WISH YOU WERE HERE. Ivan from ISS via APOD

I have not heard gunfire at all in the last two weeks, and I live in West Bay which generally is the armpit of Grand Cayman. We've slept with machetes nearby, just in case, but haven't had anyone coming around the house at all at night. I HAVE seen police patrolling around at night with all their lights on, “showing the flag”.

I've been reading some of the accounts of people who have left and got quoted in newspapers and online and stuff. Some of it is accurate, and some of it is just complete and utter BS.

The only gang of men armed with machetes I saw was on the Monday after the storm, two of them also had axes, and one had a chainsaw.

They were not running around menacing anybody, they were walking through ankle deep water and trying to clear away fallen trees so the roads would be open, and in some instances, access could be granted to houses that were “blocked in” by limbs and trees.

The first day that they said the gas stations might be open, there were huge long lines. Today I drove right into On The Run Esso in Industrial park, went in and got some chicken strips and a cold Dr Pepper. Joanne was saying that the third day that the gas stations were open, she was in line, got in and out in about 20 mins.

The Tuesday after the storm was chaotic at the airport. the terminal was closed, and Cayman Airways was operating a medical evac flight, and then 2 or 3 other flights out of the maintenance hangar. Customs and Immigration had tables set up and were trying to function as normal for the few people that were inbound with supplies, and keeping track of who had left. By Friday they had the terminal cleaned up enough and got the emergency generator back online so that people could be processed through at the check-in counters and screened through the security checkpoint as per usual. As soon as there were no more free flights, the crowds all dispersed.

I have about 700 more pictures that I copied from Everton whom I work with. I might take some time tonight to pick some of them and post them to the photo albums page in the next day or so. I also have video that Brad took before and during the storm, and that I took when I went with him on the Monday after the storm, but that's a long ways off, editing-wise.

Courtenay Platt, a local photographer has some pictures posted at Blue Ocean Art.
David Wolfe, another local photographer has 350 or so pictures posted on his web site.
Arthur McTaggart, one of the SysAdmins at Cable & Wireless posted some photos from during the storm on one of C&Ws servers. This one may or may not still be up.
David Olson has nearly 1000 photos online on his site now, using Coppermine, a free PHP gallery available at Sourceforge. The cool thing about that site is each photo has a “comments” section that has turned into an impromptu discussion board

Today I sunburned my back while working on some cars. Out of 4 of them, Im hoping to have one working reliably in the next few days so I can turn in my rental which is going to start breaking the bank soon, even with the great rate they gave me(plug plug plug). I was supposed to go to Tampa today and delivery some data, but the flight was cancelled because Hurricane Jeanne is passing by Tampa right about.... now.

Man I'm going to need a vacation soon... somewhere with cold and snow... a place where the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano... a place where the beer flows like wine! Yes my friends, I'm talking about a little place called ASSSPEN. I hear California is beautiful this time of year.