Osler
Jaco Pieterse Sept 23rd 2017
Well, nobody said it was going to be easy to move 30 tons of steal hard aground. 2000hp tug didn't even send a shiver through her spine. Poor Osler didn't even move a millimeter. It was like an ant storming a brick wall. And the wall didn't even knew the ant was there. The bollard on the tug gave way in the end.
Now for the next plan.........
The following challenges needs to be overcome:
A barge with a crane can't get close enough. Too shallow.
A land based crane can't get close enough. Distance just out of reach.
Next option, to dig her out.
Let's see how that is going to work out.
Deep channel needs to be dug for about 60 meters.
Something to be said for big steel.
Jaco Pieterse Sept 16th 2017
Let's see how that is going to work out.
Deep channel needs to be dug for about 60 meters.
Something to be said for big steel.
Jaco Pieterse Sept 16th 2017
Irma
A lot of people asked what it was like in the hurricane.
The simple answer is, scary.
The long answer is more complex.
First there's the buildup.
For days you'll be tracking it, not sure which site to follow. And the reports from the various sites is conflicting with each other. There is the 2 main streams. The European model and the GFS that is American based and never the 2 shall meet. Even right up to the end they were different of where the eye was actually going to cross. Bearing in mind, that predicting the weather is a bit like a gypsy glaring into a crystal ball predicting your future. It is not an exact science, with a lot of unknowns.
Every man and his dog have their own theory also. Worst of the lot, the ones who've been through a hurricane or 2 themselves. With some making it off as nothing and others becoming hysterical.
End result: total hysterics and confusion with stress levels rising to unimaginable heights.
Most leave everything to the last minute, and a mad rush and more confusion to follow. That after a month of time for preparation. Lesson learned, say not to anyone rushing and stick to own hurricane plan and prep.
The end result is that you can't wait for this thing to hit and get over and done with this madness. Not realizing the real madness is about to start afterwards.
The storm itself was a gradual buildup. Fast but gradual. Winds kept increasing during the night, and about midnight I got the kids down from their upstairs bedroom into the living room. All storm shutters were drawn by then and all windows taped up. Inside roof were inspected and emergency and contingency plans worked out for in case certain areas might fail. Also where winds may come from and what to do in case of building failure. Turned out to be a good thing. All the weak points as foreseen did fail. A couple didn't. Which way doors closed was also important to keep in mind.
Then it started. The real blow. The noise was incredible. I realized things were going badly when I started hearing loud banging noises. Like 5 battering rams is pounding the walls at once at different points. The building vibrating. I thought at the time the roof beams were coming off. Meantime it was the top floor wall caving in and parts of the roof blowing away. Worst of all, we're so bunkered up, and cants see nothing but 4 walls. Looking for cracks appearing and hoping no structural damage starting to show. As were the case. After a particular loud bang and something bending the steel storm shutters from outside, I did notice a crack in the concrete around the only window in our bunker. Was it the wind or some piece of debris that created it? Maybe a bit of both. At that moment I thought that that was it. And then it was over. We were right in the middle of the eye and a moment to catch our breaths.
Going outside, total destruction met our eyes. Cars floating in the water and alarms going off everywhere. We had about 1/2 an hour while the eye passed over us. The ocean flowed like a river into the lagoon, past the buildings.
I tried to call a friend and by some luck got through. He gave me by some miracle an update and confirmed that it is almost over. We went back into our makeshift bunker and it all started over again. This time from a different direction. At this stage we were more protected from the winds by the angle of the buildings. But we could hear the destruction taking place around us. I managed to sneak a look now and again, since we were now in the lee of some buildings, and our broken storm shutter gave us a small glimpse of the destruction taking place. Wood, tiles and sheet metal screaming through the air. Trying to decapitate anything living in its path. For the next 4 hours the wind gradually slowed down till about 1400 down to about 40 kts.
We considered it safe to venture outside.
We were shocked into silence by the total destruction. Speechless.
It looked like a bomb went off and we were standing on ground zero.
It looked like the whole island were the Center of some twisted atomic bomb experiment........................
Unknowingly, tears just rolled down my face while we were walking down the road. As I looked around, I saw people dumb struck and crying everywhere. None of them realizing that they're crying. Myself included.........................
