Hurricanes are not unexpected in the Caribbean. On average about seven form each year. But although everyone in the region remains alert, the path of a hurricane is relatively narrow and each year most islands are unaffected. 

Grenada has been disastrously hit only a few times in the past 70 years: Janet in 1955, Ivan in 2004, and now Hurricane Beryl. It would be rare for any location to average a bad hurricane hit more than about every 16 years.

Hurricane Irma, which devastated Barbuda in 2017, is the only storm I know of that has precipitated a change so great that Barbuda is unlikely to be the same again. Barbuda is a low-lying 40,000-acre island with many lovely beaches. The population of around 1,700 people held the land in common and so controlled development. They’d leased land to four hotels, two of them now defunct. Barbuda was low key and quiet. The Antigua and Barbuda government had long wanted to end the communal ownership of land and to encourage large-scale tourism, but the reaction of Barbudans was mixed – most wanted Barbuda to keep control of its own land. 

Devastation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the Caribbean in 2017. Photo: Sharpshotaero/Alamy

After Hurricane Irma, the government, for the safety of the population, ordered a complete evacuation of all Barbudans to Antigua. During the evacuation, the government did some restoration work, and started construction of an international airport for executive jets.

The hurricane destroyed the Coco Point Lodge Hotel, which sold their lease to PLH, a high-end development company. PLH also bought the lease for the defunct Palmetto Point Hotel. Ever since, there has been a steady progression of development. Luxury houses now occupy the former Coco Point Lodge land. PLH is converting Palmetto Point into a resort. A report by the UN concluded: “In the midst of a global climate crisis… it is shocking to see the development of a yacht marina in an area known for its fragile ecosystem and a golf course on an island that relies on scarce groundwater resources.”

The low land barrier protecting Barbuda’s Codrington Lagoon breached during Irma. This has happened before, but previously the barrier naturally restored within a few months. This time more has eroded – it is not recovering on its own. 

Grenada bounced back after the 2004 Hurricane Ivan as a central hub of yachting – here the Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis marina, Grenada, before Beryl.

Island resilience

The Caribbean is resilient in the face of hurricanes. Over the years I have seen many photos of terrible damage to an island, only to visit the next winter to find them up and running, apparently back to normal, even if there are occasional blue tarps on yet unrepaired roofs.  

Things are changing: when Hurricane Maria (2017) hit Dominica, very little information emerged for almost a week, but within a day of Beryl, news was coming from Carriacou and Union. While big aid organisations always help, 2024 is also the first year in which assistance arrived promptly: a helicopter delivered sandwiches to Petit Martinique very shortly after the storm. 

The Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada was one of the first to start raising funds for Carriacou and to send aid on yachts. In Union Island Jeremie Tonet, who owns a kitesurfing business, did an almost miraculous job by raising €250,000 in just a few days and visiting Martinique to ship things needed by both plane and ship.

The Tobago Cays in the Grenadines is a stunning cruising ground. Photo: Peter Phipp/Travelshots.com/Alamy

I returned to Grenada the winter following Ivan (2004) and life for most people was close to normal. But the rainforest was destroyed; trees stripped bare of their leaves and covered in vines. Its recovery was gradual, yet 10 years later most would not have known there’d been a hurricane.

About the author

Chris Doyle’s is a name familiar to all Caribbean cruisers, as the author of best-selling cruising guides of the region. Having explored the Caribbean for more than 40 years, there is barely an anchorage he hasn’t visited or a harbour he hasn’t surveyed. His knowledge of the eastern Caribbean is second to none, and his cruising guides can be found on the shelves and chart tables of thousands of boats.

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