The Antiguan sunset doesn't seem to have suffered any for the passing of hurricane Georges. See the photo at the URL above.
You'll remember me telling you about the "Autumn in Antigua" syndrome. Well "Spring" is well on it's way!
Many of the brown, wind burned, plants have already given way to new growth. Many property owners pruned their gardens hard and the tropical rain that passed Antigua a few weeks later (and went on to became hurricane Mitch), encouraged the new buds that were already gathering in little green clusters amid the brown. Some four weeks after the passing of Georges those buds sprang forth and Antigua rapidly began to gain it's regular greener appearance.
The growth of our banana trees has been quite incredible. We cut the trees off about two feet from the ground during the clean up and were amazed to see them sprouting within days. ONLY TWO WEEKS after the storm the new growth was about 20 inches! New leaves shot up like narrow stalks from the thick trunks of the hewn trees. Go to the site for photos http://www.AntiguaToday.com/news/latest
There was hectic activity at Sun Sail Colonna the last week of October as their opening date approached. Huge trucks blocked the Hodges Bay road as scores of 16 to 24 foot sail boats were unloaded, assembled and put out on moorings. Colonna was in the process of being taken over by Sun Sail when Georges threatened their preparations and now they are hastily making up for the delays. Sun Sail Colonna will provide an unusual combination of shore based day sail vacations and as a sailor I can tell you that the small fleat that they are assembling looks like a lot of fun.
On Thursday the 22nd of October I went over to my friends Martha & Tony Gilkes' spectacular home for cocktails. It had been a heavy day signing prints for the passengers of Monarch of the Seas in my downtown gallery Island Arts but the opportunity to see old friends and lounge around in the glamorous splendor of the Gilkes abode was worth the dark ride over some of Antigua's less fortunate roads.
Many of you will have read Martha's accounts of her "miracle birds" on the Caribbean Hurricane Page soon after the storm. Well noe there are some photos of the little feathered superstars on the site.
On Sep. 19th, as hurricane George's was approaching Antigua, Martha had been emptying her love bird aviary of 8 adult birds when she heard "cheeps" coming from a nest box. Inside she found a newly feathered baby. She removed it to the safety of a small cage with its mother, but after 24 hours the mother still hadn't fed the baby. In a bit of a panic she called my wife Gloria (known locally as the parrot lady) who wasn't too surprised since mother birds often abandon babies if the nest is disturbed.
So it was that, just before the hurricane started pounding on Martha's home, she begin the process of hand feeding. "At least it was a distraction during the onslaught of the frightening storm" Martha comments, making light of the rather daunting task of handling a tiny chick and trying not to choke it with a syringe full of feeding formula. Gloria raises a lot of birds and is often hand raising chicks but Martha is a relative newcommer to this delicate operation...... and she couldn't exactly drive through a hurricane to drop the baby off! Well Martha rose to the occasion like a trooper and the little "cheeper" weathered the storm and gained strength over the following days.
48 hours after Georges had mangled Martha's garden and rearranged her terrace a little, she was surveying the damage when she noticed more "cheeps" coming from the now BATTERED aviaryŠ there were 2 more TINY babies, very newly hatched, (NO FEATHERS EVEN), who had gone through the hurricane with NO MAMA AND NO FOOD! Martha immediately dashed for her syringe and started hand feeding again. Since they were so tiny she called Gloria for encouragement but we had to advise her NOT to be too upset if they didn't survive! Martha braced herself for the worst, but endeavored to achieve the best..... and all three came through the ordeal beautifully. Now, 4 weeks later HUGO, LUIS AND GEORGES are thriving with new colors and hues coming out daily in their tiny feathers.
I think the little critters helped sustain Martha through the trauma of clearing up the mess Georges had made of her beautiful home which overlooks Half Moon Bay. They are TRULY MARTHAS MIRACLE BIRDS and show that LIFE GOES ON IN SPITE of the horror of the storms aftermath! In the same vein, as I sat on Martha's terrace studying these photos and looking around at my opulent surroundings, it was difficult to see any signs that Georges had visited Martha and Tony at all. For most of us, (there are a few unfortunate exceptions) these storms bring us a lot of anxiety, a few weeks of back breaking work and then....... its life as usual.
Some of you may have experienced difficulty accessing the AntiguaNews pages for a couple of days last week. The site was temporarily blacked out as I made the necessary adjustments to links and directories to bring them in line with our new domain..... AntiguaToday.com
As I reported last week, the major problem that I faced in the wake of hurricane Georges, as I tried to contribute towards redressing the missinformation spread by irresponsible reports in the press, was the difficulty of reaching my target audience. I hadn't previously foreseen the need to set up a page for emergency conditions. If it hadn't been for the support of Gert van Dijken at The Caribbean Hurricane Page and the guys at www.caribbeans.com I would still be struggling in my effort to get the word out that Antigua is still a worth while holiday destination.
As I considered the possibility of registering my own Hurricane Hotline for Antigua I realized that between my massive AntiguaLinks page, the Community Notice Board and a small virtual tour of Antigua at my main site CineSecrets.com, I already had the nucleus of a substantial Antiguan web entity that, once registered, could be used to provide constent updates about events and conditions on the island. As a result I have redesigned these pages to become part of a much bigger permanent site..... AntiguaToday. Next disaster looms..... we will be ready for action. In addition we shall strive to reach into cyberspace in order to compile a valuable database of tourism related professionals in order to hasten the future dissemination of pertinent updates and information and will continue to regularly send newsletters to our subscribers.
The name AntiguaToday.com is designed to let surfers know that the information and links provided are current. However, AntiguaToday is NOT intended to be a fully fledged news provider. We will provide updates about current events and general information pertinent to visitors to our fair shores. We shall also promote those sites that do specialize in hard news by providing a series of links to their pages.
At this point I'd like to thank all the businesses, individuals and organizations that contributed reports on conditions around the island and hope that they will continue to provide information in the future.
You may have read Jim Lynch's information about his reprint of Oliver's 'History of Antigua'. Jim has kindly offered to help promote the site and I hope you will all repay his kindness by visiting his pages at http://www.candoo.com . One of the pages that he will be helping to promote will be our new Hurricane Hotline which will provide a shortcut entrance to future hurricane updates at http://AntiguaToday.com/hurricanes.
Of course we still have a long way to go to put meat on the bones that I've constructed, but over the next few months you will see the site "fill out" to become an prominent resource.
Finally I would like to thank you all for your interest and the part that you have played in spreading the word about Antigua's remarkable recovery. You have witnessed the birth of an infant web entity and helped it through it's early days. I hope you will also take a little pride in watching it grow over the coming weeks.
Next time you visit you might like to come in through the front door...... http://AntiguaToday.com
That's all for today. See you in Antigua...............
regards
Nick
