Monday, June 22, 2015

Intrepid Travelers are back - Tropical Storm Bill Under Our Belt


Fisherman coming in from bailing - another fisherman is inside the blue boat bailing water

We are back from our travels safe and sound although we have now experienced our first Tropical Storm which actually happened to be on hubby's life list.  We landed in Cancun on Friday afternoon and by the time we got to the hotel it was quite cloudy but calm.  We ventured out for a fantastic first night meal of tacos and shrimp and wandered out to the beach to see fishermen trying to take those boats that could be beached out of the water and hotels tucking away all their seafront tables and chairs.  The concierge at our small Mexican hotel mentioned that bad weather was coming.  We weren't exactly sure what that meant as the forecast on all the weather channels indicated possible thunderstorms with a few millimetres of rain - no mention of a storm approaching.  Obviously the locals are much more in tune with their own weather.


Fishermen inspecting their boat during the storm

Saturday morning hubby looked out our patio to the water and told me it was raining.  Disappointing for our first day in Playa Del Carmen but I said no problem, we will just go for a walk in the rain on the beach.  He then told me to come have a look as the rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was blowing about 70-80 km an hour.  Yikes - we get a lot of rain on Vancouver Island but I have never ever seen so much rain come down in buckets like that.  At the time the news was calling it an unnamed Tropical wave as apparently it was a group of "unorganized" thunderstorms.  We never saw lightening or heard thunder - just high high wind and unbelievable rain.  We spent a couple of hours in the hotel room and then ventured out.  Mexicans are an extremely hardy people - the only things closed were beachfront.  Two blocks inland all stores and restaurants with any sort of overhead cover were open for business.  We ran in the rain with my little umbrella until the wind inverted it then dived into a tourist shop and invested in two rain ponchos.  There were very few tourists out but we were all sporting the same attire.  

The beach in front of the hotel
At that point we  decided to take a break from the madness and have a couple of beers and chips with guacamole with other tourists trying to stay out of the rain.  We encountered lots of amazing guacamole this trip - I think the avocados taste better there as they have not been picked too early and transported thousands of miles before they make to the table.  When we got back to the hotel we got our bathing suits and water shoes on and donned our new rain ponchos and took these pictures.  Fortunately the wind wasn't crazy - this storm consisted mainly of the rain.  We were never in danger or we wouldn't have been out walking the beach - although we were the only ones out there.  The storm dumped about two feet of seaweed on the beach which will take them weeks to clean up.  After that we only ventured out for another tasty Mexican dinner, once again getting completely soaked despite the rain ponchos in the process.



5th Avenue Playa Del Carmen - our sanctuary during dinner

View to the sea from our room during the storm.
 The next morning was much worse, with the rain coming down even harder and the wind speed about 90 km-100 km per hour.  We were afraid to leave the hotel - I was extremely thankful for our included continental breakfast which they delivered right on time even in the storm.  By 11 am it was obvious the drain on our 3rd floor balcony was plugged as the water was creeping up to our balcony door level.  The wind had taken out one of the thatched roofs on a room across from us and torn a lot of thatch off other roofs which was flying around landing in the water and clogging the drain.
 Hubby went out and he uncovered the drain so our room wouldn't flood. Our room was protected from the wind fortunately with the other side taking the brunt of it.  We then went down to the lobby - suddenly realizing the street in front of the seaside hotel was one of the lowest and now was under a foot of water.

Flooded street in front of the hotel
Blogger won't let me upload any more pictures today so my next post will show the end of the storm. Don't let these pictures worry you  - we had five good days on our trip and our holiday was not ruined plus we can now say we've been through a tropical storm!

29 comments:

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    1. It was kind of interesting to watch how fast it came down - nothing like what we tend to get on the west coast.

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  2. You two had the right attitudes for making an adventure out of the storm.

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  3. All that way for rain! Still, at least it was dramatic weather not the mundane drizzle we're plagued with.
    Good to see you back! x

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    1. Exactly - although right now we are in drought conditions and under water restriction at home. We could of used about 1/2 an hour of that rain.

