- Updates from the Islands -

- - St.John (USVI) - -

- - - 2004 Hurricane Season - - -

- Lovango Cay - St John

From: "Dan Boyd" <imasonry AT viaccess.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 05:14:08 -0400

Good morning

Will Jeanne ever go away ?

Last night we saw more thunder and lightning and received 1/2" of rain. The seas are very flat except near these squalls, where the winds gusts up to 20 to 25 mph.

The Tropical Atlantic is still quite active, Karl looks to be heading North/Northwest, there is a system to Karl's South that looks like it maybe trying to form up.

I have heard reports of a water spout between Great Thatch and Jost VanDyke Wednesday night. Does anyone have any info on this spout ? We were hit with some very strong winds that evening about 10:00, guessing to be about 90+ mph ( weather computer was shut down) That wind caused the most damage for us here on Lovango.

- That's all for Jeanne here

From: "John and Lee Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 07:05:38 -0400

Friday, the sky is lighter this morning, the ferry boats are gearing up for the regular runs once again. St John begins to dry out. Yesterday (Thursday) was a good day to catch up on reading, cleaning out drawers and rearranging the bookcase. Had to break out the sweats and socks as the temperature plunged into the mid-70s. A prolonged visit to the spa helped restore body heat for a while. Even the wandering cat stayed in except for an emergency call of nature (she thinks water is cat solvent and it mostly never completely stopped raining). 10.41" from Tuesday evening till this morning here in Cruz Bay. Lots of thunder and lightning yesterday, but mostly the rolling cloud to cloud type. Very few nearby strikes thankfully. Power, phone and cable remained as stable as usual with about a 4 hour outage on Wednesday and isolated outages Thursday. WAPA guys done good!

Jeanne gave us two days off, mostly for rain. Friends on the south shore reported numerous surfers yesterday as the waves were definitely out of the south, crashing on Stevens Cay while Cruz Bay and the creek were relatively calm. There was only one ferry yesterday: over to Red Hook at 3pm and back at 4pm. So while St Thomas airport was open and, I presume, flights arriving and departing, St Johnians were not participating. Schools remain closed until Monday although the VI government is supposed to be back at work today. There was apparently significant flooding in St Thomas and from over here it looked like they got more rain than we did. There were two cruise ships in St Thomas yesterday. I guess after 5 days at sea the shopping was good, but there were no St John beach tours!

I've finished bailing the downstairs utility room and looks like water has stopped seeping in, so life goes on as we dry out and keep an eye on Karl, which is supposed to go north well before the islands.

John Fuller

- Lovango Cay

From: "Dan Boyd" <imasonry AT viaccess.net>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 05:38:45 -0400

Good morning

Last night we had wind gusts up to 70 mph (about 10:00) and lots of rain !

So far, as of this morning we have received 7 inches of rain from Jeanne and more is on the way.

The seas (Pillsbury Sound) are down compared to yesterday at this time. Its too dark to really tell but the waves are not crashing ashore like yesterday.

Looks like we may get a drying out today, about 10:00 or so ?

Good luck to everyone in Jeanne's path

- Lovango Cay

From: "Dan Boyd" <imasonry AT viaccess.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:33:49 -0400

I live on Lovango Cay, two miles North of Cruz Bay St John USVI.

So far we have experienced winds gusting to 48 mph, steady at 25 mph for the last two hours. Rain accumulation is just a bit over 3 inches since 9:00 last night. Pillsbury Sound on the Northeast corner, seas are about 4 to 5 foot swells from the South, widespread white caps.

So far so good. Hope everyone North of us will do as good.

Dan B

- Hurricane Jeanne 7:25AM

From: Elaine Estern <stjohncoconut AT earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:38:48 -0400

As per the stormcarib web site we are the closest we will be to the 
small dot on the screen that says storm.  The waves are battering the 
coast, and winds seem much lower than 60mph.  Rain is intermittent.  
Being on the west coast, we cannot look across Pillsbury Sound and see 
St. Thomas (our normal view) due to low visibility.  Stevens Cay is 
still in view, with large waves.