Next post, the aftermath.
Jaco Pieterse Sept 28th 2017
Another day in paradise.
The benefit of being a diver and being asked to help with sorting things out under the water, is to find the story of how things went down.
If boats could talk. But the signs tells a story of their own.
Like, around Mount Fortune area.
A couple of boats in the area decided to go walkabout and check out the local scenery. First obstacle to cross, was the causeway bridge. No problem, with the help of the bridge, they shed their masts. All went well until they got to marina Port de Plesance. The marina, being made of concrete and not able to join in the fun, decided, if I can't have fun walkabout, no one can. So, she stood her ground and with a couple of well aimed hits, attached the walkabout boats to the ground with a couple of meters of water on top of them to keep them put.
Eventually the eye went past and more mayhem broke out.
One big power boat, broke her anchor out and decided to go for a dance in the wind. Not contend to dance alone, on her path to destruction, she decided to take a partner.
Now, by the looks of things, the partner decided the party is a bit tame, to spice things up, they grabbed another partner. This 3rd partner weren't so keen and decided to not join this waltz of death. But they didn't take no for and answer and dragged her along nonetheless.
Mooring block chain and sand screw.
Now things were really heating up and a 4th unwilling partner were also taken in tow.
But from there, things went downhill. A couple of wild turns and steps, and the whole lot stumbled and end up ungainly in a heap ashore.
Following the underwater signs, the struggles that took place against phenomenal powers is mind blowing.
The timeline of events can be followed in minute detail.
Although I tried to put a light touch to it, I am emotionally too close to it and after a couple of hours of following the signs, also emotionally completely drained.
Also having to tell the owners about their beloved yachts is pretty tough. Although they take it in good grace.
Tomorrow is another day for more diving and more stories.
Explorer Island.. one day..
After taking a walk on Explorer Island it is amazing to see nature bouncing back. Trees having beautiful green shoots and shrubs pushing out new leaves. Areas of St. Martin/ St. Maarten is slowly getting their green tinge back.
I guess another month and the island will look very green again with the little rain it get.
I love this place.
Explorer Island on left, Witches Tit straight in front.. Aug 10th
And from French side..
Sometimes we have lunch there in between races..
A lot of people asked what it was like in the hurricane.
The simple answer is, scary.
The long answer is more complex.
First there's the buildup.
For days you'll be tracking it, not sure which site to follow. And the reports from the various sites is conflicting with each other. There is the 2 main streams. The European model and the GFS that is American based and never the 2 shall meet. Even right up to the end they were different of where the eye was actually going to cross. Bearing in mind, that predicting the weather is a bit like a gypsy glaring into a crystal ball predicting your future. It is not an exact science, with a lot of unknowns.
Every man and his dog have their own theory also. Worst of the lot, the ones who've been through a hurricane or 2 themselves. With some making it off as nothing and others becoming hysterical.
End result: total hysterics and confusion with stress levels rising to unimaginable heights.
Most leave everything to the last minute, and a mad rush and more confusion to follow. That after a month of time for preparation. Lesson learned, say not to anyone rushing and stick to own hurricane plan and prep.
The end result is that you can't wait for this thing to hit and get over and done with this madness. Not realizing the real madness is about to start afterwards.
The storm itself was a gradual buildup. Fast but gradual. Winds kept increasing during the night, and about midnight I got the kids down from their upstairs bedroom into the living room. All storm shutters were drawn by then and all windows taped up. Inside roof were inspected and emergency and contingency plans worked out for in case certain areas might fail. Also where winds may come from and what to do in case of building failure. Turned out to be a good thing. All the weak points as foreseen did fail. A couple didn't. Which way doors closed was also important to keep in mind.
Then it started. The real blow. The noise was incredible. I realized things were going badly when I started hearing loud banging noises. Like 5 battering rams is pounding the walls at once at different points. The building vibrating. I thought at the time the roof beams were coming off. Meantime it was the top floor wall caving in and parts of the roof blowing away. Worst of all, we're so bunkered up, and cants see nothing but 4 walls. Looking for cracks appearing and hoping no structural damage starting to show. As were the case. After a particular loud bang and something bending the steel storm shutters from outside, I did notice a crack in the concrete around the only window in our bunker. Was it the wind or some piece of debris that created it? Maybe a bit of both. At that moment I thought that that was it. And then it was over. We were right in the middle of the eye and a moment to catch our breaths.
