Eight months ago, Grand Isle was a wasteland, a nine-mile spit of island crushed by Hurricane Ida.
The first images of this powerful storm’s carnage brought tears. Sand covered the island, most of it coming from the mostly washed-away berm facing the Gulf of Mexico, and every man-made structure suffered some degree of damage. Many of them were gone.
With no power, no water, no fuel, no food, no nothing, and, worse still, access along La. 1 restricted to one lane — Ida’s power washed away parts of this vital link — Grand Isle faced a grim future.
“It was bad,” charter fisherman Frank Dreher said.
That was an understatement. Business and camp owners mulled their future, rebuild/reopen or not, all the while knowing it would be months before power was restored, then water, then other services to support a growing battalion of workers.
Sometime in October, salty sweat replaced salty tears.
Dreher and other charter fishing operators worked with crews cleaning up the island, then spent what little free time they had getting the materials they needed to repair their island operational bases.
The island’s big grocery store, Sureway, came back in October, operating on generator power. Power and water followed.
Still, the post-Ida images showed the uphill battle facing islanders, including Buggy and Dodie Vegas’ efforts to resurrect the iconic Bridge Side Marina, the first marina visitors see when crossing the Caminada Bay bridge.
Today, Bridge Side is open with fuel, ice, live shrimp and minnows, tackle and food, and Buggy Vegas said the store’s deli will be up and running this week.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Vegas said. “We’re shooting to have bait boats providing live croakers for Memorial Day weekend.
“We had to rebuild docks, and we have a barge in the marina building a new dock,” he said. “And, we’ve rebuilt about half our rooms. The RV park is hooked up 100%, and we’re working around the fishermen in the morning and working on the place the rest of the day.”
Bridge Side is only one place. Others like The Blue Dolphin and a half-dozen RV parks are open along with a handful of eateries.
“It took two months to clear debris from the marina,” Vegas said. “And we were on the fence. Dodie and I had to make a decision, and our children said they wanted to rebuild the place. So we did, so we could leave them a place our family has worked for so many years. We’re excited.”
That excitement would fall short if the visitors, mostly fishermen, came up short on their ventures into inshore and offshore excursions.
“We’re catching fish, all the charters,” said Dreher, the owner of Laid Back Charters. “We’ve caught limits of (speckled trout), along with redfish, sheepshead and drum.”
His Friday trip had five trout in the 3- to 4-pound range among the catch, and most charters returned to the dock with 25-trout limits or near limits.
“There are enough rooms and enough supplies now to say we’re open on Grand Isle,” Dreher said. “Pretty much all the (fishing) guides are running, and the fish are biting. Some of them have accommodations, and if you can’t find a place to stay, then call your captain and they’ll find a place for you to stay.
“The one thing everyone has to know is the island and the waters certainly do not look like what they did before the storm,” he said. “Most of the debris has been removed and the demolition of some camps continues.”
Dreher took time to warn boaters about two new sandbars showing up along Caminada Pass, one of the Chenier side and the other on the east side near the bridge.
“Right now, I’m more worried about sandbars than debris,” he said.
For Vegas, the months of dread, worry and work has had rewards.
“It’s been a long road, and we got a lot of support from our friends, the fishermen we’ve seen for years,” he said. “It’s exciting to be back and exciting to see our friends come back.”
Might need this
Word came last week that the Return ’Em Right campaign will provide “free release” gear valued at $100 to offshore anglers.
All you have to do is participate in what the campaign calls “a short online review of best practices anglers use to help reef fish survive release.”
One estimate is 1 million reef fish die each year after being caught then released, and the main reason the campaign identified is barotrauma — the bloating/pressure of a fish’s internal organ when a fish is reeled from depths.
Return ‘Em Right emphasizes the proper use of descending devices, which fishery managers believe “can improve long-term survival of reef fish by up to three times.”
The campaign’s release indicated these descending devices are weighted to “help fish overcome buoyancy and injury by releasing them at depth. These devices come in a variety of forms including weighted inverted hooks, lip clamp devices, and weighted crates and boxes.”
So, if you’re 18 and older, Google the Return ‘Em Right website, review best release practices, and receive a the package of release gear.
The program is a consortium of Florida Sea Grant, the University of Florida, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission and NOAA married to groups anglers, industry associations, state agencies, universities, government and non-government organizations with interests in the Gulf of Mexico.
And this project was selected by the Deepwater Horizon Open Ocean Trustee’s as part of a 2019 Restoration Plan.
Having completed the review, your time will be well spent in this program.