The "See What You Did!" Story

It was an ordinary day. My wife was saying to me, "See what you did! You scheduled a fall vacation to our favorite destination and what happens, they have a hurricane AND an earthquake a week before we are leaving!" What can I say. We have never traveled to St. Martin in September before this year. And the reason is ....... IT'S HURRICANE SEASON! But no one told me it was earthquake season, also. On Monday of this week I was reading TravelTalkOnline (TTOL), a web forum from the Caribbean, and BillandElaine started a thread titled "Earthquake". Got my attention immediately. They reported: Building took a good shake. Bill and Elaine live on St. Martin. They were US citizens who move a few years ago to St. Martin. Bill teaches science at the local University. Before I had a chance to click on the link, a few more people added comments. Takeus2sxm said: I felt it too, about 3 seconds. Barbara said: I think the whole island felt that one. It was heavy but short. Mother Nature is messin' with us! Then Bill, the scientist, posted more:

F-E Region:	Leeward Islands
Time:	2011-08-22 17:18:09.2 UTC
Magnitude:	4.7
Epicenter:	63.05°W 17.81°N
Depth:	93 km

Then nutmeg added: I felt it here on St Thomas, but just barely. And on and on it went. Seems the epicenter was in the ocean between St. Martin and St. Bart. This happened a day after tropical storm Irene passed by the island. Luckily Irene was just forming and was a

tropical storm and not a hurricane as it passed by the island. I don't know if I jinxed the island by making plans for a week there soon, or if it was meant to be. Anyway, I called and added trip cancelation insurance to my already purchased medical evac. insurance. Might as well be covered in case we have to cancel the week. Most of the Caribbean islands are used to the weather they are burdened with during

the fall. They have good preparation and know how to handle an emergency. Much like the the northern states know how to handle a major snowstorm much better that states in the center and south of the US. I'm not sure I care to find out how prepared they are, but it certainly would be a unique experience. Hope I don't have to write about it, though. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.