Going outside, total destruction met our eyes. Cars floating in the water and alarms going off everywhere. We had about 1/2 an hour while the eye passed over us. The ocean flowed like a river into the lagoon, past the buildings.
I tried to call a friend and by some luck got through. He gave me by some miracle an update and confirmed that it is almost over. We went back into our makeshift bunker and it all started over again. This time from a different direction. At this stage we were more protected from the winds by the angle of the buildings. But we could hear the destruction taking place around us. I managed to sneak a look now and again, since we were now in the lee of some buildings, and our broken storm shutter gave us a small glimpse of the destruction taking place. Wood, tiles and sheet metal screaming through the air. Trying to decapitate anything living in its path. For the next 4 hours the wind gradually slowed down till about 1400 down to about 40 kts.
We considered it safe to venture outside.
We were shocked into silence by the total destruction. Speechless.
It looked like a bomb went off and we were standing on ground zero.
It looked like the whole island were the Center of some twisted atomic bomb experiment........................
Unknowingly, tears just rolled down my face while we were walking down the road. As I looked around, I saw people dumb struck and crying everywhere. None of them realizing that they're crying. Myself included.........................
Next post, the aftermath.
Irma, aftermath
As the last bit of winds died down, walking down the streets, assessing the devastation, an influx of local people into the mostly tourist area caught my attention.
I was wondering where they came from this fast. The local little gas station with bakery and shop was destroyed and goods strewn all over. Some storm shutters were damaged and a wall or two blown over. My thoughts at that moment was, just secure those things and all would be ok. Wishful thinking. As we were walking down the street, looking for friends to see if they are ok, our new visitors started loading their bags with anything and everything they could carry. At first I didn't register what was happening, then all of a sudden it dawned on me, 'looters'.
I couldn't believe it. Hundreds of them were all of a sudden amongst us. Carrying away first all the alcohol they could lay their hands on. And then everything else.
We were all trying to compute what was going on. French families with kids, that have just experienced the most horrendous storm, loosing everything, and all of a sudden this?
The wind was still blowing about 40kts.
Where did they come from?
How did they survive?
How did they knew to come here?
I saw people with blood running down their faces where windows have exploded in their faces, and here are these people laughing and stealing and having a party. I was astonished.
We located some of our friends, and it was a very emotional getting together, finding out if everybody was ok and alive.
What a relief.
Darkness thankfully set in early and things calmed down. We all just trying to find some dry spot to sleep for the night. Exhausted after the last 48 hours of no sleep and preparing for and dealing with the storm.
That first night was relatively quiet. Or so I thought.
At about 3 in the morning I heard some shouting and a commotion in the building next to ours. I stood up and looked outside, but things seemed to have quieted down. Maybe just some domestic dispute.
The next moment a series of gunshots rocked our world. I jumped up and peered through the window, seeing 2 men running around with torches. Lighting up the buildings. I saw that one of them was carrying a pistol. Not knowing if it was friend or foe, I went around, made sure all the doors, or what was left of it was locked and secured. Grabbed the children, barricaded our bedroom door and bunker down.
A bit more shouting and a couple more shots and things got quiet.
Needless to say, not a wink was slept for the rest of the night.
At first light I was outside to try to find out what the hell went on.
Turned out, some looters, criminals, tried to break into one of the apartments and tried to rape a young woman in front of her child. Somehow, someone heard something and fired some shots and they ran away. Saving her life.
And that was just the start.
The next morning they came en masse, stealing fuel out of cars, raiding the few shops even more and threatening people who were trying to gather some of their strewn belongings amongst the wreckage. Fighting with owners over their property and in a couple of cases grabbing things out of their hands and just walking off with it. Armed with machetes roaming the debris looking for anything of any value they can lay their hands on. In the main towns things weren't any better. Shops got broken open, jeweler stores first, there after, tv stores, the Audi dealership, Yamaha, Harley Davidson......... and so the list goes on. There was hardly not a business that weren't affected by the unchecked looting and raiding.
There were 3 people in our area that had for some or other reason, pistols. How, I don't know? They divided our area up into 3 areas they could protect.
