Turtle Cove survives Yasi

Popular gay and lesbian holiday spot Turtle Cove Beach Resort has survived Cyclone Yasi, but suffered extensive property damage at the hands of the mammoth storm.

The beautiful beach-front resort, located 45 minutes north of Cairns, was hit by the force of the category five cyclone but was lucky to escape without damage to resort buildings.

Turtle Cove general manager Gavin Keegan told the Star Observer staff and resort owners have now begun the huge task of cleaning up the resort.

“Because we’re in a cove we did cop the brunt of it from the ocean, but we’re lucky enough that it went over the top of us,” Keegan said.

“So while we did cop it pretty hard, and we did cop some extensive damage, I think we were lucky we didn’t sustain any structural damage.

“The damage is mainly in the garden and fallen trees. There was also a little bit of flooding, mainly from the high tide.”

Keegan, who experienced his first cyclone, said he and nine others bunkered down in the resort to wait for the cyclone to pass.

“About 10 of us stayed with the property, so we set up a bunker in the middle of our accommodation.

“Basically it was a very, very sturdy building. All the buildings here are cyclone-proof, so we were safe.

“We boarded up the windows and we basically hovered around for about 12 hours. We had plenty of food and beer and soft drink.”

Keegan said the clean-up is now in full swing, including the removal of a 100-year-old tree which fell over the resort’s driveway, however, the resort was still without power.

“We had everything locked up but debris still manages to get inside,” he said.

“So there’s a big clean-up process around the restaurant area, but there’s lots we can’t do until the power’s back on.”

Bookings for the weekend following the cyclone were cancelled, and Keegan said the power outage had made accessing the resort’s booking schedule impossible.

“We don’t have power so we’re a little bit in the dark with bookings, literally,” he said.

Keegan said he anticipates the resort will be open for bookings at the end of this week.

“We really want to get the place open again for the punters.”