Canadian travellers who were stranded in Los Cabos, Mexico because of a powerful hurricane say they are relieved to be home after spending several days without power and communication with the outside world. 

Brie and Nathan Schmidt of Red Deer, Alta., were on their honeymoon in Los Cabos when Hurricane Odile struck Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Sunday.

The strongest hurricane ever recorded in the region caused severe damage to hotels, buildings and roads.

Brie Schmidt said the couple’s hotel was “shaking” when the storm hit.

“We took all of our furniture and put it up against our window,” she told CTV Calgary. 

The couple managed to stay safe and avoid injury, but once the storm passed, they realized they were stranded in Los Cabos without electricity or running water. They were only able to communicate with family members in Canada through social media.

It wasn’t until Wednesday that they were able to catch a flight back to Canada.

Lisa Kucemba and Michael Parente of Stoney Creek, Ont., were also stranded in Los Cabos until Wednesday.

Kucemba told CTV News Channel Thursday that their hotel continued to supply guests with food and water once the power went out. But it wasn’t long before the food portions got smaller and bottles of water disappeared. 

Without any information about evacuation plans and available flights to Canada, the couple ate less and stored leftover food and water in their room. 

Parente said the stranded tourists did “an excellent job of remaining civil in a situation where you didn’t really know what was going on. “

On Wednesday morning, the couple managed to get on a bus leaving for the airport, where they caught a Sunwing Airlines flight to Toronto.

Another Sunwing plane took nearly 200 Canadians to Vancouver late Wednesday. Mexican authorities have estimated that about 30,000 tourists were stranded due to the storm.

By Wednesday afternoon, 5,000 of them were flown out of the region.

After her ordeal, Brie Schmidt had one piece of advice for travellers. 

“Don’t go honeymooning in hurricane season,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press