And during the night it sounded like a mini war zone. Nobody could sleep and during the day, everybody is busy trying with some sort of cleaning effort. Now it was 4 days without any proper rest for anybody in our area. People were loosing it through exhaustion.
I decided to run with my family. We managed to rescue one of our little boats, I walked through the most dangerous area in st Martin, Sandy ground, where all the criminals and looters live, to fetch one of our bikes in a secure area, to get us out.
To give an idea of Sandy ground, the gendarmes don't enter the area. If they do, they go in a group, armed to the teeth.
Also, during the looting festival, the looters raided the gendarmes depot. Stealing all their weapons, clothing and anything else they could lay their hands on. We didn't know who was friend or foe anymore.
And so it went throughout the whole island.
Taken with the delayed response in declaring the island a disaster area and all communications reduced to nothing, it was every man for himself, with criminals ruling the roost.
Eventually reality and sanity kicked in. By then it was too late.
Military personnel arrived and with them the news media. To show the world in what poor state we were in. How everything have been destroyed by the 'hurricane'. People without food and water, hungry and destitute.
NO!!!!
Hungry and destitute by their own stupidity and greed!!!
They don't need food and water! They got all they could loot from all the shops!
And the crying media and bleeding hearts of the international community feeding this stupidity and greed without stopping.
If it wasn't for a strong military presence they would loot the same trucks bringing them more food and water.
It is disgusting and sickening to witness.
So called destitute peoples arriving in their brand new stolen vehicles collecting food rations.
Make no mistake, there is people that is truly destitute. It is also the people that get last to the distribution points, because they don't have the new fast cars to get there earlier. I saw them turned away or the trucks just driving off, empty. The criminals and looters still first in line. I saw these same really destitute people running to catch the trucks just for a bottle of water. Being pushed away by the criminals. People who we've shared our own food with. Baked bread for and fed because they're hungry, weak and dehydrated. Building fires in front of their destroyed homes for light at night.
I saw 10 people hovering around a little kettle in the morning, making one cup of coffee and sharing that one cup between 10 of them. Each getting a sip for sustenance. Almost to weak to chase the food trucks.
The ones desperately needing help, that the media and everyone else ignore. And when you walk past them, they offering you a sip of their only cup of coffee. But that is not news. More important to see the rich fleeing the island, tourists getting free cruise ship and airplane rides all over the world.
Politicians, trying to convince the world to give them more money to help the poor, that never see one penny of that money.
I truly want to see one dollar being handed to someone in the street that just lost everything by one of these many big organizations.
The hurricane devastation is one thing. The island being raped by its own people quite another thing.
And through this all, the yachting community on the island is left by their own devices, to try to recover with no help from anybody. The one thing that helped build the economy of this island is left to fend for themselves. Being plundered and charged exorbitant rates to try to recover their boats. Yachties that have literally lost everything. Relying on other yachties for help. Where people have supposedly been given permission by the authorities to loot and raid their yachts. I caught some of them red handed on my own boat that is stranded.
People have been killed here for the little possessions they managed to save from the hurricane.
This is the true and shocking reality of the aftermath of hurricane Irma.
Judith Pieterse Sept 16th 2017
For those (and many, many more) guys Irma was the start of a big party, a take whatever and as much as you can -and not only from shops. They took from anyone they fancied.
People, don't believe what you read in the media, the first people out after the storm were not after food or water, the looted packs and packs of alcohol, stole electronics, appliances and cars and ... At night time there's still shooting going on between those who want to take and those who try to protect our lives (and at least within the first week after Irma it was not the police, the army or the gendarmes. We were lucky to have a Russian ex-army guy living next door.)
But as the situation here only very slowly improves they start to realize that they can't eat or drink their winnings. Now they come whining and begging for food, and the general media shows pictures of those poor 'native' Caribbean people. Don't believe what you see!
As the last bit of winds died down, walking down the streets, assessing the devastation, an influx of local people into the mostly tourist area caught my attention.