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  4. I thought about y'all last week as I remembered you were down in Mexico.
    Glad you had a good time(and were safe!)despite the rocky start with the weather.

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    1. We did have a good time and are already planning our next adventure!

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  5. Oh I would have been crying. That hotel looks really nice though. I'm glad you got through it and were able to enjoy 5 good days.

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    1. The hotel was nice - there are only about 20 units altogether. This is the one time I am glad we didn't pay for full on ocean front - the staircase to get to the top floor was right out front and took a huge battering during the storm.

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  6. That is very impressive!!! I am glad you had a nice vacation nevertheless. Buddy must be so happy to see Mom and Dad!

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    1. He had a great time with his Mom and his Dad, his old human Mom and even got to see some of his brothers and sisters there as she grooms them and they happened to be there at the same time for grooming. He did miss us though. He is definitely a little clingy now.

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  7. LOVE your attitude!!! Storms can be just as exciting as any other experience on vacations!! Glad you were safe and not in danger!! My daughter and I had planned on a beach weekend in Galveston but changed our minds. Glad you got to go and glad you are back!!

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    1. Exactly - the only bad thing was that we couldn't snorkel as much as we had wanted to as after the storm the ocean was really murky. You cannot control that - we just did other things.

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  8. Fantastic shots which really give an idea of what it was like!
    Jane x

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    1. I was lucky to have the waterproof camera with us or wouldn't have gotten any as there was no way we could have taken cell phone shots or photos with my good camera.

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  9. What's the expression, a bad day at the beach beats a day in the office. I agree, you had the right dispositions. We had a rain out in a Jamacian cruise stop. We actually over heard people complaining to the cruise director about their vacation being ruined because they couldn't do this or that as planned. My kids very loudly went by them once back on the ship and said, "Jamaica was awesome. We never get rain like that at home."

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    1. Exactly - we were on holiday and had to look at it as an adventure.

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  10. Pretty exciting weather. I'd hate to have a boat out on the water during that. Your room looks like a really nice one with a super balcony when it isn't flooded. Glad you had some nice days too. - Margy

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    1. The port of Playa Del Carmen actually shut for all private and commercial traffic including ferries to Cozumel. Those guys were worried their boats were going to sink so were only bailing. At the end of the storm we checked and it appeared none of them had sunk. As tropical storms go when this one went by Playa Del Carmen it was in its youngest stage. Had the wind been any worse there would have been lots of damage but we saw hardly any when it was over. Some palapas and seafront hotel damage and when we went to the airport at the end of the week lots of toppled billboards but I heard of no injuries so that is a huge plus.

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  11. So glad the tropical storm wasn't too bad and that you both found it an exciting part of your vacation!

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    1. We did but by the end of day two were getting a bit cabin-feverish as we couldn't go outside much. We were just lucky the storm wasn't any worse.

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  12. Holy hell and hurricanes. I would have had a little freak out. And it seems a bit odd that your hubs wanted to go through a big storm. That isn't on my bucket list, on my list is money. I am glad that you did have some good days and you have an awesome story to tell.

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    1. I actually found it quite exciting. Hubby loves storms, could have been a storm chaser. He used to get excited when it looked like tornadoes in Alberta where we used to live. Where we live now we have gotten the tail end of a tropical storm but it was so much a non event - a normal rain shower and a tiny bit of rain. Nothing like this.

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  13. Looking forward to reading about the next part of your vacation.

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  14. We were in Bali many years ago and a rain storm came up suddenly with rain coming sideways. All the other patrons ran inside the palapa bar building. I bet my husband we could stay in it without closing our eyes. After about ten minutes of this I said my eyes were getting battered. peter replied he had closed his about 9 minutes ago. Cheater that he is. So we went in the palapa and were handed towels to dry off. We just explained we were canadians and that is what we do!!!!

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    1. I love that story! Just because you went on vacation doesn't always mean the weather will cooperate. We expected a daily shower but not quite this much rain. You have to make the best of it! And now the rest of us Canadians have a hard act to follow after your story lol.

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  15. You two are intrepid travellers for sure! Good for you for making the best of it and so glad the weather improved!

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