Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada Survives Hurricane Ivan

Created by doina. Last modified on 2004-11-23 21:17:45
Countries: Grenada

November 16, 2004

Dear Noonsite.com

Subject: Update on Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada

As we all know by now, on September 7th Grenada was hit directly by a force 4 hurricane with winds of 130+ mph that very little in its path could withstand. Clarkes Court Bay Marina suffered considerable damage as did all other marinas and boatyards. Nevertheless, we were horrified to read Grenada "updates" posted on your site as recently as November 10th, which are completely inaccurate when describing our marina at Clarkes Court Bay as "no more".

Despite initial appearances and reports, the damage was not as bad as those impressions on the first days after the hurricane. At Clarkes Court every boat was recovered and more than 70% of our boats stayed at the marina following the hurricane, most with minor damage as the finger slips protected boats from smashing into each other. Our main docks were dragged out of position by the wind and weight of boats, but this movement helped prevent much worse damage that was caused to boats moored against "fixed" docks in other locations. Furthermore, our offices, bar, laundry, showers and other facilities on land were completely undamaged.

The continued presence of these reports is even more troubling in the face of the fact that extensive information about our marina at Clarkes Court Bay and other Grenada yachting sites has been available since the days immediately following the hurricane. Our website clarkescourtbaymarina.com has been providing information all along, and the latest update was posted on November 1st. There have been well over 500,000 hits to this site in the last few months. Furthermore, we have never been out of telephone communication, and maintained full security in the face of reports of extensive looting in other areas.

We have been closed in order to speed the process of repositioning the dock anchors and reinstalling docking facilities. Today we are ready for the upcoming season and have one main dock with 20 slips and 10 swing moorings available so far with more to come soon.

Hurricane Ivan was a disaster that we are all trying hard to recover from in the shortest possible time and it is vital that reports are current, fair and accurate. Unsubstantiated and uninformed reports, however, well intended, can do untold damage to our unrelenting efforts to restore services in the shortest possible time.

Sincerely, Leslie and Bob Blanc

Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada

Unfortunately, a news item that was put onto the site very shortly after the Hurricane occurred, was recently abbreviated by me and so re-appeared on the site with the revised date of 10 November. I have now deleted the information about damage to individual marinas which is out of date and obviously inaccurate. Doina Cornell, Noonsite Manager.