When hurricanes named Luis and Marilyn roared through the Caribbean last September, lives were lost, homes and hotels were damaged or destroyed, and the economic viability of an entire region seemed threatened.
Palms were stripped of their fronds. Beaches were washed away. Yet at the same time, there was hope–that stricken islanders would be able to restore their ports and towns quickly enough to save their tourist season, which traditionally begins Dec. 15.
The islanders, as best they could, have worked their magic. Nature has worked hers.
As surely as the sun will shine and the soft breezes will refresh, there will be a tourist season in the Caribbean.
There are remnants of the storms, particularly away from the hotel and shopping districts, where the wind and rain turned simple houses into raw materials. But even on St. Thomas, hardest hit of the islands, the port’s open for business–the first ship since Marilyn cruised in Oct. 31–and 50 more are expected in November alone. Shops and restaurants will be open to serve them. (About 75 percent of the shops are open now; almost all are expected to be open in mid-December.) Hotels (authorities estimate 60 percent of the island’s rooms should be ready for the season) will come a little slower.
St. Maarten, which had shut its binational self (the other side of the island is French) to all but property owners and emergency teams after Luis struck on Sept. 5, reopened its port to cruise passengers Oct. 15 and to everyone else Nov. 1.
“I don’t think you’d know, unless you went into some back areas or some of the residential areas, that they’d had a storm,” said spokeswoman Jackie MacKay.
Typical recovery story is Antigua, where Luis had blown away some of that island’s prime beaches.
“But the sand had to go somewhere,” said Regina Henry, a spokeswoman for Antigua. “Ironically, some (of the other beaches) were improved.”
Darkwood Beach, once among the island’s finest, hadn’t been itself since Hugo in 1989. “It was so obvious that the waves had eaten away at the beach,” said Karen Knowles of Antigua’s Department of Tourism. “Now it’s almost pre-Hurricane Hugo. It’s amazing.”
Meanwhile, waves almost immediately began replenishing the eroded beaches.
“If you are a return visitor,” said Knowles, “there are certain things that are just not there anymore or that have been seriously affected by the hurricane. If you are a first-time visitor to Antigua, it’s unlikely you’re going to see something here that has to do with the hurricane.”
St. Barthelemy (St. Barts) took a major hit from Luis. The bad news: The Castelets, a legendary inn that has been a favorite of movie stars, suffered extensive damage and may not reopen.
“The good news,” said Gerald Hill, whose firm represents four hotels that survived the storm on St. Barts, “is 10 days later, Marilyn passed by, but not right over the island, and it brought a lot of rain. So after years of drought, St. Barts is going to be greener than it’s been in a long time.”
Same story on Anguilla.
“The island is normally a dry island,” said spokeswoman Joan Medhurst. “The foliage is coming back nice and green. Flowers are bursting out. I didn’t know if nature could get that green on time. I’m just so relieved.”
So on most of the storm-ravaged islands, by mid-December tourists will find towns, markets and beaches as neat and lovely as last year’s brochure covers.
The palm trees, with buds where fronds once swayed, and more than a few hotels will take a little longer.
St. Thomas/St. John/St. Croix: St. John suffered little damage (the resort at Caneel Bay Plantation won’t reopen until June, but the Hyatt is taking reservations starting Dec. 15), and lightly hit St. Croix turned out to be one of the winners in all this: Because itineraries were forced to adjust to damage elsewhere, St. Croix will get something like 300 visits from cruise ships this season, up from last season’s 80. All its hotels are taking reservations.
St. Thomas, which needs hotel rooms for cleanup personnel, is discouraging non-cruise tourists until mid-December. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas’ port city, is in pretty good shape, with duty-free shops and restaurants open on Main Street and in nearby Mongoose Junction for cruise passengers. Most hotels are taking reservations starting Dec. 15 or 20, and a few may take them earlier; but Point Pleasant Resort and Stouffer’s Grand Beach will miss the season, and Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef–the largest (at 615 rooms) hotel complex in the U.S. Virgin Islands–may not reopen to tourists until renovations are complete in November 1996.
St. Maarten/St. Martin: Together, the Dutch and French sides expect about 70 percent of their hotel rooms to be available for guests by mid-December. Work goes on.
“It’s their only industry,” said MacKay, “and they know they’ve got to get it back up and running as quickly as they can”
On the Dutch side, Maho Beach Resort put a mid-November opening date on 400 of its 600 rooms, with the rest likely to be on line by Christmas. Another big hotel Great Bay, is projecting a Dec. 15 opening for half its 285 rooms, while the 600-room Mullet Bay Resort has yet to announce a date.
On the French side, La Belle Creole will remain closed indefinitely, but the 251-room Meridien L’Habitation Le Domaine and the deluxe La Samanna are scheduled to open Dec. 15. Gone: Les Alizes Guest House and the Club Orient Naturist Resort, whose bungalows were washed into the sea.
St. Barthelemy: The airport is open, the roads are open and so are many of the hotels, though the announced official date for welcoming tourists is Saturday.
“It wasn’t as bad as St. Maarten or the U.S. Virgins at all,” said Hill. Water, power and phones, all knocked out by Luis, are back to normal. Vegetation is recovering. Beaches that were washed away–including Flamands–are, with help from French army engineers, in various stages of cleanup. A few have grown, including the once-modest strand at the Guanahani hotel, which opens Friday, and the one at Emeraude Plage, set to open Dec. 1.
Though the Castelets is history as a hotel, its restaurant is hoping to begin serving early in the season. No date for the badly damaged Baie des Flamands and Baie des Anges, but the popular Carl Gustaf and the villas at Le Toiny are already functioning.
Antigua: The island’s in pretty good shape. Some of its familiar mahogany trees were ripped from the ground by Luis, but shops in St. John’s, the capital, are all expected to be open and operating soon; some of the stores that already are open are having “hurricane sales” of damaged goods.
All but a few hotels expect to be taking guests before Christmas. Notable exceptions: the Blue Waters Beach (projecting a February 1996 opening), Galley Bay (Christmas 1996), Runaway Beach Club (summer 1996) and Sandals (mid-January 1996).
Anguilla: Anticipating no early season crush after the hurricanes, islanders on this quiet atoll didn’t hurry to reopen. “They’re using it as a chance to build a new this or add a new that–so might as well keep it closed until we’re completely ready,” said Medhurst. “This is a quality product.” Utilities are still coming on line. A few properties were sold (one, the Casablanca Resort, went to Sonesta and will be reborn as the Sonesta Beach Club Anguilla early next year), but the luxurious Malliouhana Beach Hotel opens Friday, and the similarly posh Cap Juluca joins it Dec. 15, when most everything is expected to be up and running.
