Initially, they warned that Bertha was a category 3 hurricane likely to hit Bermuda. We tracked it's progress on www.sharkoil.bm, and tried to be somewhat prepared. We bought some jugs of water, non-perishable food, a manual can opener and some candles. As it approached, it was downgraded to a tropical storm and was supposed to just pass by 40 miles off-shore last Saturday. Which got pushed to Sunday night and then Monday afternoon.
Even last Wednesday, the waves on the south shore beaches were quite large and signs were posted warning to not enter the water. By Sunday, the sun was still shining – it was hard to imagine that a big storm was on it's way. However, judging by the force of the surf, it was definitely approaching. I thought I'd go and check it out for myself. Brought a book and decided that reading on the beach while watching the waves might be a nice way to spend an hour.
However, I guess I was sitting too close to the water, because before I knew it, I was hit by a big wave. I scrambled to gather all my belongings floating in the water while drenched and covered head-to-toe in sand. The book will never be the same and the cell phone was destroyed. Good thing I was wearing a swim suit under my clothes because I needed to wring everything out and get some of the sand off before getting on my bike and cutting the afternoon short.
A guy not too far from me was also victim to this wave. We exchanged a bit of small talk laughing at our situation. Then I got the impression that he was a little bit "off" shall we say? As I made my excuse to exit, he said "oh, I was going to ask if you wanted to go for a swim". Ummmm, not sure if he'd noticed the dangerous surf!?
So Monday arrives. Raining and cloudy. By about 3:30, the tropical storm part had officially started. By 5pm it was still full-force, and there was no way I was going to ride my scooter home. There were huge wind gusts at 75 mph, some flooding and branches all over the roads. Power had gone out at my house, so my roommate, her guest and I amused ourselves by playing cards, eating our non-perishable foods that consisted of nachos, pop-tarts and really bad beef jerky. Canned food was out because the $2 can opener that I bought broke before it served any purpose. Just before both laptop's batteries had run out watching movies, the power came back on at 10pm.
I took the above picture from the balcony at work just before I left at 5:30. It doesn't capture the extent of the wind and rain that I'd hoped.
