As you may know from Tiffany’s earlier posts, Shelly and I had an interesting few days in Cabo San Lucas. As we departed Denver, the Captain announced a hurricane was threatening to hit our destination city the following day.
When we booked Sara and Chris’ wedding, we carefully planned…anticipating we may run into issues given the time of year. We sent our assistant, and fantastic photographer Shelly Valentine early in case I should not arrive on time. As we approached our landing, we could see beautiful, yet violent cumulous nimbus cloud formations, and with them a bumpy decent.
Upon arrival to the Riu, Shelly and I had two hours to prepare for the wedding. The first stop was to the spa to see our beautiful bride, Sara. The second, the poolside bar to see our buff groom, Chris, and friends preparing for the event.
The ceremony on the beach went as planned with the backdrop of darkening clouds, the sound of massive waves crashing on the beach, and half the resort watching the interesting spectacle from above. Within five minutes of the ceremony end, Henriette, our incoming Hurricane, began to drop rain.
Dinner was had in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately, the resort had installed plywood over the windows to protect the structure from the high winds. What must have been a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean a day before, now felt like a cave.
The rest of the evening was spent in the safe confines of the resort disco. As Henriette moved in closer, the resort staff was busy preparing for the worst. The staff did an amazing job keeping the facility clean, safe, and abundant with food. Throughout the ordeal the staff remained very upbeat and helpful to all of us.
We awoke, Tuesday morning, to Henriette at full wrath. We lost power for the first time around 8:15am. To my surprise power was soon restored and remained on for most of the day. The water however did not. The water pressure failed just as I was rinsing the shampoo from my hair. Fortunately I was able to rinse out the suds via reserves in two sinks and half a bottle of water. In hindsight, I should have walked out onto the balcony for a rinse.
To our surprise, the resort sustained more damage than we had expected. We witnessed massive holes in the ceilings, water leaking down interior walls, and puddling throughout the resort.
Shelly and I spent most of the day eating, reviewing the wedding images, and talking. I am so thankful to have had her along on the trip. Not only is she an extremely gifted photographer with a bright future, but she is an individual everyone seems to be instantly at ease with. She is by far the best assistant we have had the pleasure to work with.
The experience proved to be one of the most interesting and exhilarating of my life. I love any experience that tests your knowledge, preparation, instinct, patience, and mindset.
The attached images are a few I took over the day. Look for the wedding images in a few weeks.
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