Taking a break from the indoors, two of my children, a friend, and I go down to the beach near our home to feel the storm...We discover a buoy washed up on the shore. Photo: Robbin Whachell

Well it's only been a couple months into hurricane season and there has already been quite a bit of action! I am fortunate to say that here on Grand Bahama Island we were unscathed by the recent storms, except for some power outages from time to time.

First there was Tropical Storm Fay which brought us a week of gloomy wet windy weather, which can be a refreshing change, but it did seem to ruin the final week of summer, at least for my daughters who were leaving for Canada to go to school.

The weather kept them in doors that week so they finally took time away from the beach and their friends to wade through the sea of their own lives that had accumulated in each of their bedrooms from their ten years living here in The Bahamas. I breathed a sigh of relief that FINALLY they were taking action for their upcoming travels.

I was up in Canada watching Hurricane Hanna and Ike from afar, and I have to say it was very unsettling to be away from my youngest two children, who were with their father back in The Bahamas, waiting upon my return. I actually hoped Hanna would wait for me to return first so I could be with them. Luckily it wasn't necessary, as Hanna stayed south.

My relatives shutter to think about our lives here in The Bahamas with the annual hurricane season, but I tell them it is like any other country. Some places in the world have hurricanes, some have monsoons, wet seasons, others have tornados, earthquakes, while some have blizzards and forty below weather. It is six of one or half dozen of the other!

I remember my childhood years in Manitoba and Alberta, in Canada. The winters could be severe. I have memories of blizzards, and weather so cold you could not go out for longer than 10 minutes for fear of frostbite. We had to wear so much clothing it took ten minutes just to get dressed to go outside, and visibility was only through a slit in your scarf that your mother tied and wrapped just so around your head. Snow piled so high after one night of a blizzard could mean days off school until the ploughs came through to clear up our country roads for driving.

Returning home to The Bahamas after Hanna and Ike passed I am truly grateful,  like everyone else here on the Island is I am sure. It's only been four years since Frances and Jeanne came through Grand Bahama, and its taken all that time to get the island back to look like it did prior to the damage caused by those hurricanes.

Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamian island of Inagua were not so lucky...

There is something wild about storms... they seem to not only affect our environment, but our internal body as well. Many can feel all agitated as the pressure from the passing storms must surely affect and alter our bodies, emotions and minds. I recall my dog vomiting on the floor during Jeanne and lightbulbs exploding in the house. I wonder what it did to our blood pressure?

I read a few years back that Grand Bahama is second in the world for the threat of hurricanes hitting land. Well we  have a few months to go.

Stay safe out there and be prepared!

A kite surfer takes advantage of the winds of Tropical Storm Fay in August 2008 off the beaches of Grand Bahama Island. Photo: Robbin Whachell

Read my 2006 article about getting through hurricane season HERE

Watch our interview with Hurricane Expert, Dr. William Gray, as he predicts storms for this 2008 season

The beach near my home on Grand Bahama Island during Tropical Storm Fay. Photo: Robbin Whachell

The sea spitting out loads of sea weed onto the beach I walk near my home on Grand Bahama Island during Tropical Storm Fay. Photo: Robbin Whachell

About the author: Robbin Whachell has been a resident of Grand Bahama Island since 1998. She moved to Freeport from Vancouver, Canada. She is the mother of four children and is an involved volunteer in the community, in particular with the YMCA and the island's soccer programmes. She is a founding member of the Grand Bahama Writer's Circle, and The Bahamas representative for the International Women's Writer's Guild. Her passion for life on Grand Bahama comes across in her innovative and intuitive sharing and networking of information within the community she lives. She is appreciative of her opportunity to live in The Bahamas and looks forward to the continuance of being a team player within the larger community of The Bahamas. Robbin is the Editor of TheBahamasWeekly.com and can be reached at robbin@thebahamasweekly.com