P1010009.JPG

- Wet and Gusty, but so far, so good!

From: <crabbys AT earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:06:03 -0600

Good news so far -- some gusty wind (really started to pick up around 1 am
this morning), but no damage that we are aware of here, thank goodness. We
hope this is as bad as it will get. The power is still on out here in Coral
Bay.   A local weather report says we've gotten one inch of rain on this end
of the island, but more is reported in other spots.  It has been raining
steady throughout the night and now has really started to pick up.  Hope
this is only temporary. A peak at the harbor a few minutes ago shows some
waves breaking along the shoreline -- much larger than normal, but not close
to reaching the road. Many of the boats did move into Hurricane Hole during
the day yesterday for safety.  Unfortunately, this storm came up very
quickly, which meant folks had to react very quickly to finalize
preparations.  We will check in again if there is anything substantial to
report.

Crabby's Wife

- Rain and more rain

From: "John Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 07:05:59 -0400

Good morning. And it IS a good morning as Jeanne has passed south of our islands and winds apparently have been reasonable. In Cruz Bay we've had rain all night, mostly light until a little after 5 am when the wind picked up here. 1.5" rainfall overnight (6:30 pm to 6:30 am) but it is definitely heavier right now. Winds have increased since 7am and it appears that the ferries are not running this morning. Wife has gone off to the gym and if there's anything to report from downtown Cruz Bay when she gets back I'll post it. Meanwhile, curl up with a book and a hot cup of coffee and enjoy the rainy day.

John Fuller

- Eve of Jeanne

From: "John Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:13:59 -0400

If there is a calm before the storm, then we will have a storm. Except for a few breeze gusts around 5:53 pm, Cruz Bay is becalmed. I note that the ferries are not rafted up in the creek as of now, and not to seem a whingeing ninny, I am tired of buttoning up only to have to go and add water to the pool and water the plants after each of these storms pass. Not complaining about the wind mind you, but it IS the rainy season after all. Why have we received so little rain?!

Jeanne #5 looks like it will go even further south than #4 predicted. I see the radar now with nothing for the USVI. Please Jeanne, just a little rain, please. Oh, yes, and then please feel free to dissipate before getting to any other islands. Thanks for the consideration.

- Hurricane Frances

From: "postman AT flyyellowairtaxi.com" <postman AT flyyellowairtaxi.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 01:11:13 -0400

Yellow Air Taxi would like to extend a helping hand those devastated by hurricane Frances.

We are aware this has been a very active hurricane season for all of us. Yellow Air Taxi is here to assist you with moving people and supplies that you or your property may require.

We have resumed service to the Bahamas and have added temporary legs to our flight to accommodate those of you in the outer islands, including Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Nassau, Exumas, and other outer Islands.

Our Bahmas location still remain without power and phones, so for more information please contact our Fort Lauderdale office at 954-359-0292.

Good Luck!

Yellow Air Taxi Management

- Frances all gone

From: "John and Lee Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 09:32:58 -0400

Bright sunny day here on St John Wednesday but typical of the aftermath of storms: muggy and very little breeze. The ferries are running again (not much excuse for not running yesterday that I could see). Yesterday proved to be a well prepared for fizzle. Just that brush of rain a little after 6am, then nothing until a little after noon when we got just 7/10ths of an inch in Cruz Bay. We saw a lot of rain across the sound on St Thomas, but it looked like the bands just couldn't quite reach us here. Although the wind was from the west during the morning and shifting to the southwest later in the day (you can track the eye by looking into the wind and holding your right arm straight out - it points toward the eye) there was never very much of it. WAPA managed to keep the power going, phones, and cable too. We were indeed lucky in this one and I join fellow Rotarian Ronnie (posting for St Thomas) in prayers for our friends in the Turks & Caicos who look to be going to get slammed.

Here's wishing you all the best until the next one.

