History of hurricanes at Cayo Largo

Cayo Largo is a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea. It goes without saying when hurricanes strike this small island, the damage is important. The climate changes do not forecast anything good for the future of these unforeseeable « monsters of the sea ». They very often defy the prognostics which was the case after the tragic year of 2005, the experts predicted 2006 worse than 2005 for finally proven rather calm.

Fortunately Cubans do not have a permanent residence on the island so no loss of life have been reported by the hurricanes over of these years. The hurricanes season begins officially in June and finishes in November. Historically October and September are more at the risk. The great loser is indisputably the beaches of Cayo Largo. Even without being affected directly by hurricanes, the strong winds make the beach frequently disappears in fall.

Historically the east beaches were always affected by strong winds. It is not a surprise to see the beach in front of Barceló hotel completely disappear during fall seasons. But since 2001, the beaches of Playa Lindamar which used to be large are more affected than before. The beach in front of the hotels Sol Pelicano and Sol Cayo Largo can easily disappear for few days. Fortunately in winter, all beaches of Cayo Largo return but remains always fragile.

We are in a cycle of high winds everywhere in the Caribbean for few years. We discovered Cayo Largo in 1999, and at that time the beaches were calm almost all the time. We remember telling friends on how the sea was calm in Cayo Largo. Things have changed since then!

Michelle in 2001

Hurricane Michelle had been the worst of all for Cayo Largo. She hit the island on November 4th, 2001 (level 4). Gust winds of more than 250 km/h, waves of 6 meters. The island had been completely submerged for hours!

Click HERE to know more about hurricane Michelle.

Helps for victims of the hurricanes of 2008

The 2008 season, though less imposing than 2005 in numbers of hurricanes in the Caribbean, was particularly disastrous for Cuba. The Cuban government evaluates the damage to ten billion dollars.

Hurricane Gustav was devastator for the Youth island (known as Isla de la Juventud). Fidel Castro even declared that the damage of this hurricane on the island was similar to those caused by nuclear explosion, and it is little to say! Some videos of the unchained sea are so horrible to see. Hard to imagine how strong a hurricane can be!

Since its creation in 2000, the discussion forum was sometimes used for communication tools to help cubans in different ways (articles, clothing, medicines, etc). In 2001, after the passage of hurricane Michelle, the communications with the island stopped, the forum therefor became the center of the informations on the rebuilding and the reopening of the hotels of the island.

A first time in the forum!

www.duboischaritablefoundation.com

In autumn 2008, initiative from people of the cayolargo.net and cayosantamaria.info forums allowed raising funds to help cubans through the Dubois foundation for assistance of the disaster victims, especially on the Island of youth where most of the workers on the Cayo Largo live. Click HERE or the image on left to access website of the foundation.

At the beginning, there was a fund raising to help cubans. The money was sending directly to the Fondation.

Thereafter, there was the design a T-shirt symbolizing the helps of the Canadians to their Cubans friends. Many users of the forums took part of this special project. That was the first time such as events took place in the forum. The sales of the T-Shirts allowed rising funds for the purchase of many goods like construction materials, clothing, domestic products, etc. To fill a container which was sent to Cuba by Dubois foundation.

Here are few links from our bulletin board about this event:

There are also photos of loading the container before to be shipped to Cuba. The photos are from a user of the forum, Finally:

In the official website of Cayo Largo (www.cayolargodelsur.cu), there is a report about this event in the October 15th, 2008 issue. Click here to read:

We would like to thank everybody involved in this project to help people in great needs. As always Canadian shown a great generosity for their Cuban friends!

For closing, here is a note from Mr. John Dubois about the generosity by the forums members...

« We have received a very generous donation from the Cayo Largo board members to help in our efforts to make life better for our Cuban friends. It is nothing short of wonderful to feel the warmth of people on this board and their true love for the people of Cuba. We are so impressed with the tremendous response, and the way you have welcomed us and our cause into your community. We are blessed to be part of your family, and we thank you for opening your arms to us. Your kindness in large part will enable us to ship one extra container. In turn that makes an incredible difference in so many lives. Think about what you have done here: you have made the World a little better with your caring and your willingness to 'adopt' strangers (, at the Foundation) and to risk sending your support. We promise that we'll never forget your kindness. Merci. »