November 3, 2005

Not quite Margaritaville…

Almaden attorney spends extended vacation in Mexico, courtesy of Hurricane Wilma

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Before mid October, the only Wilma Mark Erickson knew was the cartoon character Wilma Flintstone. Now he knows two.

Mark Erickson helps hotel workers repair a beach hut at the Palladium resort on Oct. 28. The hotel, his fourth residence in Mexico, is located between Tulum and Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun.

Mark and his girlfriend Nancy Dufresne left for a romantic vacation in exotic Cozumel—an island off the Mexican coast near Cancun—on Oct. 16. They were due to return home the following Sunday.

From the first day they arrived, high, choppy seas kept the two from snorkeling, although they managed to get in some swimming and golf.

On the morning of Oct. 19, the day the two had arranged to go swimming with the dolphins, they were told they had to evacuate their hotel because it appeared Hurricane Wilma was headed straight for them. Along with the other hotel guests, they were ferried across the sea to a hotel south of Cancun in a place called Playa del Carmen.

Wild ride
“It was not a fun ride,” said Erickson. “The swells were higher than the ferry. Lots of people were seasick; it just wasn’t fun.”

Once back on dry land, the guests were split up—groups with children were sent north to Cancun, and the adult guests went to a hotel just south of Playa del Carmen called Aventura Palace. Most people weren’t worried, he said, because at that time there were indications the hurricane might veer away from Mexico.

Just after breakfast the next morning, however, guests were evacuated to a nearby convention center for shelter.

“There were between 1,300 and 1,400 guests and about 100-plus hotel employees in the shelter with us. By 2 p.m. we were all there. They assigned 900 of us to a large room, which contained beach chairs. They gave us sheets, a blanket and a pillow. It was crowded but not uncomfortable. Then later Thursday evening, I think it was about 11, they locked the building up.”

That night, Erickson said he could hear the winds picking up. He could make calls out by cell phone Thursday night, but by Friday morning the power was out and none of the cell phones worked. A diesel generator gave them low lights and the ability to cook, but the air conditioning went out. In addition, he said there were several power outages, but they were short-lived and all the workers had flashlights so fortunately no one panicked.

And little did any of them know, but most would be living in the shelter for the next seven days.

In it together
While some people were tense and anxious, everyone there pulled together, he said. “We had a really nice group of people. About 75 percent were U.S. citizens mostly from the East Coast and the Southeast. There were people from England and Canada, and lots of people on their honeymoon.”

Erickson stands amid the damage at the Palladium Resort from Hurricane Wilma. Many trees and beach hits were damaged, but most buildings were intact. “I didn’t feel like I had a vacation,” Erickson said.

Most people in their shelter room were quite friendly and supportive, he added. Some people needed medications and people were sharing what they could. In fact, Erickson said the worst thing that happened was a missing cell phone and a camera.

“We were treated quite well, especially by the hotel employees. Everyone was very nice. Once the hurricane was over, every time the workers went out for supplies, we gave them a standing ovation. Some of these people were happy to be in the shelter because of its safety, but others were worried about their families that weren’t with them,” he said.

Meals, he added, were good. On Thursday night the evacuees were served a “wonderful buffet, and the hotel workers treated us like we were at a resort.” There was plenty of water and soft drinks and fresh fruit and juices for breakfast, but the food did start to deteriorate by Saturday. However, once the hurricane was over, the food got better, Erickson said.

Howling and shaking
All day Friday and most of Saturday, the wind howled and they could hear that the winds were very strong. At one point on Saturday, though, the sounds eased up and many of the guests thought the worst was over. However, the shelter officials reminded them that the calm could be the eye of the hurricane.

“Then it picked up again and it didn’t ease up until about noon on Sunday,” Erickson said. “I think that for 14 hours the storm was very intense. We’d hear and feel the wind shake the building and the roof. While it was a secure building, I was worried the roof would blow off. Three or four times, I would wake up shaking and feel the floor and the building moving like a small earthquake.”

Actually, Erickson said, things got kind of scary on Friday. There was water seeping down the walls and there was also rain coming through some of the light fixtures, but most of this was on the outer parts of the building.

Occasionally, soaked ceiling tiles would fall down, and “one hit a guy and he and the people around him were soaked, but he was not seriously injured. Most of the time people could see the tiles begin to fall and they would yell to watch out.”

Most people, he added, did OK although “we were all wondering how long it would last and when we would get out of there. The claustrophobics were feeling a lot of anxiety and lots of people were nervous and fidgety.”

Fresh air
About noon on Sunday, the day Erickson and Dufresne were scheduled to go home, the storm finally appeared to be over and the doors were opened so everyone could get some fresh air. However, the winds were still gusting about 50 to 60 mph, Erickson said, but a good crosswind cooled the building. Smokers got to go outside and the officials in charge allowed the shelter residents to take turns getting fresh air.

By late afternoon and the next day, the officials let them go a bit further out of the building. Damage, at that time, appeared to be minimal, he said. It wasn’t until later that they found the extensive damage to the hotel on its ocean side with broken windows and hanging wires.

Blown-down palm trees and debris littered the convention center shelter where Erickson lived for seven days.

By Tuesday, hotel officials made arrangements for the guests to shower. Some of the evacuees got taxis and went south to Tulum, where they found a couple of Internet cafes and telephones. Everything north of Playa del Carmen was in bad shape, with no power and no phones.

The first people to get out were those with tour groups or charters, Erickson said. By Tuesday and Wednesday, these people were getting on buses. People who’d made their own arrangements, like Erickson and Dufresne, had to find their own way out. All sorts of rumors were floating around.

The official story came out on Wednesday, Oct. 26, Erickson said. Those wanting to leave had to get a bus or taxi in the middle of the night to Cancun and line up at the airport at Cancun at 7 a.m. to get processed. However, the buses and taxis required cash. “The first couple of days, everyone leaving the shelter came back after a $110-$120 ride. The army had taken control of the [Cancun] airport, no one was allowed in. About 7,000 people were showing up but maybe 2,000 were getting out. It was very disorganized. We decided to wait it out because we didn’t want to run out of cash.”

Meanwhile, Erickson and Dufresne were unable to communicate with their families from Thursday night to late Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday, the two were able to call by phone from Tulum. “I was lucky, the first time I tried to call, I got out and was able to let them know we were OK.”

Erickson’s 17-year old son, a junior at Leland, was at home in Almaden. His grandmother was staying with him, and she had to get back home. He then went to a friend’s house. Dufresne’s 12-year-old son was staying with his father, but he had to leave on a business trip. He was left with his father’s girlfriend.

By late Thursday, the couple was able to move to a resort near Tulum. They encountered one man who had gone to Cancun four days in a row and still hadn’t gotten out. Some people took buses to Merda, but they got stuck at that airport. Some spent a week there, according to Erickson. Still the rumors were flying and there was some talk, he said, that the airport was going to be closed.

Once the two got out of the shelter, they actually had a bit of a vacation. They were able to go snorkeling in a lagoon off the ocean that was filled with tropical fish. One night some of the hotel employees decided to trade places with Erickson and made him the bartender. For about 45 minutes he “poured shots and tried to mix drinks, but I didn’t know what I was doing. It was a lot of fun though. That was the most fun I had,” he said.

A friend back home had arranged for a van to take them to Mexico City and another couple was thinking about driving a car to Arizona. However, on Friday a group of 10-12 people left to try to get out through Cancun. By late Saturday, when they hadn’t returned, Erickson and Dufresne decided to try to get out on Sunday. They called the airlines, were told everything was up and running and moved their flight to Sunday.

Both were quite happy to land safely Sunday night and go home.