Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Sometime during the first week of September, while Hurricane Irma was still days away from Florida and there was concern that it might eventually work it’s way up the coast and impact Delmarva, I got an email from a fellow who had my boat chartered for a day of fishing on September 12th. His message read that because of the hurricane threat he was canceling his week long vacation in Ocean City and, therefore, would not be able to fish with me on our scheduled date.
At first I thought, “Just as well. If we have a hurricane coming this way the last thing I need is to worry about canceling and rescheduling charters while I’m trying to get my house and boats ready to deal with the storm”. But then September 12th rolled around, and guess what – no storm! The most we saw of Irma that day, or any day, were a few dark clouds, otherwise September 12th was a calm and beautiful day. The storm never came close to us, but just the threat of it ended up costing me a charter and some motel or condo owner a week’s rental fee, not to mention all the local restaurants, amusement parks and arcades, miniature golf courses and whatever else the family would have gotten into while they were in town. A lot of revenue to a lot of local businesses was lost that week on just the “threat” of a major storm, imagine the financial consequences to our local economy if Irma actually did hit us!
As we all know, the folks in Florida don’t have to “imagine” the ill effects of a major storm, they’re living it! In just two days of battering by Irma so much of Florida as we know it just went away, gone, wiped off the map, obliterated, human causalities, homes and businesses destroyed, environmental impacts, lives changed forever.
All of us up here on Delmarva have to remember that but for the grace of God that could have been us as that same storm could just as easily have turned north sooner than it did and whacked the Eastern Shore with the same vengeance, and as I’m pretty sure that in these latitudes our buildings are not put together with as much concern for hurricanes as they are in much of Florida, you can imagine what would happen around here if we took a hit from such a powerful storm.
It was “them” not us who got hit. But who is “them”? Florida is such a big state with so many residents that probably most of us have some kind of family or at least close friends that live somewhere in the state. At the very least, Floridians are our fellow countrymen and women who stand under the same flag as we do and are, therefore - our neighbors.
While many folks might think of Florida as just a big playground state where everything is Mickey Mouse, palm trees and Miami Beach, there’s a human element of the state that doesn’t just hang out there for a week or two each winter for some fun in the sun. They live there 24/7, raising their families, going off to work each day, gathering with relatives for birthdays and holidays and everything else we all do in our own homes every day. Irma didn’t just flatten vacation mansions for rich folks, it destroyed homes just like yours and mine. If it happened here in Ocean City, us residents wouldn’t want our suffering to be down played just because we reside in a resort town so neither should anyone minimize the tragedy to folks of Florida.
Which brings me full circle back to my story about the guy who cancelled his charter with me and his vacation in Ocean City. Like Florida, Ocean City relies on tourist dollars to keep its economy going. We need people to come to the beach like Florida needs snowbirds to come down in the winter and other times of the year to enjoy their time in the Sunshine State and stoke their economy. I fully understand why the guy elected not to come to town, I wouldn’t want to spend a stormy week sitting in a motel room either. What I hope is that whatever desires he had to vacation in Ocean City and to fish with me are not lost and forgotten over time. I need him to come back, to schedule another fishing trip with me just as I’m sure that there are a lot of other businesses who rely on him, and others like him, returning to enjoy and support our community.
I overheard someone who usually goes down to Florida and fishes for a week say, “No big deal, we’ll just fish in Costa Rica this winter instead.” No one knows when Florida will be far enough past the terrible tragedy that came in the form of a Category 4 hurricane to be ready again to accept visitors. Much of the state will likely be open for business sooner than later, but some of the hardest hit areas might end up needing a little breathing room and some time to get things in order again before they’ll be able to open their doors to the public. Those of us who cherish our time down there each year are heartbroken by what has happened to the Florida that we’ve come to know and love. As I write this final column of the season, the storm has just recently past, search and rescue operations are just finishing up and many residents have not yet even been allowed back to see what’s left of their homes, their businesses and their lives. Right now I don’t know how I can best help the relief effort other than to stay away and let the professionals do their work. Maybe in the days and weeks ahead there will be a call for donations of food, clothing, housing, or physical assistance with the cleanup and rebuilding efforts. I’ll wait to hear and see what I have to offer.
One thing I won’t do is write the state off as “damaged goods” and start traipsing off to other countries for my winter fishing activities when my neighbor needs my help. Florida has always been the hub for saltwater fishing in the United States and although the entire state and its residents will be licking their wounds for a while, they will recover, rebuild and come out of this better than they went in. Now, more than ever, the people of Florida need us to continue to support them through the trying times ahead.
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
