For the outlying islands NEMO encouraged a non-mandatory evacuation of San Pedro and Caye Caulker for residents who were concerned about their safety.
That didn't amount to too many folks because - storm seasoned as we all are - most people wait for the storm's last shift to make a decision.
But we did catch up with a few tourists who cut their Vacations short. Here's what they told us at the water taxi terminal today:..
Tourist #1
"We just ask the lady who was managing the place we were at and we talk. We went to the police station - they had information there and they said that some type of NEMO meeting that was supposed to happen last night. Then this morning was when the whole evacuation happens. Nobody knock on our door, we already knew we were going to leave early. The lady next to us on Caye Caulker - she was nice enough to come by and told us that we should leave because the last ferry is leaving at 1 o' clock. The locals knew what was going on."
Geovanni Brackett, reporter
"How will this impact your vacation?"
Tourist #1
"It will cut short by 2 days."
Tourist #2
"We were here for 2 days and hear that the hurricane is coming soon, so as you can see we ran away because we are afraid."
Amy Binstead, tourist
"It's really hectic getting off the island and there was like a queue of people down at the pier fighting to get onboard, some pushing and then one of the boat broke down and so we were loaded on to another boat."
Geovanni Brackett, reporter
"Did the notice of an intended storm have any scare or any frightening impact on you all?"
Amy Binstead, tourist
"The locals were really calm about it. They were saying don't worry, like don't let it scare you, it's exciting, you should stay but we like probably if we got an option we would choose not to be in a hurricane."
Geovanni Brackett, reporter
"The evacuation process - was it organized enough for you all?"
Amy Binstead, tourist
"No, we didn't really know what was going on and it was just kind of stand there and wait for them to tell you which boat to get on and the we would get on it and they were like 'you're not going on this boat now, get back off, you're going on that boat.' So yeah, not particularly organized."
It was a non-mandatory evacuation, so busses were not waiting to take persons to higher ground.
We'll have more on the hurricane later on in the news.
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