Sandy

Grammie and Grampie Jefrries arrived on Monday and were greeted by news of the approaching tropical storm Sandy - the first storm to directly hit Jamaica since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Yesterday, everyone on the beach was talking about it. People spent the morning preparing for the storm - closing up shop, bringing tables and chairs inside, building sand bag barriers and literally battening down the hatches. By late afternoon the wind was blowing, the waves were building and the beach was empty. All the preparations seemed complete until our local lifeguard, Gary, came down the beach looking for people to help him bring in the ropes and buoys that mark the swimming area of our hotel. John and I both volunteered and as the waves crashed around us, we waded into the water to begin dragging in the gear. At one point we left John to hold onto a rope that was connected to a concrete anchor. As I swam back out to him, I didn't realize that Gary had also asked him to hold on the 2 ft machete that he had been using to cut the rope. It was an image I won't soon forget - my father-in-law, during a tropical storm, bobbing in the water with a giant machete in his hand!

Living on the edge. The morning after the storm.

We lost power for the remainder of the afternoon and evening, but it turned out the the anticipation of Sandy was greater than the storm itself. Other areas of the island were hit hard, but Negril was spared from the worst of it. We spent the rest of the day on our balcony, drinking rum and watching the palm trees blow. Caleb loved having dinner and reading books by candlelight and he is now a huge fan of hurricanes. 

We spotted some birds, including this red-billed streamertail, seeking shelter from the storm. This hummingbird is the official bird of Jamaica and is indigenous to the island.