I was wondering where they came from this fast. The local little gas station with bakery and shop was destroyed and goods strewn all over. Some storm shutters were damaged and a wall or two blown over. My thoughts at that moment was, just secure those things and all would be ok. Wishful thinking. As we were walking down the street, looking for friends to see if they are ok, our new visitors started loading their bags with anything and everything they could carry. At first I didn't register what was happening, then all of a sudden it dawned on me, 'looters'.
I couldn't believe it. Hundreds of them were all of a sudden amongst us. Carrying away first all the alcohol they could lay their hands on. And then everything else.
We were all trying to compute what was going on. French families with kids, that have just experienced the most horrendous storm, loosing everything, and all of a sudden this?
The wind was still blowing about 40kts.
Where did they come from?
How did they survive?
How did they knew to come here?
I saw people with blood running down their faces where windows have exploded in their faces, and here are these people laughing and stealing and having a party. I was astonished.
We located some of our friends, and it was a very emotional getting together, finding out if everybody was ok and alive.
What a relief.
Darkness thankfully set in early and things calmed down. We all just trying to find some dry spot to sleep for the night. Exhausted after the last 48 hours of no sleep and preparing for and dealing with the storm.
That first night was relatively quiet. Or so I thought.
At about 3 in the morning I heard some shouting and a commotion in the building next to ours. I stood up and looked outside, but things seemed to have quieted down. Maybe just some domestic dispute.
The next moment a series of gunshots rocked our world. I jumped up and peered through the window, seeing 2 men running around with torches. Lighting up the buildings. I saw that one of them was carrying a pistol. Not knowing if it was friend or foe, I went around, made sure all the doors, or what was left of it was locked and secured. Grabbed the children, barricaded our bedroom door and bunker down.
A bit more shouting and a couple more shots and things got quiet.
Needless to say, not a wink was slept for the rest of the night.
At first light I was outside to try to find out what the hell went on.
Turned out, some looters, criminals, tried to break into one of the apartments and tried to rape a young woman in front of her child. Somehow, someone heard something and fired some shots and they ran away. Saving her life.
And that was just the start.
The next morning they came en masse, stealing fuel out of cars, raiding the few shops even more and threatening people who were trying to gather some of their strewn belongings amongst the wreckage. Fighting with owners over their property and in a couple of cases grabbing things out of their hands and just walking off with it. Armed with machetes roaming the debris looking for anything of any value they can lay their hands on. In the main towns things weren't any better. Shops got broken open, jeweler stores first, there after, tv stores, the Audi dealership, Yamaha, Harley Davidson......... and so the list goes on. There was hardly not a business that weren't affected by the unchecked looting and raiding.
There were 3 people in our area that had for some or other reason, pistols. How, I don't know? They divided our area up into 3 areas they could protect.
And during the night it sounded like a mini war zone. Nobody could sleep and during the day, everybody is busy trying with some sort of cleaning effort. Now it was 4 days without any proper rest for anybody in our area. People were loosing it through exhaustion.
I decided to run with my family. We managed to rescue one of our little boats, I walked through the most dangerous area in st Martin, Sandy ground, where all the criminals and looters live, to fetch one of our bikes in a secure area, to get us out.
To give an idea of Sandy ground, the gendarmes don't enter the area. If they do, they go in a group, armed to the teeth.
Also, during the looting festival, the looters raided the gendarmes depot. Stealing all their weapons, clothing and anything else they could lay their hands on. We didn't know who was friend or foe anymore.
And so it went throughout the whole island.
Taken with the delayed response in declaring the island a disaster area and all communications reduced to nothing, it was every man for himself, with criminals ruling the roost.
Eventually reality and sanity kicked in. By then it was too late.
Military personnel arrived and with them the news media. To show the world in what poor state we were in. How everything have been destroyed by the 'hurricane'. People without food and water, hungry and destitute.
NO!!!!
Hungry and destitute by their own stupidity and greed!!!
They don't need food and water! They got all they could loot from all the shops!
And the crying media and bleeding hearts of the international community feeding this stupidity and greed without stopping.
If it wasn't for a strong military presence they would loot the same trucks bringing them more food and water.
It is disgusting and sickening to witness.
So called destitute peoples arriving in their brand new stolen vehicles collecting food rations.
