Sunday, October 9, 2016

St James Plantation - Blue Skies, full sun, what storm?

They had a butterfly garden that also  attracted moths, dozens
What a difference a day makes! Blue skies, full sun, low humidity. Did we actually have a hurricane come through? The winds did pipe up immediately after Matthew with a gust reading of 82 mph at one point. We came out in the late morning to inspect Fleetwing and everything was fine, what a relief. The boat next to us, a powerboat, left their canvass up and they suffered several tears along the zippers. We did take a walk last night around 8:00 pm when the western wall of the hurricane impacted us with the peak gust of 82 mph. The sound of the wind was incredible. With the marina being below the level of the surrounding land, most of the wind was going over us but it was still hard to walk with the pressure of the winds. We didn't stay out long and we did not walk out on the docks even though it was low tide and accessible. You would have been airborne if you ventured there. It was amazing. I have no further desire to be in a hurricane again.


A beautiful walk through the woods was nearby
We reinstalled the enclosure and we're now back to normal in the cockpit. Ann enjoyed the full sun of the afternoon. The temperatures will only be in the low 70's the rest of the week but that's fine with us as long as it's sunny as predicted. We have to wait for calmer wind before we put the jib back on. We figure we'll be here for another week waiting for the ICW to clear up south of here. I know some people down that way and I'll call for advice on ICW conditions. The main concern is the ICW just south of Barefoot Landing which usually floods with heavy rains.

End to a beautiful day, after the storm
Monday will be a day off for us, no work, no nothing relative to the boat. Time for a little R and R.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you made it through the hurricane unscathed.Love your blog! Hopefully this time next year we'll be heading down the icw for the first time. The details and basic info you provide about what to expect are invaluable!

Bob423 said...

It's an exciting trip, sometimes too exciting with a hurricane but there are many safe harbors along the way.