumping out of the way.

He's a rooftop shot from our place looking north at around 2:30:



Still a lot of people wandering around on the beach for a look, at that point, disproportionately locals compared to the usual situation.

Here's the most alarming thing I've seen and the first time I felt truly scared. Around 3 pm after we'd already closed up everything and sent all our workers home and were leaving ourselves, I saw workers still sitting around in the site of the Albatros. These are the ones I mentioned earlier, who typically are brought into town from elsewhere (one of my workers later said they were from Chiapas) and sleep in hammocks on the construction site while the project is ongoing as part of their work agreement. It's a kind of migratory worker situation, if you will.

Anyway I saw them behind the fence, sitting and watching, from about this vantage point:



I had a sinking feeling, went up and called one of them over and tried to convince him of the seriousness off this situation. He was basically out of the loop entirely and said they'd be staying there. Finally I gave up and went back and sent one of my workers to talk to them. He came back and said that indeed they said they'd be staying, that they had hammocks and a "safer" place than we were seeing. I cannot imagine what that would be. They were sitting here:



and I was already commenting on what was going to happen to that site because the front of it is now like a welcome mat with EMILY written across it in huge letters:



Some TV Azteca reporters had just about arrived at the same time and I commented to one the main one that if he wanted an interview, that was the situation and he should talk to them. He nodded vigorously and immediately went into the site. Some police also arrived and were indeed rounding people up to get off the beach. We told them about it, too -- Delmy said she even know one of the officers we were talking to -- so hopefully they'll get that straightened out and get all those guys out of there.

Other than that, it's about 4:30, we're home, it has begun to rain a bit. I can't get the map for 5 pm EDT to come up but we're hearing one report that winds around PDC itself may be more like category 2 strength, and that the center is headed over somewhere just south of Akumal. No confirmation on that.

Well I'd better just post this thing and get on with it before I lose this. Will post more as possible!

Steve

p.s. Sorry -- forgot to mention that Andy and his wife stopped by again, and a few minutes later, Sarah stopped by, too! Thanks, guys! Stay safe...

[saalderi]

Has the hurricane started to hit Playa del Carmen. I have a daughter and son in law that was supposed to return to the states tomorrow. Looks like their honeymoon will last longer that planned.

[Jo]

It's getting late here.....but I can't go to sleep.

One thing I find.....soothing is the word I'm looking for I guess- is this: I post on another board sometimes, on which people from all over the world post. Many of them are religious- which I am not. Some of them are in prayer-circles.
So I posted and told them about the situation- and asked them to pray for the people in Yucatan if they like. Many of them are now. And I am so grateful for that!!!!
Even though I am not religious myself I do believe somehow that prayers are a good thing.......I don't know how to explain it.
But as I never pray I would have felt it would be...hollow to start now while facing this. So I asked them- and they are sending out their prayers. Which somehow feels comforting.
Maybe this thought comforts some of you as well.

[Chuckkay]

Hey Gang: I have been watching this thread since post #1. It is very compelling when worried about cyber friends and innocents of all kinds. I too feel for the service people down there that go to such great lengths to make our vacations so pleasant. They will probably be needing a helping hand when this is over. I am not much of an organizer, but a hell of a participater when the effort forms.

I have one of those weird thoughts about Emily. What will FatCat do? Puerto Aventuras appears to be the bulls-eye from what we are currently seeing. I would think they might have split for the coast of Venezuela or something right about now. I have heard of scuttling boats to allow them to avoid Natures wrath, but a boat like that wouldn't seem to be a good candidate for scuttling.

Like Denise, I don't do a lot of praying, but I am fervently praying now for the best possible outcome. Hang tough people, your "cyber-family" is with you.

[playabum17]

Hi Steve
good to hear from you. I really hope those workers find some place safe to be. thanks for the updates and photos. I 'm amazed you are doing this when I know you must be busy. Take care. you are in my thoughts.

[Andiline]

Thanks Steve!!!!!!

[TeeZet]

Originally Posted by TAPPY

Has anyone heard from Mindbender ???

I did, through a PM.
He was OK and getting prepared just like everyone else.

[SunKneeMarie]

Thanks for the update, Steve... and for doing all you could to help those guys understand. Hopefully they'll get to somewhere safe and dry.

Wishing you and yours as much peace and luck as humanly possible. And Prayers for anything you need beyond that.

Wow. Steve. You are going so way above and beyond! Thanks for the pics and the perspectives - I can't tell you. You've been nominated and elected world's best something something something correspondant and you are earning that. Your kindness for those workers from Chiapas will be repaid - who knows how many lives could be lost just from that kind of lack of communication. Kudos for bringing them to the attention of the correct people.

More thoughts and prayers than you can imagine - hope you all feel them.

Sherry