Tracking Dean - Our first hurricane experience

On Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. we commenced tracking and recording the tropical revolving storm, "Dean". At that time Dean's classification was that of a tropical storm, moving in a W-NW direction at a speed of 19 knots. Maximum sustained wind speed was 55, gusting to 65 knots, with a barometric pressure reading of 994 millibars. Dean's position at that time was to our northeast - 13.1 degrees North, 47.9 degrees West.
We continued to monitor Dean as it tracked westward (280 degrees). Dean's continual westward track was a great concern to all in Trinidad. The worry being that it may take a dip southward which would put us in its path.
At 5 a.m. on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 with winds of 65 gusting to 80 knots Dean became a category 1 hurricane. Position 13.4 degrees North, 52.3 degrees West.
At 8 p.m. on the same day it reached category 2 status exhibiting 100 + mile per hour sustained winds - Position 14.0 degrees North, 57.8 degrees West.
We were thankful that our single side band radio allowed us access to this crucial weather information every 2 hours.
By 9 a.m. on Friday, August 17th, 2007 Dean passed west of our longtitude and crossed the south end of Martinique (240 nautical miles north of our position).
The National Hurricane Centre reported Dean had reached category 3 status by 2 p.m. on Friday - 32 foot seas were recorded as the pressure dropped to 961 millibars (28.38"). The maximum sustained wind speed was 110-115 knots. Dean's position at that time was 14.8 degrees North, 63.6 degrees West as it continued to strengthen on its westward trek at a speed of 19 knots.
By 5 a.m. on Saturday, August 18th, 2007 Dean was category 4. Its location was 15.1 degrees North, 67.3 degrees West, travelling westward (275 degrees) at 15 knots. The barometric pressure had dropped further to 930 millibars, maximum sustained wind speed 130 gusting to 160 knots. The eye was reported to be 15 nautical miles in diameter.
By Sunday night at 7 p.m., August 19th, Dean's eye passed 20 miles south of Jamaica at category 5 status. Winds of l72.6 miles per hour were recorded at the airport in Kingston, pressure 926 millibars, seas an astonishing 55 feet (ll second interval) and still it carried on westward to leave a path of destruction in the Yucatan Penninsula.
Our encounter with Dean amounted to laying battened down on anchor, with 20 other boats in Scotland Bay, awaiting feeder bands. Dean was drawing air to fuel itself and thereby causing strong winds up to 300 miles around it (well within our range). We thankfully just encountered winds that gusted up to 30 knots over a 12 hour period and witnessed a lightning show like none we had ever seen before.
The Chaguaramas area was in turmoil as the winds swung from the usual east direction to west, southwest, then south. The Chaguaramas marinas offer no protection from those directions and are completely open to the large fetch from the Gulf of Paria.
Our first hurricane experience, Dean, was the 9th largest hurricane in recorded history.