My wife and I were on a cruise that stopped in St Thomas a few weeks ago.
My interest was in doing an informal survey of the hurricane damage.
For St Thomas, at least, there is significant progress being made; not a great many sailboats had been sunk or destroyed; roads were clear or being cleared, a cruise ship had been hired to provide accommodations for the nearly 1000 linemen, stringing electric line. 90% of the island is back on the grid. The horrible brown color of the countryside had been restored (by nature) to it's more suitable green.
That's the positives...The negatives are a large number of damaged homes, blue roof tarps, very common; the huge cost (double or triple main-land prices) for restoring a roof; the destruction of tourist infrastructure and its debilitating effect on the economy. See Washington Post story from a few days ago:
As tourism returns, hurricane recovery in the Virgin Islands is leaving some residents behind.
My impression is that St Johns was hit harder yet; don't know anything of St. Croix, and the BVI's worst of all. I've seen pictures of dozens, perhaps hundreds of wrecked boats in and around Tortola, where much of the Caribbean charter fleets reside.
St. Thomas, indeed all the Islands, are trying to put an optimistic face on and say its business as usual, but its not...By next fall there will certainly be enough hotels and restaurants available so that the Island will be presentable but under the surface, the problems as described in the Post article will have not gone way.
Hurricanes, can hit one area harder than one 15 or 20miles away; a favorite sailing destination of mine; the Bitter End Yacht Club, a mega resort (mostly for the rich)
was almost completely destroyed; dozens of local employees without work, a very tough scene.
VIDEO: Irma rakes Bitter End Yacht Club >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News
Attending the series; bring back the tourist dollars will help, but be forewarned.
It's not quite the same.
