Tranquilo Bay: Thanksgiving 2008

Our children and our guests were singing “It’s raining, It’s pouring...” as we have had a bought of rain over the past two weeks. The rain came in the week before Thanksgiving and didn’t leave until Thanksgiving Day. We are used to rain (we live in the rainforest) so that in and of itself is no big deal. However, we have had a lot of wind with this storm and it has done more damage than normal. Both the Bocas del Toro Province and our neighboring province of Chirqui have been hit hard. We were very fortunate in that we had limited damage.

The storm knocked out communications to our archipelago. We do not know what caused it; but no one on the islands could make a phone call or use the internet. Planes didn’t really fly to and from Bocas from Saturday through Tuesday morning. One or two flights got in and out during that time however it was really inconsistent. Communications came back up on Monday night.

Ironically, other than some fallen branches and a few small trees, we are absolutely unaffected by the storm here at Tranquilo Bay. Our radios which bring us the internet from the main island are working just fine. Our water and power are working just fine. We proceed with business as usual.

We are in the rainforest. It rains here a lot. The rain keeps the plants lush which is a good thing. We catch rainwater for our water supply. Generally it doesn’t rain for several days in a row all day long. We are dealing with Mother Nature here - we do not get to set her schedule. As much as we wish we could. Apparently this storm was one we get every thirty years or so. The Panamanian Government has declared a state of emergency in both our province and the neighboring province. We are getting news that the roads have been repaired to the extent to allow the small trucks which bring us supplies can make it on the roads.

This storm and the resulting flooding on the mainland were hard on our neighbors on the mainland. The Panamanian government, the Columbian government and the US government have all come together to provide support to these poor people. The Red Cross is here on the mainland helping the people who are now homeless. All in all the numbers are good, there are many who have lost their homes, but very few who have lost their lives.

We are doing what we can to help our neighbors and to make sure that our guests have a wonderful experience in our beautiful archipelago.

Here are some photos from one of the excursions our guests took when Mother Nature lightened up a bit. We are so appreciative of the change in the weather.

TH1