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1996 yielded another great time on St. Martin.
Well, it was a memorable time.
On this trip we arrived about 20 hours before Hurricane Bertha! Our
friends Jerry and Sherry met us at the airport. My first question was
"How is the weather?" Jerry reluctantly informed me of Hurricane Bertha's
estimated time of arrival but said "hey, we've got a day and a half before
she arrives." With that note of comfort we headed to the Sapphire Resort
and unpacked. Jerry and Sherry had already
located the Cliffside Bar and Grill only
a short distance from our hotel. The bar is located literally on the side
of the limestone cliff at Cupecoy Beach
....later hurricane Bertha caused part of the cliff to wash
away leaving the supporting structure for the bar
to "dangle" in the breeze....tough to lose the business
that quickly. They relocated to the poolside of the Cupecoy Beach Club. If you
visit St. Martin....please go by the Cupecoy Beach Club and ask for Frank
and Nina.....then ask for a mudslide! Nina can mix a 'mean' mudslide. Tell them
that Lynne and Mel said hello! Below are some photos of this year's visit.
- The Cliffside Bar welcomed us! From left
to right you'll see Mel (me), Lynne and Jerry & Sherry. We had a blast,
hurricane and all! A super vacation, although next time I want to be bored
just a little more.
- Day 1 Crew at the Cliffside: Jerry, Sherry, Lynne,
Bob, and Frank. What a difference a day makes with Bertha moving in fast.
- Frank & Nina posing for a photo the day before
losing the bar to Bertha.
- Cupecoy Beach at the end of the week, seemingly
back to normal.
- The Eye of the hurricane! You can see some of the
damage; however, everything seemed peaceful as if the storm had passed.
But the worst was yet to come.
- Wind and rain are evident in this photo. I have
other photos, but visability was just too poor to get a good scan of
the photos for the web page.
- Boat on the rocks at Simpson Bay. Blown ashore, compliments
of Bertha.
- Family's boat. This Couple and their family
lease their boat out of Simpson Bay, St. Martin.
This was "their time" to sail. It was a pretty sad time for them,
as well as us, looking at a beautiful boat with a hole in her hull being lifted by the
crane.
- Dominoes #1, Dominoes #2,
and Dominoes #3 are photos of a boatyard with boats
previously on cradles, now lying on their sides, thanks to Bertha. It was really
sad to see the damaged boats and masts clipped in half. These photos were
taken at near Marigot.
- Hurricane Louis #1,
Hurricane Louis #2,
and Hurricane Louis #3, are photos showing some
of the damage from Hurricane Louis and her 1995 trek through St. Martin.
The third photo shows a mast out of the water from a sunken vessel at Marigot.
Obviously the loss of
life from Louis must have been terrible. Louis was far worse than Bertha.
Lynne (right) and Sherry pause at Frank and Nina's
before we began to celebrate our 26th anniversary.
Lynne & I, refreshed from
an exciting vacation (no sailing, no SCUBA, but a great time with friends)
ready to return home to a *more hectic* pace. (lol)
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