What was supposed to be a totally normal, no big deal, Category 1 hurricane hit Cozumel with the force of a Category 3 storm. Fortunately we had taken a lot of precautions because, as we’ve learned since living here, Cozumel could care less about what the weather report says.
Pre-Hurricane
In the days leading up to the arrival of Beryl, we contacted our property manager because our entire north side of our condo did not have hurricane shutters on them. The windows ranged from a small bathroom sliding window to a large 3-pane large sliding window shown in the photo below. They said that they would have workers here on Wednesday to install things which was good because it was a whole day before the hurricane. Instead they finished on Thursday with less than 12 hours before Beryl hit us in full force.
Since our water is provided to the building via an electric pump, we gathered up every pot, pan, bowl, jug, small bucket, etc… and filled them up with non-potable water which would be used for various tasks like washing dishes, our hands, or brushing our teeth. We also filled up our two big mop buckets with water which we would use for when we needed to flush the toilets. Finally we filled up an empty 20 liter jug to be used as a refill station for any of the aforementioned use cases.
We scheduled a water delivery for Wednesday and stocked up on 200 liters of potable water. On a normal day, we use about 10 liters of water for drinking, tea, coffee, protein shakes, etc… so that alone gave us about 20 days worth of drinking water. That felt like plenty, but we knew that we could stretch it further by cutting out things that required power, or things that taste gross at room temperature.
We charged up every device we had, including our 3 battery packs and went to the store to stock up on nuts, peanut butter and jelly, bread, fresh fruit, and more snacks. We bought enough to last 2-3 weeks on top of what we normally keep on hand which was already a 1-2 week stash. What can I say, we love our snacks 😄. We also hit the ATM because cash is king when the power is out!
We both laid out the expectations of the storm to our family and friends and got ready to ride it out.
The Night of the Hurricane
Jamaica slowed the storm down quite a bit and what was supposed to hit us late Thursday night turned into an overnight arrival.
Cool. That’s not terrifying at all…
The actual time spent before bed on Thursday was pretty indifferent from our normal day to day, just every window was closed and covered and we had the lights on. We showered up, I played the entire game of Firewatch while my wife read her book. For all intents and purposes everything seemed kinda normal. So much so that we updated our families that things were fine and we went to sleep.
Hurricane Beryl Hits
Right as we were getting into bed, the power went out. It was so on the top of the hour that we thought maybe CFE did it pre-emptively to ensure nothing sparked when inevitably the lines came down. We fell asleep quickly thinking that this might not be so bad.
We woke up at 23:30-ish (11:30 PM) to the heavenly beep, or the sound of everything turning back on. Living in Mexico forces you to appreciate a fan, let alone air conditioning and so we relished in the moment before falling back to sleep.
3 AM, I wake up to what can only be described as the whining of a jet engine outside as the power shuts off. The hurricane shutters let in just enough air behind them to make a high pitch whistling sound while the wind quickly flips between nothing and the hurricane force winds you’ve all heard in videos online. We never felt truly scared but it was both scary and intense if that makes any sense. My wife woke up shortly thereafter and I grabbed her hand. Sleepily, she asked me if we were going down like that old couple in the movie Titanic. A joke that put a smile on my face and reminded me of just one of the many things I love about her.
Shortly thereafter, we heard the banging outside get louder and louder and then ka-crack, also known as the shattering of glass, coming from a floor above us. That’s when we knew we were in the thick of things. Terrifying moments of high pitched wind screaming, the sound of our hurricane shutters rattling, all broken up by the staccato of glass shattering with a cadence that can be best described as unplanned and chaotic, we traded squeezes of the hand to let the other person know we were here with them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the adrenaline escaped our bodies and we both passed out.
The Day After
I was the first to wake up around 6:30 AM and cracked open one the only unsecured window in the bathroom and saw that things seemed pretty normal overall. Some broken branches and downed trees in the jungle across from us, and some minor flooding in the driveway, but nothing unexpected. I checked our windows and glass doors to see if any of the glass shattering we heard was from us, all were intact. Hayden joined me shortly thereafter and after listening for any tell tale signs of the storm, we ventured into the hallway to see what awaited us.
The hallway was also unexpectedly normal. Sure there were some leaves that had blown up from downstairs, but none of the giant exposed glass windows had even a hairline fracture in them. It was starting to feel like maybe we dreamt the whole thing? Hell there was only a bit of water on the floor from a known leak which bewilders us as to how leaks work in this building. I could write a whole blog just on how they inexplicably vanish and reappear elsewhere in this place.
We saw our security guard through the window and waved to him and he called us downstairs. We went down to meet up with him and another man and he showed us, on his phone, the devastation that had occurred.
The top floor didn’t have hurricane shutters installed and their sliding doors exploded and collapsed in on themselves. Every glass balcony on our side of the building except for ours, had shattered or cracked in the night. The concrete holding the railings of the two top floors had cracked. The poles that the glass had attached to had turned into missiles and were strewn about the property. The metal covering above the top floor was almost completely gone. The tree in front of our condo had lost a sizable chunk of it. The tree next to it was ripped out completely (view upgraded). Glass covered half the lawn. The pool was filled with debris, branches, and leaves. The hot tub, that they have been refinishing, was completely flooded and filled with debris. And yet, our condo avoided all damage minus the fact that our balcony railing is slightly looser now. Everything started to sink in that we were pretty lucky. While 2/3rds of the building had no damage, every unit on our side, except for ours, did.
Once the initial shock wore off, we realized that we hadn’t reached out to anyone. We also realized, that we had basically no cell service. By pure happenstance, we noticed that there was one stair leading to the pool where we had enough service to send out a text message.
Alive and safe. Limited cell. We think we are in the eye of the storm
In hindsight, outside of the initial relief of knowing we were alive, we probably didn’t set anyone’s mind at ease with that statement. So I quickly went back out to grab some photos of the damage and stood back in the spot to send a more detailed message.
Sorry I wasn’t sure how much I could get out. We have no power and can’t get cell service in the condo. Wild shit man, we are safe and our condo suffered no damage. Can’t say the same for the rest of the place. Looks like the back of the storm is still going to be hitting us soon-ish so we are staying hunkered down but the worst is past us. Love you all, will send photos and more details later this evening when things calm down.
It was then, I finally noticed that the flat seas of Cozumel were raging with swells of upwards of 6 feet in height.
The Aftermath
If you visited the island on Saturday, July 6th, less than 36 hours after Beryl had hit, you’d never had known a hurricane had just passed through if you only visited the downtown tourist area. Driving through town it may as well have been any other day, just with a bit more debris on the ground and piled up on the side of the roads. The whole tourist area of downtown had power, they even accepted credit cards! It was such a crazy juxtaposition to what we were scraping together from friends outside of the island.
The rest of the island, however, power lines were down, thatched roofs of the various east side establishments pocked with holes at best, gone at worst. Whole roads blocked off with debris and fallen trees. 7 of Cozumel’s colonias, at the time of me writing this, are still without power. Ours included. In fact, I’m writing this blog on my phone by candlelight on the second day of no power.
Back to Normal Life
It took us 3 days to get power back which was actually quite surprising when you look at how many power lines were down. The thing I have to keep reminding myself is, this is the first one of the season and the season runs until October / November. We’ve got a few more things to buy that would have made our lives a bit better in hindsight, especially something like a battery powered fan, but we’ll be more prepared for the next one!
Huge shout out to everyone who checked in on us. We really appreciate you!