Marriott Hutchinson Island Resort

Island Beach Resort. This is...

by rstary

Island Beach Resort. This is one of the most affordable beach side locations. It is not the most luxurious, but certainly a comfortable condo arrangement.
$180/night On Hutchinson Island, right on the beach.

Frances & Jeanne - Aftermath Of The Storms

by catalysta

"So Fine Me!"

In the second week of October 2004 I visited with my aunt & uncle in Stuart Florida, shortly after both Hurricane Frances & Hurricane Jeanne made landfall there. I almost cancelled my trip, but they insisted they needed an excuse to take a little time off, since they were both pretty exhausted. Although their home was pretty much unscathed, my uncle is the City Manager of Stuart, so he hadn’t seen any time off for over a month. My aunt had been pitching in with volunteer work, sorely needed help for the homeless and shell-shocked storm victims.

"Driving South From Orlando"

Driving south from Orlando to Stuart via Florida’s Turnpike, the most obvious evidence of hurricane damage was downed trees, and the occasional mangled sign. As I entered the business district of town, many shop windows were still boarded up, either left up from fear of yet another storm strike, or recently placed to cover blown out windows from the last blast.

"Burnt Warehouse"

Odd as it seems, a fire took this warehouse in the aftermath of the storms - an electrical short due to storm damage.

"FEMA Blue"

Across the street from my aunt & uncle’s home, FEMA workers were busy installing blue tarps on the damaged roof of a neighbor’s home. The twisted lower corner of the garage door gave the house a bit of an Elvis sneer.

"Saved By A Roof"

Although my relatives’ home was built in the 1920’s, Uncle Dave had put a new roof on it 6 years ago, with extra long nails and additional reinforcements just in case. It seems his prudence paid off, since neighbors on all sides had interior destruction due to roof damage!

"Debris Piles - Branches"

That evening Aunt Cynthia & I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Virtually every home had huge piles of debris at the curb, awaiting pickup. It was easy to pick out the homes that received little damage inside, since their piles consisted mostly of tree branches or maybe some fencing.

"Interior Damage"

Many homes looked relatively undamaged from the outside, but you could tell by a glance at their debris piles that they had interior flooding damage - carpeting, wallboard, personal items, furniture…sad to see, knowing the homes were likely marginally habitable at best.

"Indian River & Hutchinson Island"

The next day Aunt Cynthia & I left Uncle Dave to vege out, while we took a drive around the area to see how things looked. The road out to Hutchinson Island had just been opened up to non-resident traffic the day before my arrival. You can see from this map that what’s referred to as “Indian River” isn’t really a river at all, but a saltwater inlet formed by the long narrow barrier island. That’s Hutchinson Island, laid to waste by the full fury of two consecutive hurricanes.

rstary's new Florida Page

by rstary

Brought the family to Hutchinson Island, Jensen Beach Florida. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. We went to Universal for one day, spent some time on the beach and played golf one day.