WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2004:

It rained hard around 6:45am, but was over in fifteen minutes. We were amazed that CNN actually mentioned “Bonaire” at 7am. Have you ever heard it mentioned on television news? Ivan had already hit Grenada hard, and was currently 50 miles east of the Bonaire and a bit to the north.

No hot food was available when we went for breakfast at the Caribbean Point at 7:30am.
After breakfast, we walked around, watched people prepare for the storm, and I took some photos.

The beach chairs were at first lined up inside the wall, but later were put inside the Tipsy Seagull building or tossed into the pool.



It looked ominous to the east, over Flamingo Airport.



But in general, things around the Plaza Resort were relatively calm. A good time for lagoon fishing?!?!



The dive boats were snugged up in the lagoon and all the scuba cylinders were stored away safely. The dive board at Toucan Diving confirmed our suspicions.



Heavy rain began around 11:30am, but it was only moderately windy. The rain came and went in quick bursts. We lost water in the bathroom, but still had electricity. It got deep just outside our door... luckily, the water never came into the room.



Lunch was “sketchy” (Laura’s description.) A sign was posted saying the only restaurant operating on the resort would be the Caribbean Point, and that the chef would put together a lunch for resort guests. It was served around 12:30pm: buffet style with people serving the food (to make sure there’d be enough; an all-you-can-eat buffet would have been gone rather quickly.) The food selection was, well... "sketchy" - noodles, chunks of overcooked tough beef, dry chicken and very good hot dogs, fried eggs, and a thick peanut sauce to put on... whatever. Under the circumstances it was just fine. I’m sure most of the Plaza’s employees had their own homes and families to worry about, and had they not offered any lunch at all, no one would have starved.

After lunch, we found the water was working again in the bathroom. We spent time reading in the room and tracking the weather on television. Around 2pm, we received a phone call from the Plaza’s management. The eye of the storm was supposed to pass north of Bonaire, and up to 15-foot waves were expected. We were told to pack a small bag with personal items, a change of clothing and necessities (like medicine.) They said they’d be showing some movies in the casino room, where guests were beginning to gather. For now though, we could stay in our room until told otherwise, or come to the casino room.

Skies brightened a little, the wind moderated and there was no rain falling at 2:15pm. We watched a movie on television, during which time a note was delivered to the room telling us to pack up everything (in regular luggage, plus a small bag as described in the earlier phone call.) The note said to bring in the table and chairs from our patio area, and we’d be notified if there were further instructions regarding evacuation. I packed all my stuff, and put our passports, travel documents and other necessities in a bag, and Mike picked up everything off the floor and put it on the tables and dresser... just in case.

Ivan brought very heavy wind by 4pm.



Around 6pm, the electricity went out. We took our dive lights and went over to the casino room. “Shrek” was just starting. A cash bar was set up, so we each had a warm Amstel. The Plaza Resort’s generator works only in the casino room and the Caribbean Point restaurant. Small candles were placed along the hallways and in the restrooms near the casino.

We had dinner in the Caribbean Point. This was again buffet style. There were two choices: beef tenderloin in a red wine sauce and wahoo in a white wine sauce. Also rice, fries and mixed vegetables as “go withs.” Each of us had the beef tenderloin, which was good.

After dinner, we went back to the casino room. Divemasters Jackson and Christian were there – circulating with a video camera and doing “Ivan duty” around the resort. They said so far, there seemed to be little or no structural damage. We watched the end of “Shrek” and a few “Mr. Bean” episodes with another round of (colder) beers. Around 9pm, we waded back to the room using our diving lights. We ran into Gary and Crystal, who were also out wading. It was extremely windy, but no longer raining. We could see that the water had come up quite high on the beach, just about to the stone wall.

Because the electricity was still off, it was rather stuffy in our room, but we didn’t want to open the sliding glass door and let in bugs (or anything else.) I went into the bathroom, turned on my dive light, and a small lizard sprang from the darkness and landed on my hand. I shrieked, flung him back into the darkness, and almost had a heart attack. Never saw Mr. Lizard again.

Part 5 is next.