Dear Friends and Family,

About 4 weeks have passed since hurricane Irma and Maria hit the island. Things are coming back to normal, slowly but surely. Electricity and water has been restored to many parts of the island. Philipsburg and most of the residential districts have been cleaned up of debris. The fence around the airport is being rebuilt and should be completed by this week. Supermarkets, hardware stores, gas stations and many other local businesses have reopened for regular business. So things are progressing.

The Philipsburg merchants association is pushing hard to get cruise ships to come back to the island. Indications are that in November, we should start seeing some ships start coming back. However, it will take some time for the hotel and time share industry to rebuild. Many resorts were seriously damaged by hurricane Irma and from the reports circulating, almost 70% of the hotel rooms on the island (Dutch and French side) were destroyed by the hurricane. This is going to affect our business seriously because most of our clients who came and spent time on the island will not be able to do so. Most of the restaurants in Grand Case and Orient Beach were destroyed too. They are rebuilding quickly as well. So for now and the next many weeks, there are no tourists on the island.

On Front Street, the looting that the government enabled has seriously hurt the will of the business community. Both the Caribbean Gems stores were looted and due to this action our shutters and entrance doors were damaged. The looting action hurt us more than the hurricane itself. We are working hard to fix up our properties so that we can be ready for the first cruise traffic that starts in November. CG1 should be ready by November, but CG2 will take at least another two months or more to rebuild.

Despite all that has happened and the fact that we will be closed for business for so long, we have opted to keep most of our staff on a reduced payroll so that they can continue to support their households.

Though we are closed for retail business, our mail order department and internet website is working 100%. With Thanksgiving and the yearend holidays around the corner, please think of us if you need anything in the way of jewelry or watches. Referrals to your friends and family will be highly appreciated too. You can call us at 1-212-537-6529 or email us at [email]sales@caribbeangems.com.[/email] Our low prices have been reduced even further at this time to encourage sales and we are offering free shipping on all orders over $100. Please help us through this hard time to come back stronger and better.

Sincerely,
From all of us at Caribbean Gems

jazzgal said:
I read something somewhere that, even though the Dutch Marines were on island, the Prime Minister hadn't signed some sort of order/direction to the Marines to stop the looting. It was several days before that was done so looting occurred unabated until the order was signed. Then the Marines stepped in and brought order. I may not have it exactly right, but it was something like this.

deputydog1157 said:
The police, whether here in the USA or in SXM have priorities in emergency situations such as this. A cop's first goal is to protect life. The problem is that there are only so many cops to go around and the main thing is to get to the injured and assist them. The pieces of excrement that are not injured know that they will be able to outnumber the cops so they go on their shoplifting spree. Unfortunately the looting makes the news because the media is sensationalist and what sells papers/stories better than seeing a group of dirtbags walking down the street carrying a 60 inch TV or a dozen pair of Air Jordan sneakers after smashing in the front window. The problem for the cops is that it appears that they don't care about lawlessness when in fact they despise these people. The cops are tied up searching the carnage trying to find survivors and protect people from environmental dangers. If a cop is on his way to assist victims of a disaster and sees looters he would probably yell at the criminals but still continue on to see if there is a person needing medical assistance etc. I know this first hand because I am a retired law enforcement officer with 25 years under my belt.