efaristó universo!

We are very fortunate. Tropical Storm Earl tracked a few crucial kilometers farther north of the Bay Islands even as it intensified into hurricane strength before making landfall in Belize. We were only affected by the outer bands of the storm. We are happy and grateful to report we experienced virtually no damage here at Paya Bay. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to our neighbors in Belize who had to absorb the brunt of this storm. I took these photos as I inspected the property early this morning (note that the shade curtains were proactively removed from the cabanas in Buccaneer Landing to prevent damage to them). *Efaristó is how one says thank you in Greek.

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

it's starting!

12 PM local time. A view of the bay here at Paya. Rain is pretty steady now and there is a noticeable increase in the storm surge and wave action.

Josue, Erick, Gerson, and Christian of Paya's Grounds Team stayed on duty to assist me if needed. Here they play a game of dominoes to pass the time.

imminent

9:15 AM local time. Tropical Storm Earl is about 100 miles east of the Bay Islands. Maximum sustained winds are at 70 MPH (112 KPH). The National Hurricane Center expects it to become a hurricane very soon.

Earl's cumulative wind history. Hmmm.

The latest forecast cone for the storm center.

yikes!

12:30 PM local time. The wind is starting to pick up a bit, but only a few bursts of rain so far.

eek!

9:30 PM local time. Looks like our encounter with tropical storm Earl will be head-on. Tomorrow promises to be a very interesting day. At the moment, the wind has gone eerily still - the calm before the storm.

tropical storm earl

Seems we will be getting some stormy weather here in Roatan tomorrow.

This is how the Caribbean neighborhood is looking at 2:30pm local time today.