We were told about the devastating effect of hurricanes when we visited Grenada, but never expected to experience it first-hand on our trip to the Caribbean in September.
Randy, the manager of the True Blue Bay Resort restaurant, told us what it was like in September 2004 when Hurricane Ivan struck.
He had heard about Hurricane Janet in 1955 but was not born then and did not understand the devastation it had caused.
Over the years there had been a lot of hurricane warnings but nothing had happened.
"We thought that God was on our side," Randy said.
"But deep down I felt that I would like to experience a hurricane myself."
Randy does not speak like that any longer.
The experience of one severe hurricane was enough for him.
He described how roofs had been blown off houses and 90% of the population was affected.
"It was horrifying," he said. "Nothing was working. It was frightening."
There was also a lesser category one hurricane in July 2005.
The cost of rebuilding on the island amounted to 2 times the island's GDP.
Ivan itself caused damage worth US$1.1 billion ($NZ1.45 billion) with over 90% of the housing stock either damaged or destroyed.
The island's spice industry was dealt a terrible blow with few nutmeg trees surviving, while 60% of cocoa trees were uprooted.
But there was also a positive side to the experience.
The guests at the resort helped with the clean-up.
"They were on vacation but joined in the clean-up work," Randy said.
"It was a wonderful feeling.
There was great camaraderie, something we hadn't experienced before."
There was also international assistance that helped get Grenada back on its feet.
Six years on, Grenada has made a strong recovery, even if it is not quite complete.
The news is encouraging for the country's most important foreign exchange earners - tourism and spice and cocoa exports.
We were on the outer edge of Hurricane Earl when it moved through the Caribbean this year.
The storm reached category four strength at its peak.
At its most damaging, the wind speed reached between 210kmh and 248kmh and the sea surges were from 5m to 6m.
The damage to the worst-affected island was extreme, but not catastrophic.
I first heard about the closeness of Hurricane Earl when we were staying at the Canella Beach Hotel, in Guadeloupe.
We were scheduled to fly to Antigua that day and make a quick visit to Montserrat the next day.
When I returned to our room after my early-morning swim my travelling companion, David Horne, was watching the weather report on television.
"Antigua is OK but I don't think we'll get to Montserrat tomorrow," he said.
We attempted to get an early flight to Antigua but the only one scheduled was at 6.30pm.
Many flights had been cancelled because of the hurricane and the airport was packed with people waiting for delayed and cancelled flights.
It was a long day at the airport waiting for a flight that was finally cancelled and we had to return to our hotel.
Guadeloupe was on the outer edge of the hurricane and rain fell throughout the day.
There was thunder and lightning and occasional bursts of heavy rain.
During our taxi ride back to the hotel we saw the effects of the rain.
Creeks were turned into rivers, there were big puddles of water on the road, low areas had flooded and several cars were sitting in water.
Only the big planes from Corsair and Air France got out.
David and I knew there could be problems the next day and we made tentative alternative plans.
The wind had been strong throughout the night and hotel staff were cleaning the debris out of the swimming pool and a little bird sheltered under the branches of a tree.
The force of the wind produced white tops and breakers on the sea that we had swum in when it was calm two days earlier.
We tried to get a 10.30am flight to Antigua but it was booked out, and we had nine hours to wait at the airport.
We were in luck and got an early-afternoon flight to Antigua and then joined a special flight to St Kitts.
It was flying because the Prime Minister of St Kitts, Dr Denzil Douglas, wanted to return to his home island and inspect the hurricane damage.
St Kitts was in the path of Hurricane Earl, but not at its centre.
There were cancelled flights and we arrived on the first flight allowed in after the hurricane.
We stayed at the St Kitts Marriott Resort and heard that many staff could not get to work on the day the hurricane struck and spent the day helping repair damage at their own homes.
There were plenty of branches broken off trees, and roads around the island were closed.
A notice stated the hotel grounds were closed to non-guests.
There were broken branches and debris in the hotel grounds and guests were urged to stay indoors.
There was sand-bagging around the building and much lying around when we arrived at the hotel.
I woke at daybreak and went down to the pool and was told by a staff member that it would not be opened until noon.
But it was OK to swim in the sea because the hurricane had moved on.
It was a busy clean-up day for staff at the hotel who cleaned debris out of the swimming pool and carted away broken branches to take to the dump.
We took a taxi ride around St Kitts to see the damage.
Our driver was Bernard Elliott, who is known to the locals as Dr Brown.
Bernard told us the Government was keen to retain old heritage stone houses, but owners of those close to the sea were given an offer of Government assistance to shift to higher ground.
"In a hurricane there is always at least one house that is destroyed by the sea," he said.
Retention of the sea wall is a problem, as we understood when we watched a digger putting large stones, brought from the mountain, in place to retain the sea wall.