The Island continues to work to recover from the direct hit by Hurricane Irma. By now most of you have seen films of St. Maarten on the news. The Island infrastructure, as well as many houses and businesses, were badly damaged. It is reported that the Dutch Marines have landed by ship with food, water, and equipment to first take care of the needs of the population and then to start to bring back essential services such as the airport, electricity, and water. Not being in direct communication, we have not yet confirmed that they have in fact arrived.
The telephone service (land line and cell) to our area is still out. Our communications with the Resort are sporadic. What we can report is that our on island management team led by Anne Marie Brooks, Mientje Brown and Lorenzo Bryan are doing an outstanding job caring for the 148 owners and guests who remain on the island after the storm. Mientje Brown is attending an emergency government meeting in Phillipsburg to discuss all aspects of the recovery efforts and hopefully, determine the time frame for reopening the airport and restoring essential services to the island. At this time we have not had a report back from the meeting, so we are unable to communicate to you the government’s plans.
Our first concern is for the safe evacuation of our 148 guests. We have 25 staff on site, including security guards, ensuring they get food, water, safety and other necessities. We have been told that the Dutch Military is repairing the runway at the airport in order for Military transport planes to deliver food and water to the people. It is our understanding that the military is working feverishly to restore air service to the island. As soon as we obtain more information for outbound flights, we will publish it on this site. We are making the strongest effort possible to evacuate the guests on the first flights out. We have already arranged transportation to the airport and have confirmed that the road to the airport is clear.
The guests are safely sheltered at the Resort and have ample provisions. We know that they are anxious to get home.
We will post another report as soon as we hear the results of the meeting with the government.
Michael Dolente
Joshua Gold