Former Abaco Islands inn owners fear for friends amidst destruction

It’s hard to see the place you once called home, change.

Leslie Aaron and her husband watched the Abaco Islands, where they raised their boys, flatten.

“It was a really safe place to raise your kids and have them walk around and run around in in their diapers with their ice cream cones, not even have to worry about them,” said Aaron. “I’m glad they got a chance to see it the way it use to be.”

From their home in Naples, seeing Dorian batter the Bahamas, Aaron worries about their friends and lives.

“When you read social media and they keep saying, ‘Well, Harbor Lodge is gone. SeaSpray is gone. Captain Jack’s gone. Harbors Edge: gone,” she said.

All around the Hope Town Inn & Marina that the Aaron’s once owned, it’s just a shell.

“When they say gone, I just really want to see what they mean by gone,” said Aaron.

Their only thread of hope right now is social media updates and memories.

“It’s just like when you get in the ferry and you’re going over, everything just leaves. You just feel so comfortable,” she said on the verge of tears. “Usually after a storm that goes through Abaco, everyone repaints their houses in all the little pastel colors. But they have never had the damage like this. This is going to be a lot more than slapping on a coat of paint.”

And right now all they can do is wait for the weather to move out, so help can move in.

The Aaron’s lost their second home to the storm. They hope to line up a pilot and plane to film the Abaco Islands once its safe to give people a better idea of where to focus relief efforts.