So over the next few days, as the storm rages through this area I shall give an account of what it's like and how it affects ReefDoctor's routine. Already the surveys planned for this week have been cancelled and there is talk of beaching our boats. Though currently with regard to the weather it is still disappointingly pleasant.. But I have faith in Mother Nature! It's Monday the 18th of February 2013. Day 1.
So after the excitement of this huge storm that is heading are way, we are two days into this week and still there has been nothing more than a light breeze fluttering through the camp, rather disappointing... Every now and then Dom runs into the office announcing how the swell will be 9m high and there will be torrents of rain which is getting harder and harder to believe... We dragged the boats up onto the beach to make sure they are not swept away in this Cold War of storms and now await to find out what tomorrow will bring...
So it has been three days since my last post and, similar to the purpose of this blog, which has evolved to become a receptacle for inane drivel on a variety pointless observations, the storm has also evolved! Into a cyclone. A category 2 cyclone at that. We spent the day running around in the unrelenting rain preparing the ReefDoctor site for the imminent arrival of the storm. We weighed down roofs with concrete blocks, cut down dodgy tree branches and Manjo climbed up to the top of the water tower to tie up the wind turbine. Drenched to the core we returned to our rooms in hope that our preparations would suffice against the strong winds to come.
The winds began to pick up late on Thursday night and got stronger and stronger into the next day. When we awoke the storm was still growing in strength. The winds were already strong and the waves were growing in size by the hour. We hurriedly began to scramble to take down the fence along the front of the ReefDoctor site which had already began to look rather rickety in the winds.
Afterward we crowded into the ReefDoctor house which was festooned with pots and pans dotted about the place to catch the various leaks that dripped from the roof above. The seriousness of the storm was really brought to light in this moment. Until now it had all been a bit of an adventure, running around the site trying to anchor anything down that may get picked up in the wind, it had all been good fun. However, while sitting in the main building looking out onto the bay our eyes were drawn to a small speck on the waves, a peroguee was desperately rowing against the winds trying to reach shore. What sense had made them go out in this weather I will never know. No matter how much they paddled they slowly moved further and further backward. Fortunately, much to our relief, later on we saw that they had managed to get to the shore further down the beach so only had to endure a long walk back to the village in the wind and rain (and the inevitable "I told you so" that would come from everyone who had suggested that maybe they shouldn't go fishing in a category 2 cyclone...).
The cyclone reached its' strongest at around midday, though unfortunately I am unable to describe how strong it was at this point as I had decided that the best thing I could do would be to have a sleep. I slept for around 3 hours and awoke to collapsed branches and half a tree that had broken off near the bungalows.
The rest of the day was spent playing cards and drinking beer (a highly recommended tactic for surviving a cyclone), and by the morning of the next day the winds had gone and we went about the clean up. Over the next few days news started to come in regarding Toliara which had seen power cuts, huge amounts of flooding and damage to the road that goes to Ifaty. It didn't seem like I would be getting in anytime soon... In Ifaty a lot of the houses had been destroyed by the storm however, only a few days later, new houses had started to appear all around the village as the people quickly reconstructed their homes.
2 weeks later I have managed to make it into Toliara though the process is still rather arduous, the usual taxi brousse ride takes you to a bridge that is about 3km from Toliara. Here, part of the road has been washed away by the river leaving a gaping hole where the track once was. This means you have to get a zebu cart from here into Toliara something I highly do not recommend. It's 2 days since I arrived in Toliara and my arse still hurts...
Here's what scuba smurf has been up to...
"If you need assistance carrying your tank, please ask for help."
