Thursday, October 6, 2016

St James Marina - Tying off for Matthew

Tide Minders added to all pilings
There is a 4.5 ft tidal range here and with Matthew and the chance of a storm surge, it will be even higher. When we arrived I saw many boats using "Tide Minders". They are a bunch of rollers that you string together on a line around a piling. As the tide changes, the rollers will ride up and down the piling even if there are barnacles present. With the hurricane approaching I wanted all the help I could get.

Back to Miami?!
It looks like Matthew is turning to the east even sooner than predicted earlier. Our windiest day is now projected to be Sunday with winds topping out at 42 kts with an occasional higher gust. That is far from hurricane strength and we feel fairly secure here. However, the ICW through South Carolina and Georgia is taking a beating. When the weather returns to normal next week we are concerned that the ICW may still be impassible due to high water. So I signed up for a month here with the intention of staying two weeks, it was less expensive to take the monthly rate than pay the weekly rate for two weeks. Hopefully, after two weeks they will have the ICW cleared.


7 comments:

Shelly said...

Hi. Would you feel comfortable saying what you paid for the month?
Thank you,
Shelly (Good Karma)

Bob423 said...

Shelly, $323.40 with metered electricy being extra for a 42 ft boat and BOAT/US. This morning's update has the eye passing right over us.

Shelly said...

Thank you. Haven't done the ICW before so trying to get an idea of costs. We'll start down in November out of the Chesapeake where dockage seems expensive. Really enjoying your blog.

Fred Brillo said...

Good luck tonight...you and your wife are in our thoughts and prayers. Be safe.

Unknown said...

We are in Portsmouth, VA at the Tidewater Yacht Marina. Our destination is Pompano Beach, Fl. We have only done ICW above central Florida once - last April when we brought the boat north. I've heard that the ICW is closed in SC. I've also heard that there can be a lot of debris in the ICW after a bad storm (and it doesn't get much worse than Matthew). Any recommendations? Good luck with the storm.

Bob423 said...

Peter, we know several of the marina managers south of here and we plan on using those contacts in figuring out when to leave. I think it will be at least a week for things to clear up.

Fred, tanks for your thoughts. Everything helps.

Unknown said...

Thanks Bob. I hope you made it through Matthew safely. We had some wind and rain last night but nothing like you experienced I am sure l. I'll be watching your blog for updates.