Make no mistake, there is people that is truly destitute. It is also the people that get last to the distribution points, because they don't have the new fast cars to get there earlier. I saw them turned away or the trucks just driving off, empty. The criminals and looters still first in line. I saw these same really destitute people running to catch the trucks just for a bottle of water. Being pushed away by the criminals. People who we've shared our own food with. Baked bread for and fed because they're hungry, weak and dehydrated. Building fires in front of their destroyed homes for light at night.
I saw 10 people hovering around a little kettle in the morning, making one cup of coffee and sharing that one cup between 10 of them. Each getting a sip for sustenance. Almost to weak to chase the food trucks.
The ones desperately needing help, that the media and everyone else ignore. And when you walk past them, they offering you a sip of their only cup of coffee. But that is not news. More important to see the rich fleeing the island, tourists getting free cruise ship and airplane rides all over the world.
Politicians, trying to convince the world to give them more money to help the poor, that never see one penny of that money.
I truly want to see one dollar being handed to someone in the street that just lost everything by one of these many big organizations.
The hurricane devastation is one thing. The island being raped by its own people quite another thing.
And through this all, the yachting community on the island is left by their own devices, to try to recover with no help from anybody. The one thing that helped build the economy of this island is left to fend for themselves. Being plundered and charged exorbitant rates to try to recover their boats. Yachties that have literally lost everything. Relying on other yachties for help. Where people have supposedly been given permission by the authorities to loot and raid their yachts. I caught some of them red handed on my own boat that is stranded.
People have been killed here for the little possessions they managed to save from the hurricane.
This is the true and shocking reality of the aftermath of hurricane Irma.
Judith Pieterse Sept 16th 2017
For those (and many, many more) guys Irma was the start of a big party, a take whatever and as much as you can -and not only from shops. They took from anyone they fancied.
People, don't believe what you read in the media, the first people out after the storm were not after food or water, the looted packs and packs of alcohol, stole electronics, appliances and cars and ... At night time there's still shooting going on between those who want to take and those who try to protect our lives (and at least within the first week after Irma it was not the police, the army or the gendarmes. We were lucky to have a Russian ex-army guy living next door.)
But as the situation here only very slowly improves they start to realize that they can't eat or drink their winnings. Now they come whining and begging for food, and the general media shows pictures of those poor 'native' Caribbean people. Don't believe what you see!
Another day in paradise.
The benefit of being a diver and being asked to help with sorting things out under the water, is to find the story of how things went down.
If boats could talk. But the signs tells a story of their own.
Like, around Mount Fortune area.
A couple of boats in the area decided to go walkabout and check out the local scenery. First obstacle to cross, was the causeway bridge. No problem, with the help of the bridge, they shed their masts. All went well until they got to marina Port de Plesance. The marina, being made of concrete and not able to join in the fun, decided, if I can't have fun walkabout, no one can. So, she stood her ground and with a couple of well aimed hits, attached the walkabout boats to the ground with a couple of meters of water on top of them to keep them put.
Eventually the eye went past and more mayhem broke out.
One big power boat, broke her anchor out and decided to go for a dance in the wind. Not contend to dance alone, on her path to destruction, she decided to take a partner.
Now, by the looks of things, the partner decided the party is a bit tame, to spice things up, they grabbed another partner. This 3rd partner weren't so keen and decided to not join this waltz of death. But they didn't take no for and answer and dragged her along nonetheless.
Mooring block chain and sand screw.
Now things were really heating up and a 4th unwilling partner were also taken in tow.
But from there, things went downhill. A couple of wild turns and steps, and the whole lot stumbled and end up ungainly in a heap ashore.
Following the underwater signs, the struggles that took place against phenomenal powers is mind blowing.
The timeline of events can be followed in minute detail.
Although I tried to put a light touch to it, I am emotionally too close to it and after a couple of hours of following the signs, also emotionally completely drained.
Also having to tell the owners about their beloved yachts is pretty tough. Although they take it in good grace.
Tomorrow is another day for more diving and more stories.
Explorer Island.. one day..
After taking a walk on Explorer Island it is amazing to see nature bouncing back. Trees having beautiful green shoots and shrubs pushing out new leaves. Areas of St. Martin/ St. Maarten is slowly getting their green tinge back.
I guess another month and the island will look very green again with the little rain it get.
I love this place.
Explorer Island on left, Witches Tit straight in front.. Aug 10th
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