John Fuller

- Frances

From: Elaine Estern <stjohncoconut AT earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 06:36:08 -0400

Rain began falling this morning at 6:11.  The west shore of St. John 
has had building winds (thus far approximately 30 kts with gusts)and 
the ocean has been surging.  Rain coming from the NW in small bands.  
This must be the first of the storm.  Last night the tide was high, due 
to almost full moon, and probably storm surge, but the seas are 
amazingly low.  White caps are just beginning to build, with waves 
hitting the shore at about 2 feet. I can even see patches of blue 
skyThus far this is a typical storm....lets hope this is as bad as 
Frances will be.

- Looks like storm "soon come"

From: <crabbys AT earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 08:48:15 -0600

Because of the close proximity of the storm's track to St. John, most folks
are taking Frances very seriously.  Many boats have tucked into Hurricane
Hole and other protected areas along the eastern side of St. John. We spent
yesterday packing up items from our business, which is  right along the
shoreline, and putting up hurricane shutters. Some people who are uncertain
about the safety of their homes have moved to stronger housing, and some
rental homes have moved vacationers away from the immediate water.  Better
safe than sorry. However, we are ever hopeful that the storm will continue
to move northward and only graze us.

We are positioned up on the hillside overlooking Coral Bay (looking
easterly).  It has been extremely overcast this morning -- a sharp contract
from last night when the full moom was shining brightly -- and we are
starting to see a light wind come through, with some ripling through the
water.  The boats in Coral Bay turned last night -- they usually face East
(as the wind normally comes from that direction).  Now the boats are turned
the exact opposite way. We are looking forward to some rain this afternoon
as it has been very dry, and are optimistic that the winds will stay
resonably low. If anything of significance happens we will post again,
Crabby

- St John in the morning

From: "John and Lee Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 07:36:33 -0400

7:30 am Cruz Bay, St John: We're tucked into the hillside above Cruz Bay so we do not get direct winds until it shifts to the west (very rarely) so I cannot gage the intensity or direction but starting about 2am it was breezy here. There is moderate chop in Pillsbury Sound (my view). One of the Tortola ferries just left Cruz Bay, but all the St John Ferries are rafted up in the creek. Maybe they are running to Red Hook, I'll keep an eye and ear out (heard them repositioning during the middle of the night).

The rain held off till 6am with just under a tenth of an inch. Radar shows that we got just a little of the outer bands of Frances and looks like more to come. As the cistern is not chock-full, and most things that shouldn't get wet are under a tarp or secured in some way, I hope we do get some rain out of this. Storm track looks like CPA will be about 1pm today. Driest August in the 7 years I've kept records .. although I hate to catch up all at once the last day of the month!

"Wandering" cat is still close by. Must be something coming.

- Weather

From: "John and Lee Fuller" <jfuller AT islands.vi>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:19:18 -0400

8:15 pm Cruz Bay, St John: The night is calm, the frogs are loud, and before sundown the skies were blue with lots of clouds moving along. Not a single thing in nature to justify my efforts today to put away things and prepare to shutter the house. I expect that if we do get rain it will come in the middle of the night requiring me to do those rain abatement things in the dark in my pajamas (well, IF I wore pajamas). The only clue from other than the national weather service that something is up is that our "wandering" cat has been staying close today. The "house" cat is of no value in predicting anything except when I will put out more food, and she is hopelessly optimistic about that.

Watching Frances move slightly north of west I will go to bed tonight with the comfort of having done preparations without need. Hope we all wake up to the same comfort. Good luck.

John Fuller

- Some wind but little rain

From: Benton <crabbys AT earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 07:29:14 -0600

TD2 has, thankfully, not delivered much.  Here in Coral Bay, we still are
experiencing stronger-than-usual winds this morning (I am guessing that
periodic gusts are around 30 knots), but the sun is already trying to come
out. We had some fleeting rain mid-afternoon yesterday (Wed.) and some
stronger gusts throughout the night.  The air went from being still and hot
through early yesterday afternoon to becoming cool and fresh as the system
began to move through the area.