Prior to beginning this journal, I was keeping in touch with friends in the US via laptop and Internet email. I kept myself and Gloria updated with NOAA’s website and the National Hurricane Center. The day before we left to come to Cancun, there was a small tropical depression in the mid Atlantic Ocean. At that point, I decided it might be wise to take the laptop with me so I could keep in touch with what was happening. We arrived here on Sunday October 16^th. We spent the day getting checked in and arranging our plans for the week, setting up spa appointments and putting things away in our suite. We had dinner that evening and went to bed early with anticipation of starting our wonderful vacation early the next morning.

On Monday morning, while Gloria was showering, I decided to check the status of our little tropical depression and discovered that she had become a cat.2 hurricane and as such, had been awarded the name “Wilma”. Gloria and I had little concern, as the track forecasts showed her coming into the Mexican Caribbean and long before becoming a threat to us, turning north and hitting Cuba before going through the peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico. People in Florida began preparing for a weekend strike. We spent the day laying out by the pool and swimming in the lagoon in front of our condo. I practiced my music all day in an attempt to memorize several songs that my choir, The WBFS of Atlanta” was to perform in concert in Atlanta on the following Sunday. Gloria and I were well on our way to achieving our tans when we went to bed that night. I continued to monitor Wilma.

Tuesday morning, I discovered Wilma was already a record-breaking hurricane in several ways and the forecast track had been changed to show her heading closer to Cancun than previously thought. Now, she was being forecast to go right between Cancun and Cuba into the panhandle and slipping into the Gulf of Mexico where she would catch a gulf stream and slam into southern Florida. The news showed Florida bumping up efforts to get prepared, planning evacuations and people around the southeast beginning to run for gasoline before the prices jumped as they did after hurricane Katrina. No one seemed concerned about Cancun in the media. Gloria and I had appointments in the salon and spa and while there asked several of the employees what they thought about the hurricane headed toward Cancun. We were told that there was no way Cancun was in any kind of danger of being hit. That there was no reason for concern, and in fact, many were not even aware that there was a storm building stronger by the hour in the Atlantic at all.

Wednesday morning I checked the NOAA website again, and to my surprise, discovered that Wilma was now the largest, most powerful hurricane in history as a category 5 hurricane stretching over 200 miles across. Her path had once again changed and she was now forecast to move through the peninsula closer to Cuba again. My friend, Damon, emailed me with a huge level of concern and told me that we needed to get out of Cancun….that Wilma was coming directly toward us. I contacted the front desk and was told that we were not in any danger. That the hurricane was not going to hit near here anywhere. With a certain level of concern, we took our planned boat tour to Isla Mujures. While on the way to the docks north of here, I discovered that I once again had radio contact via NEXTEL. No phone service, but radio service was very clear. I radioed a few friends including Colleen in Las Vegas and was told repeatedly that we needed to come home. We decided we would make a decision either that night or early the next morning, based on what NOAA and the National Hurricane Center showed the projected path of the hurricane to be. The day was spent shopping and eating on the island and chatting with people from all over. The merchants on the private resort area of the beach were all unconcerned and told us there was no reason to be alarmed that we would get a little wind and rain but nothing bad. On the boat ride back, we learned from other guests that merchants in the other areas of the island had a completely different opinion and that they were boarding up buildings, and evacuating not only themselves, but dolphins used in a show later that afternoon when tourist had left. It became clear that we were being shielded from the truth and that employees of Palace Resorts had been told to never discuss the possibility of a hurricane strike with guests. The boat ride back that afternoon was rough, as the wind had begun to blow, the sky darken, and the waves were becoming quite choppy and large. When we reached the dock in Cancun, the locals were boarding up their shops, and workers were pulling up every other plank from the docks in an effort to keep the entire dock from being destroyed by wind and waves. I once again radioed Damon, who begged us to get out of Cancun. Gloria and I decided that we would check possible flights leaving the next day. When we returned to the resort, we decided to have dinner before returning to our room. As we made our way through the main lobby, a large crowd of people, mostly newlyweds, was checking in. We thought, “How silly that these people would come here knowing that a storm the size and strength of Wilma was on her way here.” At any rate, we ate and returned to our room. While Gloria showered, I checked the status of the hurricane. Now, I became frightened for the first time. When she came out of the shower and into the room, she knew something was wrong by the look on my face. Wilma was headed straight for Cancun as a category 5 hurricane moving 5 mph. We decided to call Delta. I was informed by their reservations agent that all flights out of Cancun had been cancelled for the next day and that our reservation for Friday was still in place. With nothing more to do, we went to bed. During the night, from the balcony, Gloria spotted several couples leaving with their bags.

