Hurricane memory

BY JEFF GAINES III

When Hurricane Andrew was moving west towards South Florida, everyone knew it was going to turn north at some point but when? Isabelle Joiner, her extended family and most of the island evacuated. She went to Winter Haven.

At the time I was living upstairs at Whidden’s. It was agreed that I would stay behind as I had a plan to go to Nocatee and stay at my father’s place if need be.

When I realized that the national television networks were using the Naples feed for updates, I knew that Miami was getting pummeled. While finally getting what little sleep I was going to get that day, the phone rang at 4 a.m. when a Boca Bay resident calling from up north wanted to know how the island was faring.

The island lost power mid-morning. Then I heard a helicopter. Three commercial crab boats from Marathon, led by Donald Joiner, arrived at Whidden’s to escape Andrew. He explained that the Apache Helicopter was following them.

The only place open on island was the marina, and slowly people started filtering in during the day. Since there was no power I couldn’t use the cash register and all transactions were out of my pocket. Beer was easily the main product of choice.

Isabelle showed up around 6 p.m. with her family. I handed her $1,000 and told her, “I’m going to bed.”