Hurricane Dorian Relief; Green Turtle Cay & Marsh Harbor

We were one of the first boats to arrive Saturday morning. We cleared in and out in an hour and went on to Green Turtle. There were dozens on boats coming in while we were there all donating their time and fuel to help people.

Shutting down OBB makes no sense unless something happed in Freeport and crowds converged in west end hoping to get rides out.

The smaller communities in the Abacos need help. They want to rebuild... let me rephrase. They are rebuilding already. At least in Green Turtle

In addition to bringing thousands of pounds of relief supplies, private efforts also bring moral support to these communities

Tell the 12 year old who got her first sip of cold juice in a week than it s not needed. Or the doctor who enjoyed a hot meal after a long day at the clinic... or the people who got their first apple or orange in a week... of the volunteers that flew in and set up an emergency watermaker on the government dock ...

Nice work on the ground level

Immediate relief and help from Pascal and so many others is admirable and needed.

I fear for the Abacos and Grand Bahama when Dorian disaster fades from the news. There was a small resource of builders, electricians, plumbers before Dorian, and many of those tradespeople may have left the islands. There simply won't be enough tradespeople to handle the massive rebuild anytime soon, and the fact that all building materials have to be shipped to the Abacos and Grand Bahama will make matters worse. The islands survive on tourism, and that source of income will disappear until the mess is cleared up and the lodging infrastructure is rebuilt, and that could be years and years from now. I hope I'm wrong and the Abacos and Grand Bahama will rebound relatively quickly like the Virgin Islands did, but the destruction in the Abacos and Grand Bahama was so widespread.

I think we need to be careful to distinguish the different areas. GTC was hit hard, but was mild compared to Marsh Harbour area. Grand Bahama had some wind damage but huge amounts of flooding. I see a fairly quick and successful recovery for GTC and Grand Bahama. I see both within two to three years being much as they were before. However, I don't see any short term recovery for Marsh Harbour as I see a nearly total evacuation, then major cleanup before any thoughts even of rebuilding. I expect that area to be largely desolate two to three years from now and to never be similar to the way it was before but more like an empty island built out from scratch.

Mild??? What a poor choice of word.

There isn’t a single structure on GTC which doesn’t have damage. At least half are destroyed. To the ground. They remained in the NORTHERN eyewall the whole time and never even had a chance to patch up or even evacutate a failing house

We met a woman and her 13 year old daughter whose house collapsed on them (right next to the boat yard). They had to flee to their neighbors across the street at the peak of the storm. Their neighbors thought they were dead

There is an 80 ish Marlow beached in White Sound.

There is a substantial amount of foreign ownership, and it's high dollar. These people are going to spend the money to fix their interests up again, and that includes helping rebuild the community they love. I am on speaking terms with people that are in the middle of this and they are opening their check books. Yes it will take some time, but it will be back.

I said "compared to". Half destruction is mild compared to 100%. I said "hit hard but mild compared to Marsh Harbour." 130 mph winds are mild compared to 185 mph. Some structures standing is mild compared to none.

I did not mean to imply and don't think I did imply it wasn't major damage. You said "Their neighbors thought they were dead" and that's serious. However, compared to the deaths in the Marsh Harbour area, their human tragedy is much less as well.

The damage in Grand Bahama is also severe but less than GTC on average.

I understand your objection to the word "Mild" but please consider the context in which it was used.

We've been to hurricane zones much like what you saw in GTC and it's horrible to see. You see people standing in trash piles that were their homes. You see the terror still in their demeanor and faces days later. I applaud you for your effort and I know how tough it all was to see and how tough to hear the stories.

The photo of the beached Marlow is startling but I'm amazed the adjacent docks look intact. Also pleased to see a number of houses in the back of the photo that don't look destroyed.

OlderBoater -- thanks for the correction about extent of damage. I hope Grand Bahama is able to rebuild fairly quickly, but Marsh Harbour sounds awful.

Any information about Little Harbor, Guana, Pete's Pub, Man 'O War? Is Sea Spray gone on Elbow Cay?

“130 mph winds are mild compared to 185 mph. Some structures standing is mild compared to none. ”

Don’t know where you get your information about GTC having only received 130mph... they were in the Northern eye Wall the whole time.

For instance in White Sound, the dock on the south side are wrecked but those on the north side survived because the wind never flipped

But again every house standing has some damage ...

Pascal, I think it is fantastic what you are doing to support the islands directly. We spend a few weeks in the Abacos almost every year for many years, and most of the marinas and islands we visit have been heavily damaged or destroyed.

"Any information about Little Harbor, Guana, Pete's Pub, Man 'O War? Is Sea Spray gone on Elbow Cay?"

Sea Spray was wiped clean - maybe my favorite marina in the Abacos. I tried to attach two pictures from Sea Spray showing the devastation. The center of the eye went through the cut between Tilloo and Elbow, over Lubbers and then about 3 or 5 miles west of Marsh harbor leaving Elbow, Man o War, Guana and Marsh Harbor in the worst part of the eye wall.



Guana was heavily damaged and Nippers is essentially gone, with only remnants still standing. Same with Cracker Ps on Lubbers, the restaurant structure is gone. The Treasure Cay marina is destroyed, drone footage shows amazing destruction at the marina and surrounding neighborhood.

The damage in Marsh harbor, at the water front and to places like the jib Room and the Conch Inn is catastrophic. It seems it will take years to rebuild. Absolutely heart breaking.

WELL, the Marlow looks totally intact also, it's just sitting half on land.

Cockpit is underwater. Transom door is open with water inside what I guess is crew quarter and ER

Drone footage of White Sound that I shot on Monday

Thank you Pascal, Excellent video. The majority of the damage in the video looks like its rebuildable although quite a few buildings were flattened. Surprised at how well some of the docks held up though. Certainly a difference in building technique and materials used . BTW. Your owners generosity for the use of his Lazzara w/ Cap.t & crew in delivering relief supplies to Green Turtle were followed by great thanks & compliments from the folk on GTC in many online chats and on various Abaco discussion pages. Brendal & Mary Stevens of Abaco Diving Center are one of many who praised your efforts & stands out as an example of your rescue relief mission. Much appreciated.

Great coverage Pascal! Linking this thread to the front page.

Pascal, what you did for the people on GTC is incredible and I'm sure they all appreciate it and you've changed the lives of many people there.

In all fairness I just drive the boat credit to owners and the team we had on board.

Yeah, but you're the most important piece of the puzzle. Without you, the team and the supplies wouldn't have gotten there at all!!!!

Came across a hi-res drone video of Dorian's aftermath in Marsh Harbor. The damage is incomprehensible...

A YouTube channel named iCyclone filmed Dorian live. The wrath of the storm starts around 12 minutes. At 26 minutes, they walk outside to assess damage...