Year 9 Day 250 Yikes! Parallel Hurricanes
07 October 2016 | Bobby's Marina, Phillipsburg, Sint Maarten
Dave/Mostly Sunny
Thank goodness we are not up north around the Bahamas or even further north toward Bermuda. I say this because, as the graphic posted to this blog shows, there are two hurricanes roaring up the North Atlantic. The larger of the two is Matthew that is currently tearing up the eastern Florida coast. The second hurricane is Nicole, which is located about 900 miles east of Florida and about 350 miles south of Bermuda. One hurricane is bad enough but two at the same time and so close is just too much. Nicole is a weaker storm than Matthew and is expected to be downgraded to a Tropical Storm shortly. Nevertheless, we are so thankful we are nowhere near either of these storms.
I spent the day draining and then refilling the port engine’s oil, running it for two hours while checking its temperature every 15 minutes, then checking the fluid levels, and finally cleaning up the engine room and bilge of the antifreeze and oil that had been released when the engine overheated.
Everything is now spotless and the engine passed its test with flying colors. I had also kept an eye on the water discharge from the engine, looking for any oil or smoke. None was seen which tells me the piston rings are doing fine. While I ran the engine it sounded very smooth. I have come to the conclusion that we are very, very lucky and I am thankful that our quick actions saved the engine.
I have been watching the weather off and on all day. What I have discovered is that Nicole will start backtracking shortly. Instead of running up to Bermuda, it will actually be moving south toward us. It should never get anyway near us, so we are safe but it will have profound impacts on our winds. It looks like starting Sunday; it will actually be pulling winds up towards it from the south. This would make our anchorage at Ile Fourchue untenable. It is open from the south and the winds will blow large seas right unto the anchorage. Oh NO! This means we may just have to bite the bullet and stay put until mid to late next week. Ugh. I will post some of the graphics which show what is being forecasted. Grumble, grumble, grumble…