Residents of the British overseas territory of Anguilla are modeling fortitude, opening for tourism despite the stunning hardships residents continue to face. 

Hurricane Irma levelled all but one school on Anguilla, 90-percent of the residents won’t have electricity until January and it costs upwards of $2,500 just to get a car’s rear windscreen replaced post-Irma. Yet, residents there aren’t complaining. In fact, they're gearing up for tourists while “praying for Puerto Rico.”

The prayers could be seen as a bit self-serving since Anguilla, population 15,000, relies heavily on Puerto Rico for goods. While some supplies do come in from Miami, Fla. The bulk of goods shipped in arrive by way of Puerto Rico and the Port of San Juan which is currently snarled by containers full of aid that have yet to be unloaded and trucked to those in need there.

Leavette Proctor, an Anguillan boatbuilder who moved to Norfolk, Virginia 10 years ago. Waterway Guide profiled Proctor last year, says in an interview this week that he believes that the survival of his friends and family in Anguilla depends largely on the recovery of Puerto Rico.

Proctor said in a telephone interview Tuesday that his mother and most of his family are in the South Hill section of Anguilla where, “absolutely everything, every sheet of plywood, every vegetable and every brick must come to us through Puerto Rico.”

“If Puerto Rico don’t recover, what chance do my people on Anguilla have,” he posits. "If your job is in tourism you have something, but if you work in a shop with machines or things that need big electricity you're out of luck and prices are high."

Proctor says that his sister's car, like most cars on Anguilla, lost the back window during Irma. "It will cost $600 for a new one, plus $1,000 to ship it plus $1,000 to put it in," he says. "Insurance will only pay $150 U.S. She only paid $2,000 for the car!"

In addition to the destruction of cars, homes, schools and infrastructure, Irma also took the heart of Anguilla when she devastated the famous day boat fleet.

The championship boat Real Deal was tossed like a child’s tub toy, landing in a field where trees and debris slammed into it, cracking the boat and tearing out the keel.

Of the two boats Proctor built and raced, “One got the keel broke off and the other got cracks.”

The boatyard where Proctor worked most of his life is now just a pile of twisted scrap metal on top of a splintered fleet.

For the majority of the year (August-April) Anguillan day boats are stored on the ground in each of the villages that competes in the annual races. The boats have little or no protection from the elements and sit on their keels up on the hard. In this case, Hurricane Irma struck while the boats were not in the water.

According to Atrene Pemberton, a member of the Day Boat Association reached for interview via email, “None of the boats were in the water during Irma.  Lots of boats did get some sort of damage or the other.  I was not able to get an estimated overall cost for damages to date.”

“Anglec [power company] is working very hard to restore the power as fast as they can,” he writes. “20 to 30% of the island has been restored thus far and yes we might have until January before 95% would be connected. Anguilla is very strong and the people are working as a team to bring it back to where it was.”

Proctor adds, “Out of 28 boats, nine lost their keels, one was crushed and all the rest got cracks. None was spared. The captains say they are just happy to be alive.”

“I am collecting things to send to people in Anguilla because they have nothing,” he says. “They won’t have any power until at least January.”

Getting anything to the island is a challenge and very expensive. Procter buys barrels at $50 apiece and ships them at a cost of $150 each. He packs them full of as many useful items as he can afford. The only good news is that the British and Anguillan government have agreed to suspend duty taxes from now until December 10th so that aid can be shipped.

“I send them to my mother and she gives it out to all the neighbors,” he says. “There are 14,000 people on Anguilla and the aid they got was two pallets of water. There’s no communication except for What’sApp on the phones that can get charged by generator and find a signal.”

All of the photos in this story came to Procter from his sister on Anguilla via WhatsApp.

“My family has gotten nothing from the government,” Procter says. “Nobody knows when and where goods are being distributed and by the time word gets around it seems like only people with friends in government got anything at all.”

Proctor’s family and many other residents struggle without jobs, water, electricity, or full days of school.

“One of the schools built a new auditorium recently and that survived so it became the school for the whole island,” Proctor explains. “My niece uses my sister’s phone to do all the research for school and then goes to school on one of the shifts. The college exams are coming and the [regional] board refuses to give the Anguilla students more time. These grades will determine which colleges they attend.”

Against All Odds

Despite all odds, the tourist board confirms that an estimated 30 small hotels, condominiums, guesthouses and private villas have already re-opened or plan to open ahead of the peak winter and Christmas season.

The Anguillan Tourism Board has published a full list of island accommodation and restaurants with expected opening dates as a guide for visitors, tour operators and travel agents. View the list of what's now open on the website, What We Do in Anguilla.

Properties that are currently open or preparing to open in November and December 2017 include Ce Blue, Frangipani Beach Resort, Meads Bay Beach Villas, West End Bay Holiday Suites and La Vue.

A number of the larger and five-star properties plan to reopen from mid-2018, including the newly acquired Belmond Cap Juluca on the Island’s West End.

Properties that sustained less damage, such as Carimar Beach Club on Meads Bay and Shoal Bay Beach Villas, assisted post Irma, providing shelter and aid to locals, relief workers and the British military.

Commercial flights have resumed, with Trans Anguilla Airlines and Anguilla Air Services both providing charter services to St Kitts (served from the UK by British Airways) and Antigua (served from the UK by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic).

Anguilla Air Services has also resumed its daily scheduled service to St Maarten, served from the UK by KLM and Air France.

Tourism businesses including a number of restaurants and car hire services, have reopened.

Many of the island’s beaches have been cleared already, as have island roads. Phone and internet access have been restored to most parts of the island and significant progress is being made on the complete restoration of the electricity grid. Water is available, but remains on ration.

Carolyn Brown, director for the UK, Ireland & Scandinavia for the Anguilla Tourism Board, said: “The people of Anguilla, with the support of the UK Government, have been quick to respond to the damage caused by Irma. It is a testament to the strength and resilience of this small Island community that they are now in a position of recovery just one month on, with tourism being at the forefront of that rebound.”

She continued: “The message from the island is that Anguilla is safe, strong and ready to receive visitors over the coming months.”

Maybe Anguillans are praying for both Puerto Rico’s recovery and for the tourists to return to their own island.