re: Turks and Caicos Islands...

Key Points
1. Irma will track directly over the northern British Virgin Islands by noon today.
2. Catastrophic impacts are also expected for the Turks and Caicos and southern Bahamas.
3. Irma will graze southeast Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday morning
4. Landfall is projected to be near Charleston, SC as a Category 4 hurricane on Monday evening.

Our Forecast
A reconnaissance plane has just begun its investigation of Irma this morning. Initial findings are that Irma is still a very intense Category 5 hurricane with max sustained winds of 185 mph. The center of Irma will be moving directly over the northern British Virgin Islands before noon local time today. By mid-afternoon, Irma's center will pass about 50 miles north of San Juan. This will be close enough that the northern coast of Puerto Rico will be in Irma's hurricane-force winds, but the strongest winds should pass to the north of Puerto Rico. Irma will pass through the Turks and Caicos Islands and eastern Bahamas Thursday evening and Friday morning, on its way to the eastern Florida Straits on Saturday morning.
Our forecast moves Irma a little more quickly to the west-northwest over the next 72 hours. The result of the faster movement may be that Irma's expected northerly turn may come a little farther east. An earlier turn is supported by the majority of model guidance this morning. We have adjusted our forecast track slightly to the right/east as the center passes Miami on Sunday. Our track takes Irma's center along the coast of southeast Florida very near Miami on Sunday morning as a Category 3 hurricane with max sustained winds of 140 mph. However, winds on Irma's west side may be 15 mph lower.

The center of Irma is then forecast to pass about 100 miles east of Jacksonville, FL on Monday morning, which will be far enough offshore so as to keep the hurricane-force winds well east of the city. Landfall is projected to be near Charleston, SC on Monday evening as a Category 4 hurricane with max sustained winds near 130 mph. Once Irma moves inland, it will steadily weaken to a tropical storm by the time it reaches the North Carolina border and to a remnant low over Virginia.

Expected Impacts on Land:
British Virgin Islands: Catastrophic damage is expected. Many structures will be heavily damaged or destroyed. Power outages will likely last for many weeks.

Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands: Widespread power outages lasting for several days to several weeks are likely. The worst of the outages will occur on St. John and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. There, wind damage is likely to many structures. For St. Croix and northern Puerto Rico, power outages lasting for several days are likely, along with minor wind damage. Flooding from heavy rains is also possible.

Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands: Near total destruction is expected for the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. If Irma follows our forecast, widespread power outages and minor damage would be likely in the Northwest Bahamas.
Southeast Florida Peninsula: Irma may produce widespread power outages lasting for days or weeks, depending on Irma's precise track as it passes the area.

South Carolina Coast: Widespread damage from wind and storm surge possible. Power outages may last for weeks.

I will at there the same week for my honeymoon. I am hoping for the best now.

Yeah...not looking good at all. And St. John is getting hammered as we speak. May have to put off a Caribbean trip for 2018.

I just texted the guy that runs the villa we stayed at in T&C...I'll let y'all know when he responds.

If it jogs 50 miles south of the islands, they could get lucky?

We're looking at Caymans right now too.
I'm not sure the diving is going to be decent in the North half of the Caribbean for a while.

Caymans seems to be far enough away but who knows. Gonna see how bad it gets after Thursday and go from there.

Not only that but we had a good deal at Sands at Grace Bay, so we're also looking at an upgrade possible in room cost. Time to start looking around.

I fear it's not going to be positive for TCI islands. They're low lying islands with very shallow water around them.

I'm no predictor and I hope I'm wrong. Anguilla, Providenciales and Anegada are three of my favorite islands and I fear they'll all have massive destruction.

T&C looks to be safe from Jose, so the travelers in Nov might be OK depending on what Irma does, but it's not looking good.

Such a beautiful place!!!