Caribbean

For days while Hurricane Ike ravaged the Turks and Caicos, and for days after, no one was able to contact the 66 people who weathered the storm on Salt Cay. The majority of Salt Cay was evacuated, but these 66 people decided to stay and after days of uncertainty and concern for the people, property and animals of Salt Cay - communication was established, others have returned and the island is on the mend.

At first, there was no air service, the airstrip was unusable; and there was no ferry capabilities, the larger boats (the Buccaneer and Salt Cay Divers' Big Boat) were sent to Grand Turks' North Creek to hide from Ike. However, reports say those boats disappeared without a trace during the storm.

Just like on Grand Turk, there was massive damage on Salt Cay, but the residents of Salt Cay not only survived Ike's 135 mph winds and storm surges, they came through with tenacity and determination. A shelter was set up at the school. Jim and Sharon Shafer of Windmills and Porter Williams of Island Thymes donated food from their freezers.

The Green Flash Café, one of our favorite places was wiped out, fortunately the memories were not.
Teams of workers arrived to restore electricity and re-roof more than 30 Belonger homes in need roof replacement. Tents are set up in the yards so homeowners would have a place to live while their roof was repaired. Once the roofs are repaired, the focus will go to the churches and common buildings in need of repair. There is still much work to do: ceilings collapsed, walls crumbled and there is much interior damage. There are a few organizations collecting donations to help residents in need of financial support.

Immediately after the storm, rescue workers were collecting bottled water, work gloves, non-perishable food items, roofing materials, tarps, treated lumber, diesel generators for refrigerator and these things are still necessary. However, currently the biggest problem is the electric company won't reconnect homes with power until they have been inspected, which is very expensive and there are many elderly in need of help.

Friends of Salt Cay began raising money specifically for Salt Cay's rebuilding efforts. Relief efforts were targeted specifically for Salt Cay; to help the local residents, including the elderly whose homes were affected. These efforts have been taken over by Salt Cay Hurricane Relief Trust. To make a donation: visit www.saltcay.org

As anyone in the Northwestern Hemisphere knows it is hurricane season and this season has been a particularly rough one for the Caribbean. Hurricane Fay followed by Gustav, Hanna and now Ike have caused widespread devistation to the Caribbean. Ike passed right over Grand Turk and Salt Cay just days after the islands were already battered by Hurricane Hanna for five days.
The Turks and Caicos have not seen storms like this in 48 years. On Grand Turk it is estimated that between 80-95% of homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed, including the hospital which was terribly damaged. There is widespread flooding, roads are blocked, and they are not expecting to fully restore electricity until December. In total, nearly 1,000 people have been made homeless. There was only one place on Grand Turk that had food, Mr Cee's which it is now under a foot of water and the roof collapsed during the storm. Most of the public and private water supplies have been contaminated with debris.

We have heard that the Government reportedly decided to evacuate the island, especially with another threat from Tropical Storm Josephine on the way. With no food or water, it seems that the only hope for Grand Turk is in the form of aid from the British Red Cross and the British Navy. The Red Cross is running emergency shelters and providing people with food, clothing and tarpaulins but supplies are running low and they are appealing for urgent funds
Donations to the British Red Cross hurricane appeal can be made here: http://www.redcross.org.uk/TLC.asp?id=85440.

By far the greatest concern is Haiti, where a humanitarian crisis deepened after four storms in three weeks left more than 566 people dead and hundreds of thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter. About 650,000 Haitians have been affected by the flooding, including 300,000 children, and the task of delivering crucial aid has been complicated by dismal transport conditions. Officials said 200,000 people had been without food and clean water, many for four days

Your donations will help not ony the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, but also those affected in Haiti, the Bahamas, and throughout the Caribbean. Every little helps.

Since Vale and I left the Turks and Caicos last April much sadness has descended upon the islands, particularly the ones we came to call home - Grand Turk and Salt Cay. These difficult months began in late April when Grand Turk and Salt Cay lost a beloved son, Tyro Talbot.
Ty was featured on our February 1st blog, "How does a field project continue?". In that early blog we had only just meet Ty, the captain of the whale watching boat owned by Oasis Divers on Grand Turk, "Prince of Whales". Even then after going whale watching with Ty a couple of times, I was impressed with his understand of the whales and their ocean home. It makes perfect sense that Ty understood the sea as it was his home too. Ty grew up on Salt Cay and Grand Turk. spending as much time on and in the water as on land.

What doesn't always make perfect sense are whales and even more so, people, but Ty had a way with whales and people. Not once was I ever concerned for the whales while out with Ty; he had patience that only comes from the confidence of knowing one's craft. I was often entertained and heartened to watch Ty's response to friends and customers aboard the whale watch who begged to "get just a little closer" or to "stay just a little longer". The pressure to ensure that people "get their money's worth", and every other rational one could come up with, is intense and not everyone stands up to it with the grace of Tyro.

So it was aboard the "Prince of Whales" that Tyro Talbot earned our respect, while on land he became a great friend and confidant. Ty was often the life of the party and was filled with so much life. He played in the band "High Tide", which played at least twice a week and made everyone on the island turn out to dance and celebrate.

On April 19th, the sea took back one of it's own. Ty had a terrible free-diving accident, while doing something that he had done hundreds of thousands of times. Vale and i returned to Grand Turk and Salt Cay to pay our respects to Ty and his memory and to be with other friends and loved ones who were struggling with the tragic and untimely loss of someone who meant so much to so many.

In earlier blogs, I have tried to acknowledge all the people and organizations who have provided support to our project. What I have learned is the phrase, "it takes a village" doesn't just apply to raising children - it apply to every aspect of living within a community, especially on an island.

Environmental protection is not a new concept by any means. There are generations of advocates that have come before us, advocating for the need to conserve and to protect the very things that sustain life on this planet. Well, historically, society has never embraced these people; it's not easy to hear how your actions are heating up the globe, killing off the coral or harming whales and dolphins, much less do the hard work of changing how we live. But all those years of speaking out are starting to make a difference, people are now much more educated about sustainable living and being green is even where it is at these days.

And again when living on an island, where resources are limited, you quickly learn about the need to conserve and protect. The Turks and Caicos children seem way ahead of the curve when it comes to knowing the importance of the environment. I know because I was privileged to be allowed to speak to three different schools about whale and dolphins.


A joint education outreach project was put together by myself and Lucy Wells of the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) in which we went into three primary schools on Grand Turk and Salt Cay to talk about coral reefs and whales. We all learned from the experience!

Lucy talked to them about coral reefs, the importance of the reefs to the Turks and Caicos, and the organisms living on the reefs. I talked about the whales and dolphins they see right off their shores, why the whales are there and what we, WDCS, have learned since beginning our study in TCI waters.

The coolest part was when we started asking them questions. Lucy asked the children what they could do to help keep the reefs protected and the entire classroom raised their hands. Everyone had answers from not polluting and beach clean ups to making sure that no one walked on or threw an anchor on the reef. And when it was my turn to ask questions, the children turned the tables around on me and asked one great question after another. We were so impressed with what they already knew and their desire to learn more, more, more.