An interesting comment.

Friends of ours made their first (and only) visit to SXM from a cruise ship stop there May of ‘96, the Spring after Luis paid his call to SXM.

They couldn’t understand, based on what they saw, why we went back there year after year and decided it was one place they would NOT return to. And they were aware of the storm the preceding Fall prior to their arrival but they still had no clear concept of what they were looking at. They couldn’t perceive the kind of damage storms of that magnitude could create and assumed it was a sad and loverty-stricken Island.

Smart and very well traveled people but to this day, they have never been inclined to return. We visited the island the April after Luis and I have to admit, if I hadn’t known better, I might have thought the same thing.

Their loss, for sure, but I hope people on those early ships back to the island are better prepared for what they will encounter as clearly, our friends weren’t. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />