7 Days 4 Wilma

jerome@studiotime.us

Start Date of Trip: Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Destination: Cancun, Mexico
Purpose of Trip: Documentary Photo Shoot
Accommodations: Crown Paradise Hotel

Traveling Companions:
Jerome Hamilton - Photographer/Executive Producer
Alan Smith - Photographer
Walter Marin - Videographer/Video Producer
Ricardo Archambaud - Videographer
Sherina Archambaud - Production Assistant
Joe Appleton - Photographer/Production Grip
Stephanie Appleton - Model
Kai Powers - Model
Ashley Watkins - Makeup Artist

Day 1

Thursday, October 20, 2005

After an incredibly superb week of photography, weather, filming, friends, and food, we woke up and started to pack for our flights home.  Alan and I were close to ready when we decided to take a break and head down to eat some breakfast.  We stopped by a few of our friends’ rooms, as a normal ritual, on the way down.  A few were joining us and a few continued to pack.  We had noticed early that the winds were high this day and the reports of Hurricane Wilma held true…she was on the way.  During breakfast, little parts of the Palapas restaurant started to come up.  Concerns were rising from the girls that had flights leaving the following day.  I started getting on the phone and trying to arrange new flights that would take the whole group home together ASAP.  Alan and I headed back upstairs and completed our packing scenario.  I then headed down to confirm the tour bus that would complete our transfer to the airport.  Once talking to the tour rep, Luis, he notified me that our driver would arrive at 2 PM.  The time now was 11 AM.

We received a hurricane warning the previous day stating that it would arrive in Cancun by Saturday.  Before I could enter the elevator to go up to my room, a second warning was posted stating that Wilma was gaining size, strength, and speed.  I approached the concierge desk where everyone was in a mild panic hearing that airlines started canceling flights.  Alan and I were still on track with American Airlines, but Delta had canceled all flights in and out of Cancun.  This would leave behind everyone else in our group.   But with American Airlines still assuring us that no flights were canceled, at 12 noon Alan and I had our bags down in the lobby and our tour rep was ready to pack up.  Luis informed me that all tour bus reps, drivers, and such were no longer allowed to bring tourists from the hotels to the airport.  However, taxis were still allowed access.  Alan and I now had to make a decision of trying to find a taxi to the airport or sticking with our group.  With seven friends in my group now stranded, four of them being women, I felt compelled to stay in Cancun and aid to the safety of my friends. Instructions from the hotel were to place all passports and valuables into the security box, place our suitcases in the wardrobe closet, and only take a blanket and a pillow.  Are you out of your freaking mind?!  I instructed the people in my group to take all their valuables and their passports with them in a carry-on bag.  Then I suggested that we all pack our bags and place them in Ashley’s room.  I felt this room was the safest from the storm.  As we were making this decision, we decided to run down to the Palapas restaurant for what might be our last chance to grab some food.  As we entered the restaurant, the chaos was starting.  The staff was dismantling the buffet as fast as possible.  We grabbed fruit and such, enough to fill our hands.  As we headed to the lobby, the evacuation started.  Alan and I decided to head to the shelter.  Winds were getting extremely high for a storm that was supposed to be 150 miles away and two days until we should see it.  As part of our group panicked and jumped on the first bus, we ran with the other half of our group to ensure being on the second bus.  I was told they were loading buses by the floor for hotel organization.  By the time the staff member, Rodriguez, could say this little bit of instruction, I was standing on the bottom of the steps that led into the bus and I simply said, “I’m going on this one.”  The ride was only about ten to fifteen minutes inland.

The Universidad Tecnologica de Cancun was our assigned shelter location.  We arrived at 1 PM, found our friends, and piled into the room on the first floor at the end of the hall on the left.  As we watched, bus after bus unloaded and our personal space decreased in size by the minute.  Just over 1200 tourists and about fifty staff members housed in a two-story building became more crowded than could ever be imagined.  As the time approached 5 PM, the shelter was nearly out of floor space.  The buses thinned out but the rain started to pour.  The rain and wind both increased and puddles now formed around our university campus.  Hotel management called a lockdown as all the smokers puffed their last breaths.  Now that everyone was inside and all windows, doors, and safety shutters were sealed, we all found what might be our space for the next twenty-four hours.  The staff started dinner and Manuel made the first announcement around 6 PM.  “I am Manuel from the Crown Paradise…I am in charge of this evacuation and your safety.  We have plenty of supplies and will be serving you five meals a day.  We will be heading back to the hotel in about twenty-four hours or so.”  The staff was handling everything wonderfully.  Many people were mad about having to sit and sleep on the hard tile floor, and some refused even with no other alternative.  There were a few hundred pool lounge chairs that the staff tried to distribute to families with babies and a few elderly individuals.  There were couples and groups of travelers that didn’t have anything but the clothes on their backs.  Really, at this time, it didn’t seem like it would be a problem for too many people to spend one night in this shelter.

Around 9 PM we were served a little evening snack.  Everyone at this point seemed relatively calm.  Everyone was sitting with computers, DVD players, iPods, video games, and other items of entertainment.  The staff had a DVD player and a movie playing for about thirty kids and parents.  As the night went on, slowly the various room lights went dark until all was quiet and calm.  The staff was up most of the night as the wind pounded on the shutters.  Around 2 – 3 AM, half of our 15’ x 25’ room started to flood.  This was only one inch of water, but when we were lying in it…it was too much.  We used all of the towels in our room trying to contain the water to about one foot of the room space.  As a result, not many of us slept the rest of the night.