Thursday morning, we spoke to Damon on the phone from our room. I then spoke to Monica, attempted to call Ben, and emailed with my brother, Charles, for any help he may offer on information about outbound flights leaving Cancun. He replied with an answer showing two flights still scheduled to leave Cancun, neither of which we had reservations with. Gloria called Delta and tried everything she could to get us a flight anywhere out of Cancun. She was finally able to book us a ticket on American Airlines leaving that afternoon going to Atlanta. The cost was 1,000.00 one-way, and she was gladly preparing to pay for this. With the information my brother had given me, I decided that leaving the resort and going to the airport was not a wise decision and insisted we stay. Better to be stuck here than at the airport. Things at the airport in Cancun are crazy, even on a good day. I couldn’t imagine how nuts it would be on the day before a hurricane strike. We later found out that the airport did, in fact, close early that day and all flights were cancelled in the afternoon. We were glad not to be there. When Charles told me that we were stuck here and that we better just buckle down and hold on tight, I knew there was no way home. Now angry that this whole storm had been taken so lightly and with little regard to the dangers headed our way, I called the front desk, where I was cut off, transferred and cut off again. By the time I got someone in Guest Services, I was irate. Finally, I was told that the resort was being evacuated and that a notice would go to all rooms telling guests to pack their bags and report to the front desk for check out and evacuation. We did as we were instructed and when we arrived in the lobby at the front desk, there were rows upon rows wrapping all around the lobby and front of hotel area. We stood in line for 3 hours waiting to check out and be evacuated to the resort’s convention center. By the time we got here, the sky was clouded and rain was falling harder. The convention center was set up with a lunch buffet, and sheets, pillows, and blankets were being passed out in three convention halls. Rows upon rows of blue poolside loungers were set up awaiting our arrival. Gloria and I quickly found two cots next to each other and set up our sleeping space. That afternoon and all evening I emailed back and forth with people at home, letting them know what was going on. We finally fell asleep late that night and at 1am I was awakened by the sound of heavy wind and rain on the roof of the building. I decided to try and email again while I still had an outside connection, and upon logging onto the network, found my friend, Les, online through Yahoo IM. He sent me a quick message asking me how I was and I told him quickly where I was and what was happening. I didn’t chat long with him, because I didn’t want my time limit with the resort server to expire. He told me what to watch out for, what to gather if possible to keep ourselves safe and expressed concern for my safety, as had everyone I had corresponded to earlier the night before. He was the last person at home I had communication with on my computer. The next morning the storm was hitting here hard and I awoke early to the sounds around me. It was a frightening noise, and I ran to my laptop, which was now plugged into a wall socket recharging, and tried with no luck to connect again. We were cut off at that point from the Internet.

I found a line of people in front of a payphone in the lobby of the convention center. I stood and waited my turn, as I had the day before with no luck in connecting, and when I finally reached the phone, I managed to get a collect call in to my mother. She told me that the storm was 45 miles southeast of Cozumel, moving at 5mph toward Cancun. I assured her that we were safe in a shelter and that we would be fine until this was over. I promised to call as soon as I could. She was the last one I spoke to from home before the storm hit.