5th November,2016- Arrival in Miami and drive to Daytona Beach and Hilton Head Island - Bluewater Resort and Marina
/We awake bright and early to see the ship dock in Miami a beautiful city from the Cruise terminal and it is a stunning morning, although heavy rainfall and storms are expected early afternoon.
The sunrise is pretty and the colours of the city at this early hour are quite striking. We have breakfast in the dining room having cleared our suite by 08.00am as required and we then make our way to the Grand Dining room for breakfast and to thank the servers who have looked after us so well over the 14 days of our cruise from Montreal down the St.Lawrence River and then down the east coast of USA. We had previously said goodbye to Margaritya and Michael our room stewards and Eric our butler.
We do enjoy a delightful breakfast, then thank several staff members. We then are waiting for clearance and departure with ours scheduled for 9.00am. In the interim we say goodbye to both Shawn and Corey Tennant and Bob and Susan Foster whose company we have enjoyed on tours and over several dinners. We finally depart on time and then collect our luggage and then are mistakenly advised that there is a shuttle downtown to the Dollar Car Rental Centre, but subsequently find it is only for the airport. So we end up taking a cab at a cost of $34.50 and eventually arrive at approximately 9.55am expecting to pick up our car. The 2 staff are engaged with a very large family wanting to hire 2 large SUV vehicles and we are eventually served at 1040am but then find our vehicle is located elsewhere ( in another suburb) and are driven to pick this up. We arrive at the next Car rental office only to find they have no vehicles available, but will have one (Jeep Patriot) in 20 minutes. This eventually arrives partially clean at 11.30am and we are ready to depart.
Over the last half hour the weather has deteriorated significantly and we are faced with torrential rainfall and many cars are pulling off the I95.
We have a difficult 4 hour 30 minute drive initially in dramatic and dangerous rainfall storms, but the further we travel north the better the weather is becoming. But the winds remained very strong.
Following a consistent drive where we have both shared the time averaging 75 miles an hour we arrive safely at the Hiton Daytona Beach, having driven passed the Daytona International Motorway / Speedway.
The Hilton is right on the famous Daytona Beach and we had planned to eat that evening at Joes's Crab Shack, but with the nasty wind Ken cancels our booking. The beach here remains a real mess some 2 weeks after Cyclone Matthew has decimated the beach. We are surprised to hear that the beach was significantly damaged and see water rose up over the walkway, some 12 feet above normal sea levels and indeed flooded the ground floor of the Hilton and adjoining properties.
Jeanette is delighted as we have a superb room with (1105) with Seaview room with full glass floor to ceiling windows and we enjoy the terrific views over the rough cascading surf which is extremely rough. We decide to dine in house and with the wild winds and occasional showers this is a sound decision.
Our room is comfortable but the room and the hotel is an older style hotel in a superb location. We awake to a clear blue sky on the Sunday morning, the cruise seems far distant and we look forward to the drive to Hilton Head Island from Daytona Beach (about a 4 hour 45 minute drive). Included in our booking is a complete buffet breakfast which we thoroughly enjoy. We are on the road at about 9.10am after filling up with gas.
This is an enjoyable drive which we have completed on several occasions, but even at this early stage we are becoming aware of the significant damage caused by Cyclone Matthew. We are advised at several stops that areas of Coast have been decimated and there is shocking damage. We inquire as to Hilton Head Island and are informed that there are many areas still closed after some 10,000-12,000 trees have been downed and have destroyed property etc.
We soon travel North and continue to witness massive destruction and emergency workers struggling to effect the clean up and open all roads and restore services. But we are warned that we will be shocked by what we see on the island. We turn off Interstate 95 and onto the 278 toward Hilton Head Island. We cross the bridge to the island and then travel to the Bluewater Marina and Resort. The roads are clear but everywhere there are trees which have been uprooted and then the SES has been cutting up and clearing the fallen and destroyed trees and some 1400 homes have been damaged.
The resort is beautiful and we see the new pool and two additional buildings are completed and occupied. The resort is untouched until we hear of the wharf/ Pier has been totally destroyed. The next door marina has many damaged boats. We are informed that the Country Club Of Hilton Head golf course has Lost over 500 trees and predictions of another 400 will require massive pruning.
As we check in our friends Kathy and Frank Bogg from Duluth arrive and there is great celebrations and hugs.
We are in Suite 6221 a 3 bedroom / 3 bathroom unit,in a significantly better layout, to that which we used last year. The girls go out shopping for our initial food and supplies. We then have a drink and sit talking for about 2 hours. We then dine at the famous Hudson's Seafood restaurant, where we enjoy a good meal , but the place is so packed and noisy.
Ken has made a booking for golf at The Country Club at 12.40pm and Frank and Ken play with an assistant pro and another good player. The course is in excellent condition on the fairways and greens but the trees are a real mess. Ken has never seen anything like it , with whole areas where the trees have been ripped out of the ground. We do not finish our round as we finish 17 holes at 5.30pm and it is too dark. The round has taken almost 5 hours in carts but we did stop for a break at the 10th Changeover. We played well, with Ken having 88 off the stick including birdie on one of the par 3 holes. Frank was several strokes behind, but won the 17th hole.
Dinner was in-house and prepared by Jeanette and Kathy. We sat talking and also making arrangements for tomorrow night re the counting of votes for the US election.
We awake to another perfect morning and Ken and Jeanette have a presentation at Spinnaker and meet Stan Lewis, Senior Sales Executive, Bluewater Resort and Marina ( his cell phone 843 422 1672) and he presented an range of interesting scenarios including our Embarc / Club Intrawest issues.
Following this we have morning tea and then sandwiches for lunch and then depart early afternoon for The Harbour Town resort are in Sea Pines.
To say that we receive a shock is an understatement, because some 1,000 trees have been uprooted and destroyed and the marina and ship storage area has been closed with the piers and wharfs in the marina, usually home to some of the most expensive luxury Yachts and motor cruisers have all been moved, the long wharf usually with plenty of tourist activities and ferries has been totally destroyed and there are large rescue ships, dredging vehicle and ships all undertaking major infrastructure recovery steps.
We do sit in the rocking chairs enjoying delectable ice creams before having a short walk. The famous striped lighthouse has again been repaired over the last few days and reopened, but the surrounding jetty and restaurant areas are all closed and needing major repairs. So we have experienced amazing scenes of the ferocity of nature reflected via the Cyclone. The forecast recovery suggests 10,000 -12,000 trees damaged or destroyed with almost 1,500 homes substantially damaged. Many golf courses remain closed.
This has been a most enjoyable 3 days with our friends, the accommodation is outstanding, but we are shocked by the devastation to the beautiful island. We sense recovery will be long coming.
Forecourt at Hilton Daytona Beach FL
Our view as sun rises from our suite at Hilton Daytona
We enjoyed our brief stopover here at Daytona Beach, notwithstanding the strong gusty winds.