Many tourists found shelter in hotel stairwells when their room windows were blown out
They managed to evacuate and/or shelter 30,000 locals and tourists alike in public buildings, schools and hotels. And as of the date of this writing – they did it all without loss of life. Hurricane Odile was a high category 3 or low 4 hurricane, which should be a wake-up call to those who scoff at Mother Nature. Odile had wind gusts estimated at 135 mph., the next level up would be a category 5 where winds could go off the charts at 200mph.
For the moment we will overlook the news that the head of emergency planning was arrested by the feds for looting and the local police either resigned or were fired shortly after.
If it was a category 5 – little would be left standing. Cabo experienced 20’ waves with Odile – a category 5 would submerge the town with 50’ wave surges. Or higher.
In the aftermath of Odile power poles are lying across
roads, cars, homes, businesses and hotels have had their windows blown and the
ubiquitous white plastic pool furniture – blown back to China from whence it
came. Your favorite beachside palapa
restaurant is likely headed for China as well or possibly Kansas as the storm
seems to be tracking in that direction.
Getting out of Cabo – by planes, trains and automobiles. Well, not trains anyway..
By Plane: San Jose International Airport is closed to
commercial flights until approximately September 22 according to local
authorities. However, the Mexican military is using the runway to land
chartered commercial and military planes to evacuate stranded tourists. Check with your hotel, the American Consulate
or airport if the telephone lines are working.
The Cabo San Lucas private aviation airport located just
outside downtown Cabo a couple of miles northeast of town has commuter
18 passenger turbo prop Cessnas which fly daily to Mazatlan, Los Mochis,
Loreto, Guerrero Negro and maybe Tijuana via stops along the way. Get in line.
I crossed the Sea of Cortez on one once.
The flight out of Cabo was memorable. I was last in and sat in the co-pilots seat. We took off and headed east toward the hills,
climbing slowly (we were fully loaded and then some) the plane stretching to clear the hills. I held my breath and wondered if the pilot could set it
down on a 75 degree slope if we didn’t make it over the top of the mountain. I looked down. I could
count the pebbles on the summit trails. Several minutes later we cleared the Baja
mainland and I observed the pilot refer to his charts in his lap as we headed
out to sea.. Old school piloting.
We were 18 souls onboard, with one
life raft and one engine. And we were over the
sea and out of sight of land. I reassured the pilot by telling him that in an
emergency I could handle the aircraft having had a pilots license once. I didn’t’
tell him I crashed a plane. Just a Piper. A small one. He was
a career bush pilot type – leather jacket, silk scarf and all. despite the Baja heat. Our flight was uneventful,
until he banked sharply and hot dogged it into the Los Mochis airport.
The La Paz airport may be down awhile too however it is of a
stronger construction than San Jose International and may be offering flights
sooner. (as of Sept. 18 commercial flights have resumed in La Paz -ed)
Get out of Cabo by car, bus, bicycle or burro: Forget it. With rain coming
down at 11-18 inches per hour and the storm continuing up the peninsula, don’t
even attempt a ride a bus to La Paz and northward even if the bus company
assures you the road is clear. (as of Sept. 18 one lane is open to La Paz and Los Barriles is cut-off from San Jose due to a collapsed bridge -ed)
There will be numerous washouts of bridges and vados along
the way that will allow you the opportunity to bond with your fellow travelers
by getting out and pushing the bus. Tip:
Bring boots. BTW a vado is a low dip in
the road that washes out during storms.
Don’t be clever and try to rent a jeep and think you’ll be
Indiana Jones and are going to power your way up the peninsula. Rental jeeps only go about 50 feet further in
the sand and muck before they get stuck like all the rest of the cars.
By Burro – One Englishman school teacher rode, walked and
cussed a burro the length of the peninsula (from north to south) several years
ago and wrote a charming book about it. This route or paddling a kayak back UP
the peninsula would be my preference. Think of the stories you could tell your
grandchildren. About whales, whale
sharks, giant squid, dolphins, more sharks, and eating lobster every day along
the way. You can rent or purchase kayaks in La Paz.
By ferry: When the
road to La Paz really opens up, buy a ticket on the ferry to
Mazatlan and fly out of the Mazatlan International airport or continue your
vacation in Mazatlan. It’s a fun town. Ferry tickets are sold in Cabo and La Paz. The
ferry departs daily. Try to get a stateroom.
Lessons from hurricanes past: After you’ve crawled out of your hurricane
shelter (the hotel room bathtub) get out of Baja, get out soon and anyway you
can. Here’s why. In the aftermath of
previous hurricanes in Los Cabos, power was out for 1-2 weeks, water rationed
and there were long lines at the water pumping stations in the arroyos, fights
at gas stations, and the grocery stores only had about a week’s supply of food.
It wasn’t pretty.
The disaster experienced Mexican government came through
after hurricane Juliette in late September 2001 by bringing in emergency
supplies by landing craft from the mainland.
After a week without services in Cabo, I caught a flight to Guadalajara
and life was as it should be there. I
returned to Cabo after 2 weeks and Cabo was pretty much back to normal.
Cabo only lost a few palapa restaurants, a few bridges and
some hotels had newly planted 30’ palms replanted to inside guest rooms. But 12
people who didn’t evacuate died. Juliette was a strong contender - a category 4 downgraded to
cat 2 when it hit. But one difference was that slow dancing Juliette sat on Los
Cabos for 3 days and just bumped and grinded away with winds of 90-115 mph.
For 3 days we prayed in our rooms that the windows wouldn’t break.Our prayers were answered. The windows didn't break. But we forgot to pray for money so the ATM's didn't work.
For 3 days we prayed in our rooms that the windows wouldn’t break.Our prayers were answered. The windows didn't break. But we forgot to pray for money so the ATM's didn't work.
Cabo after Odile: It will take 3-4 months for Cabo to be ready
to party again. Utility poles and lines need to be replaced, millions of square
feet of glass reinstalled, thousands of concrete blocks, cement and paint to
repair damage structures, roads fixed and more. Is all that building material available in
Cabo? No. It has to be brought in from
the mainland to La Paz by ferry or 900 miles down the now washed out Baja 2-lane
highway from Tijuana.
If you have a Cabo vacation planned for anytime October through
January, you might want to consider Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta instead. Both are traditional Mexican resort towns, and
offer all the fun and amenities of Cabo. And they didn’t have the misfortune of dancing
with Odile.
David Mandich
Cabo Writer
Cabo Writer
Cabo Free Press
Dental Tourism News Co brings you articles from TIME, CNN, NPR, LA Times, Fox News and others about how you can travel free with your savings on dentistry abroad.
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