Oh, where do I even begin? After a week of cancelled flights and staying several extra nights in San Jose, we journeyed over 30 hours to return home to hurricane damaged Tybee. It was a miracle that our home three doors from the ocean was not damaged, although there were many others on the island and all throughout Savannah that were not as fortunate. The island has buzzed with the sound of chainsaws and hammering nails for over a week as our neighbors have cut their way back into their homes and patched up their open roofs. Flooded with trucks from power companies, tree services, insurance adjusters and contractors from states away…you name it, our little island was far from the looks of the summer tourist town we saw for the past five months. Fall is the time of year when we love to get back to our small town community feel. And even though hurricane Matthew tried to destroy our little island town, it is in the hard times like that the community is made even more strong and impenetrable. Kudos to our wonderful Mayor, Jason Buelterman who went above and beyond for the people if Tybee. He was making personal phone calls to people that had decided to stay, pleading them to evacuate. Afterwards he secured a helicopter to ensure that ten new pumps were delivered to restore our sewage system in a matter of days. 

And there’s nothing (including a tree fallen across the Bull river bridge and a police car chasing him, can keep Eric Thomas owner of Hucapoos from coming back on the island. Only hours in the wake of Matthew, he fired up the generators and pizza oven to serve free food and provide comfort for anyone that was left on the island.

Thank you all that reached out in concern for our family and friends. Please continue to pray for all of those that are still dealing with the devastation in the wake of Matthew. The media is quite neglectful in covering the aftermath of this monster if a storm that ripped through Haiti, the Bahamas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

We just had our internet restored at an acceptable level yesterday. So my blog posts have not been as frequent as I’d like, but in the big scheme of things…just a mere blip in my life. I have a few backlogged pieces that I’ll post in the coming days. I have written online reviews for each of the places we stayed in Costa Rica that I want to share with you. I’ve received several messages from readers that are thinking of traveling to Costa Rica and I’d love to help you plan your trip!!

In addition to trying to get our life back to normal, I photographed two full weddings and two vow renewals in the the past week. Most all of the restaurants and businesses are open and ready for guests to return. So if you want to have a fall beach getaway, now is the time to do it. The weather is beautiful here and at least 90% of the island is ready for you!