Hurricane Michelle Spells End to Exumas Trip
November 5, 2001. 12:52 p.m. CST

Late Friday afternoon, Aqua Cat Cruises made the decision to cancel the live-aboard dive trip planned by Aquatic Adventures as Hurricane Michelle grew in strength and threatened the area of the Caribbean visited by the luxury dive boat.

"I received a call from Aqua Cat late Friday saying they were already experiencing 9 to 12 foot seas," said Brian Hale, travel coordinator for Aquatic Adventures. "Their decision was to postpone the trip."

Travelers from Aquatic Adventures were scheduled to leave Milwaukee at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

The Aqua Cat trip is currently being rescheduled, and a new date should be set sometime during the week of November 6. "I'm hoping to have a new date set within a week," said Hale. "We need to find out when the boat is available and check the schedules of those who had planned to go."

As of Sunday, Hurricane Michelle had grown in strength to a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 135 mph. The projected path of the storm was directly through the area of the Bahamas where Aquatic Adventures divers would have been if their trip had not been canceled.

"We have a lot of disappointed people right now," said Jerry Otte, President of Aquatic Adventures. But having been through Hurricane Mitch in 1998, I think the Aqua Cat decision was the right one. It's hard to imagine the power of these storms unless you have been through one." Hurricane Mitch had sustained winds of more than 180 mph and was responsible for the deaths of nearly 10,000 people. Mitch was the fourth strongest storm on record in the Caribbean Basin

Since it is possible that new spots may open up on the rebooked trip, anyone who was unable to go in November and is interested in going on the new Aqua Cat trip should call Aquatic Adventures at (262) 938-6827 and have their name put on a waiting list.