Bill visits Bermuda - report from the front lines...
 

It's currently 11am Bermuda time on Friday. Inland is still fairly calm, the rain has barely started in spots. Oceanfront is another story. I took a drive along the South Shore eastern end of the island about 20 minutes ago, and surf's up! It's getting rough, waves are breaking up over the low-lying roads and bringing lots of debris along. I only stopped at John Smith's Bay Beach, and there are already signs of sand erosion. I'm afraid Bill is going to do a number on our pretty pink South Shore Beaches.
We're forecast for tropical storm force winds and about 2-4 inches of rain. Hurricane party at my place tonight, beer and poker, and steaks on the grill.
Updates will continue on how we're faring here in the middle of the Atlantic , as long as we have power.

Oh my gosh txgirl - I thought you were referring to the OTHER Bill :)

From MSNBC today:

"Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, arrived in Bermuda on Wednesday for a long weekend getaway"

txgirl
thanks for the update. keep the reports coming.

Clinton's on island? Huh - I must be paying too much attention to the weather to notice!!
It's 3pm - the rain has stopped, but the air has that green, eerie, you-know-something-bad-is-fixin'-to-happen look about it.

Thanks for the update, txgirlinbda.

Bill and HRC are at Cambridge Beaches!

STAY SAFE. You are in our prayers.

Just when you think it was bad enough. Here come the Clinton's. Sorry this is not a political forum. Best wishes for the next few days! Was the flight cancelled for tomorrow?

The airport has been shut down from 5pm until 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. We got lucky and re-booked our flights out for Sunday, so our vacation shouldn't be too affected.
Stuffed jalapenos are ready for the grill and the beer is cold, so we should be fine!

Well, it's almost 1am and it is blowing a good one outside - lots of thunder, but the power hasn't flickered once - whoohoo!! The worst is due at 4am, so a few more hours to go - hopefully by the time we wake up, we can venture out to assess the damage.

Here's to hoping there is no damage, no injuries. Lots of Americans rooting for you.

txgirl - really appreciate the updates. hope when you went out the morning you found limited effect from the storm. stay safe and keep us posted.

where are you headed for your vacation? i'm intrigued, as i am always looking for ways to get TO the islands, i'd like to know where an island girl heads for hers.
and on that note. if you know - better beach snorkeling from abacos or andros?? we want to find a beach house for late oct/nov from which we can snorkel off our beach.

Yeah - we have internet back!! Took a drive this morning and it looks like debris on the beaches is the main damage - not much in the way of trees down or any structural damage that we noticed. DH is uploading some footage of John Smiths Bay from this morning to Youtube, if anyone wants to check that out later.
Thanks for the concern - it's nice to know someone is thinking about us!
Virginia - we're actually heading to England for a week (DH's family), then upstate PA and NY (my family) - we've got a little one and our trips this year have revolved around introducing her to all her relatives. But before she came along, we tended to gravitate towards places like Belize, Roatan, Mexico... And sorry, I'm not able to help you with your snorkelling question - we're in Bermuda and I'm not familiar with the Bahamas at all.