Looking at the store right now it seems like a bad dream. Only two weeks ago we had everything in its place and operations were normal. A week ago, a little weather caused havoc and disrupted our little world. But, we are luckier than a lot of people.
Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman from Surfside, a small town on the coast, and he said that his roof was gone and everything was wet but he was lucky – he still had a house. Many of his neighbors were not so fortunate. There were pilings (homes in this area are built on stilts) where houses used to sit and piles of debris that represented years of hard work sitting in the road. These people had truly lost everything they had.
When you hear stories like these, I feel guilty about the depression I feel when looking at the store. For our part, the majority of what we had is still there and only a little of it is totally lost. And we have insurance to help replace what was lost. More than anything, we are all fine.
Our staff seemed to have weathered the storm and are coping with the changes the storm has brought. Wade has no power and is maintaining his freezers and sanity with two generators. Their hurricane plans called for the installation of two small window units to help keep the moisture down in their home for the month or two it takes to get power restored in their neighborhood. Steve still has no power and is using a generator to keep the food, beer, and wine cold while using fans to keep cool. Vernon is getting more help from his Mother-in-Law since her home is in Galveston which is only open during daylight hours. Fortunately, here home came through the storm in reasonably good condition. Chuck finally got power back as did Mike.
Barney suffered some damage at his home but found his boat safely tied in its slip. For his part, procrastination paid off since their plans were to move the boat to the cannal behind their new home, but he had gotten around to adding the pylon he needed t secure it properly. This probably kept his boat from being one of those that greets you on the highway on the way into Galveston.
Some of the staff are still feeling like vagabonds or summer campers. They are still waiting for power to be restored. According to the news, Centerpoint Energy has restored power to 66% of their customers (thankfully we are one of the ones with power both at the store and at home).
The piles of drywall in front of the store have been removed. The dehumidifiers were silenced yesterday and the few remaining fans noisily running throughout the morning were cut-off and pulled front he store. The Steam Team, our flood recovery specialists, ended their siege of our space and removed the last vestiges of their encampment. Our space has been pronounced “dry.”
While the specialists were crawling around the office, Oceanic Ventures restarted business in full swing, with classes resuming last evening. Ann and Ashton are still staged at the western office (our house) and I am manning the store while working with the building management and our insurance carrier to resolve the situation and revamp the piles back into an operational facility. We have a lot of work to do but we also have a lot of support from our friends, staff and clients. The hard part is deciding where to start and what needs to be done next.
As I suggested in an email message, when things get too rough, remember your last dive trip and focus on the underwater beauty. I for one have been spending a lot of time in Cayman and the Pacific. These images continue to remind me of why I do what I do; and they serve as a catalyst to move on so I can continue to introduce others to the wonders that await them underwater.
