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Unexpected, Unwanted |
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"Peter,
there is a strange swell coming up from the South.
And some wind as well." |
Peter looks
at Maaike in her yellow swimsuit that has a delicious
slimming effect and swallow a lump in his throat. Swimsuits
like that should be forbidden….
“Peter?”
The yacht is indeed rocking in an uncomfortable way.
"And the barometer?"
Maaike ticks against the glass: "Steady".
"Yeah... funny... We can ask one of the divers
what it means”. |
CrossRoads
is anchored in front of the Anchorage Hotel on the Southwest
coast of the island of Dominica. An unspoilt island
sprinkled with volcanoes that are covered by the tropical
rain forest and surrounded by the crystal clear waters
of the Caribbean. Climbing volcanoes, diving and looking
at whales are the biggest attractions of this paradise.
"No problem. It sometimes happens" Rocky tells
us reassuringly.
"Does it have anything to do with Lenny?"
He doesn't know anything about the tropical depression
number 16 that was born yesterday in the Caribbean area,
which grew to a tropical storm in less than a day and
was then christened hurricane Lenny.
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"Where
is it?"
"Yesterday it was at 15 degrees North and
76 West, So somewhere just below Jamaica."
He clicks his tongue for a moment and then says:
"Tsjjj, Tsjj, Tsjj... poor Jamaica".
And then to us: "This is the swell from the
Northeast Trades that is arching around the island
and then coming straight at us. Just like the
wind..."
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| Reassured
we have another cold beer with ice. Lenny is far away
and according to the weather report from November 15
21.00 UTC it is moving away towards 17 North and 68
West. Indeed not across Jamaica nor Haiti, but it is
moving in a north-easterly direction as it is supposed
to towards the Dominican Republic or the island of Puerto
Rico. The next day, the 16th, the American Coastguard
is constantly adjusting the weather reports. At 03.00
UTC Lenny is 15.2 North and 73.0 West and the weather
guru's all assure that it will move to 18 North and
67 West. At 12.00 UTC the bitch is at 15.3 North and
69.8 but don’t worry, it will slowly disappear
towards the West. Painful thoughts. Th pressure of the
hurricane is dissipating. Within 12 hours it went from
982 to 965 millibars. The wind is also rising. From
75 to 90 knots yesterday to 100 to 120 knots today.
And Lenny moves East!
"Do you think everything will be alright."
The swimming suit isn't at ease.
"Be happy, Lenny will move to the Northeast at
any moment".
"And if it doesn't?"
Typical female intuitive suspicion causes me to stroll
over to my nav station to check on the very last weather
reports. Let's have a look. We are tied to a mooring
at 15.16 North and 61.22 West. The distance to Lenny
is... shit, only 450 miles the most!! And against the
rules the bastard is moving steadily in an Easterly
direction at a speed of 14 knots. Let's just calculate
this…. In 11 hours we will just 300 miles away
from the core and will definitely feel its presence.
No good man, no good!!
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Exactly
one minute later we stand in front of Andrew Armour,
the manager of the Anchorage Hotel. He points
at the computer forecast lying on his desk. "There
is a chance that we will be hit…."
We take a good look at the print out and our mood
doesn't improve. There is no way anyone can predict
which direction Lenny will head. Its route will
go anywhere between Puerto Rico and Dominica. |
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Maybe over St Croix, the Virgin Islands and Saint
Maarten.
“This afternoon at four I will decide if
the boats that the divers use should be put ashore."
We look at Armour in fright. "Even if Lenny
passes at a distance of 300 miles I expect a metres
high swell and huge breaking waves." |
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