The "Unit #125" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in the back row of Club Orient's beach in St. Martin talking with friends we met a few years ago while visiting what is known as "The Friendly Island."  Don and Joy have been visiting the island for close to 30 years and during that time have seen quite a bit of change on the island.  As we talked, we shared stories with each other about family, friends and trips to St. Martin.  Don began a story that had Carol and I listening intently to his every word.  

The Dawn Beach Resort can be seen on the left of this photo.
The building to the top in the distance is the Dawn Beach Hotel.
Both were destroyed during Hurricane Luis.  The Westin Resort
now stands where both these places were.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's they stayed at the Dawn Beach Resort located on the Dutch side or the Sint Maarten side of the island.  They enjoyed their small rental unit which was located directly on Dawn Beach.  For years they had rented unit #125 in the resort.  Then on September 5th, 1995 a long night or terror struck the island.  Hurricane Luis, a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 MPH, crossed the 37 square mile island leaving it in total destruction.  Dawn Beach Resort was leveled.  Most of the vegetation, including the beautiful palm trees, on the island was destroyed.  When it came time to visit during the months of April and May they weren't sure whether they should make the trek to their favorite vacation spot or stay at home.  They chose instead to visit St. Johns, one of the US Virgin Islands which is close, but didn't have the damage that St. Martin/Sint Maarten had from Luis. The following year they returned to St. Martin/Sint Maarten and made a visit to see what had become of the Dawn Beach Resort.  Tons of debris had been bulldozed and removed leaving the area void of just about everything.  Don said he decided to walk the grounds of the resort and while walking over what had been unit #125 he noticed something hiding under remaining debris.  He pushed the debris aside and there was the little board with the #125 on it.  The same one that was next to the entrance door of the unit they had rented for years.  He brushed it off, brought it back with him and now has it on the mantel of his home in Michigan.  After all the devastation and clean-up, that little sign lay waiting for its faithful renter to return once again to make a visit to claim it. Couldn't top that story!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.