How We Survived a "Tromba Marina" at Sea!!!

My wife, some friends and I, stayed as guests at a property on a private island on the eastern shore of Puerto Rico over the weekend of May 13th until May 15th 2011. We had a truly amazing time. It was an experience that we will not forget any time soon.

One of the highlights of this weekend trip was how we survived a “Tromba Marina”, (Sea Waterspout or Tornado). Although it's still being discussed whether it was a Tromba or not. Some weather experts argue the fact that it could have been a "Supercell", pretty much like the one they claimed went through the Mayagüez area on 2010 during the inaguration of the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games. This claim is done considering the fact that no-one ever witnessed the characteristic flute like formation of a Waterspout. In fact, this cloud formation was highly electrically charged and would very easily fit the description of a Supercell. Regardless of what "it" was, I can tell you it looked, it sounded and it felt very scary.

After spending an awesome, very sunny morning at the beach with a beautifully calm sea on Saturday the 14th, a mysterious cold front covered the entire area all of the sudden. Sometime after 2:00pm a very heavy shower made visibility very difficult and the sea became extremely choppy and unstable. Some sources reported that waves were up between 12 and 15 feet high and that winds reached 60 miles per hour,(mph).

Some of the witnesses said to have felt hail rain as it was reported at the Marina of Puerto Chico in Fajardo and other areas like Trujillo Alto and Cupey. Some boat operators commented that it was the first time that a phenomenon of such type had ever happened in the area. These boat operators, some of whom had more than 20 years of experience at sea denied to have ever seen a storm of such magnitude. In fact, some said that they are alive only through the grace of God.

The worst part of the storm lasted about 10 minutes. After these very stressfull minutes passed by, we could see how some 20 to 30 boats were stuck on the sandbar and on the island's shore. One of these vessels, which was about 30 feet long, got stuck underneath the wharf and ended up with some serious damages, some even say their boats went vertical.


Gladly enough, although people were shocked by the whole situation, no serious injuries were reported. Just some minor cuts and bruises, and of course, some material loss.

Some of these pictures were taken by my great friend Luis, as he was overlooking the western shore and I was doing the same at the eastern shore. We couldn't take any pictures of the actual flute like formation, but looking back at the whole situation, and with all the running for cover, it may have not been such a good idea to stick around for that picture. After all, the storm actually formed almost right on top of us.

Being who we are, and understanding how safe and sheltered we were on that island, we thanked God and we took advantage of the situation. Considering the shortage of water in the island at the time, some of us decided to bathe ourselves with the remaining showers of the waterspout. I have to admit, this was the most fun I’ve had while taking a shower with my clothes on… just thought I should share. ;)