We spent only one night at the resort, but have to give it high marks for quality of construction, safety and comfort. I’m being a bit tongue in cheek, but I did spend last Monday night staying at the resort. My name is Chris Roberts and I’m the resident General Manager for Las Terrazas. I’ve been in Belize for two years and up onto last Monday had not experienced a hurricane. I recently moved to Ambergris Caye from the Placencia area of southern Belize. The Placencia area was struck by Hurricane Iris in 2001 and I had studied the impact on the area. Most smaller wooden structures were destroyed, but larger, newer concrete structures were relatively undamaged.

As the Hurricane Dean grew in strength and moved closer, we evacuated all staff to the mainland, leaving behind only maintenance and security people. I made the decision to stay feeling I needed to for two reasons; one personal, and one professional. My family will live with me here at Las Terrazas and I wanted to be sure we would be safe staying should another storm threaten. My wife and daughter are currently visiting in Europe, safe and far from harms way, so I could stay alone without worrying about sending them away. Professionally I wanted to stay to see how the property handled the storm and were there things that could be done to help to protect the asset. I achieved a great deal by staying on both accounts.

The storm began rolling in early Monday afternoon, the clear Caribbean waters inside the reef had an uncharacteristic pattern throughout the morning and by noon, huge waves were evident on the barrier reef about a half mile off shore. As the day went on these waves rose to heights of twenty feet before hitting the reef. The Meso-American Barrier protects the cayes better than any man-made storm wall, by the time the surge waters reached shore the wave height once 20 feet was down to less than 5 feet. There was still a powerful surge and most docks in the area suffered heavy damage or were totally destroyed. Las Terrazas’ unique and still unfinished dock suffered only minor damages.

I retreated into a second and third story gardenhouse unit with the maintenance group to ride out the storm. We were able to sit on our second floor terrace throughout most of the evening and watch as Dean came closer and closer. We monitored the storm throughout the night by wireless laptop and never lost service. A great source for information and tracking storms is www.stormcarib.com. We had to retre at inside at about 1AM as the wind shifted and began pounding the front windows with sustained winds of 150mph. The unboarded windows bowed inward and occasionally rattled, but upon inspection of the entire property next morning we lost only one window, a small non-hurricane strength window in the housekeeping laundry room.

We had one scare during the night that actually was comical and a human error, not structural. One engineer awoke with a start as his bedding had become completely soaked with water. We quickly fanned out with flashlights; power went down across the entire island at 2AM, to find the source, expecting to find a leak or structural failure. Instead we found a human failure; someone had opened the third story master bedroom’s window and had failed to close it when the wind shifted to the north. The heavy rain had run down the steps and soaked the area where some were sleeping. We spent the next several minutes mopping up the floor.

The winds continued to howl for the rest of the night, sustained testing for the windows and doors, by morning as the day lightened we could view the courtyard and all of the newly planted palms had come down. One lesson learned is to trim all the trees on property before the storm, not just the ocean side palms. The majestic royal palms on the beach remained standing throughout the storm, they were trimmed and tied.

The winds finally diminished and we went out to explore what nature had done. Significant beach erosion, easily replenished, light damage to yet unfinished dock, the afore mentioned palm trees down, now replanted and some damage to construction equipment was the extent. Had Las Terrazas been open we would have been able to receive guests as soon as we could bring our staff in. San Pedro authorities asked people to remain on the mainland for the next two days to facilitate emergency and clean up efforts.

Lessons I took away from the experience include:

• Preparation of entire property is important, winds and storm surges change as storm passes.

• Right supplies and quantity is vital.

• Laptop wireless computer far better than local radio updates.

• Las Terrazas can withstand a Cat 5 hurricane and my family will be safe. Preparation for after the storm is just as important, fuel, water, food.

• Evacuate all non-essential personnel, guests, even though it’s safe they’re a burden to keep fed, showered and entertained.

• The Meso-American Barrier Reef is Belize’s greatest asset.

• Nature is the most powerful force on earth.