Soon Come Andrew
By Keith M.
Cromartie
Bob
and Bev are free-spirited sailors. In August 1992 I signed-on as a mate
on their
fifty-foot sail boat; seeking an at-sea adventure vacation aboard SV
Soon-Come.
We
sailed between Key West, Florida and Cancun, Mexico several
weeks before
Hurricane Andrew left a path of destruction in the southern Florida towns of Homestead, Cutler
Ridge, and Florida City.
Cancun, Mexico was a
newer destination
for American student spring breakers because of the dollar's strength
against
the peso, the drinking age of 18 years old and the tendency for
drunken,
bikini-clad coeds to go wild.
The “Soon Come”
name reflects a vernacular native reframe
often heard by impatient foreign travelers to the Bahamas; when
something promised is not going to be delivered on time. [Your food,
your
luggage, your taxi] Soon come! Soon come
mon!
Key West is 90
miles from Cuba and has
nicknames
including; The Conch
Republic and The Southernmost City In The
Continental
United States. The city’s motto is One human family. It is a
fitting motto; because diverse groups;
military, artists, tourist, homeless and gay/lesbians peacefully
co-exist on a 2X4
mile island, where the driving speed limit is 35 MPH and people enjoy a
daily
sun-set celebration.
The Conch
Republic was my
hometown from
September 1989 to November 1994. It was
an awkward moment in my Army career. I was licking my wounds from a
previous
tough assignment on the Korean DMZ. Enjoying
the carnival-like atmosphere of famous Duval Street was part
of my eventual
happiness, but I also enjoyed my work. It was a very serious job;
Director, Joint Operations Command Center, Joint
Task Force
Four. We held plank-owner status in a
Coast
Guard-led, interagency unit. Our mandate
was global counter-drug interdiction and counter-money laundering
operations.
Worry
about piracy
en route from south Florida
to the Yucatan Peninsula
did concern me, but it didn’t consume me. There isn’t anything we can
do to
prevent machinegun toting Caribbean
drug runners from killing us or taking Soon Come for use in their trade.
I
flew back to Miami
from Cancun two days ahead of
Hurricane Andrew’s slaughtering of South
Florida.
All attempts to travel home to Key
West
were denied. Officials prohibited
south-bound traffic to
the Keys from the mainland. I couldn’t
even get to Homestead
Air Force Base. That Air Force Base
was to be
no more because Andrew’s eye with winds over 149 MPH passed over. I loved that base; it was a great refuel
point.
Forced
to rent a car, I had to travel to Orlando;
making several stops
along the way, before finding a hotel to seek refuge and a place to buy
supplies. I was utterly disappointed by
store owners’ taking advantage of the situation by charging fellow
citizens
extraordinarily high prices for water, ice, generators, candles and
basic food
items in time of crisis. The Navy
training base there then (now gone) provided an opportunity for me to
purchase
survival necessities at a regular price in Orlando.
Some
days later on my return to Key West from
Orlando by car, I cried at the sight of Hurricane Andrew’s destruction;
the
suffering it caused the people of South Florida.