When we arrived here in Salinas we met a man at the dock who told us the story of the Martians who kept the hurricanes away from Puerto Rico. This friendly fellow who moonlights as a security guard here at the Marina is a veteran of the USCG. Being on the island of Puerto Rico is a little like starring down the barrel of gun. During Hurricane season the storms lineup one after the other gathering strength and speed like bullets streaking across the seas. Last week the cruisers here watched as Hurricane Gustov plowed its way north as three storms moved across Africa. These later developed into Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanah, Catagory 4 hurricane Ike and Tropical Depression Jose. Hanah being a lady decided to pay us a little vist even though the center of the storm was some 200 miles away. Trailers from her center were appraoching Puerto Rico. This past Tuesday we awoke to find the wind coming from the south and very strange clouds moving past quickly. They were dark and foreboding. We had heard the forecast and knowing that there was no threat of a direct hit by Hannah we went about our morning quietly. Suddenly the winds picked up and looking to the south we could see a wall of white approaching . The temperature dropped some 20 degrees and hail fell heavily all about us. Lightning arched across the sky and thunder echoed of the nearby mountains. Just moments before we had decided to take down the awning lest it be damaged. Our neighbors were not so lucky and their awnings were shreaded moments later as the winds reached their full fury. Our wind generator which shuts down at 45 knots immediately feathered to a stop. The wires began to whistle and the boat was whipped back and forth on the anchor chain. The bay which had been glassy calm only minutes before now had whitecaps and four foot waves rolling past the boat. Our dingy fuel tank broke loose and sliding to the rear of the dingy threatened to capsise the small boat as the wind and seas tossed it into the air. Jumping into the dingy I was pounded by hail and drenched by the waves while lashing the fuel tank down again. Stevie jumping up and down excited asked " Is the hurricane going to get us?" At that point the visibility became nill. Other boats melted into the rain and the winds ripped the sea tossing spray for hundreds of feet. We let the Dingy astern to keep it from bashing itself against the Omarsea. There it rode well on 50' of line in the windshadow of the bigger boat. Now and then our wind generator would start to spin only to come to a sudden shuddering stop. I switched it off to prevent any damage. As the rain cleared a little we could see people in dingies moving between boats. Several boats had begun to drag through the anchorage pulling their 500 lb mooring anchors with them. Some of our neighbors struggled to clear their decks before the storm did it for them. Plastic chairs flung off porches floated by. Dingies that were not secured properly floated away while their owners watched helplessly. Some 30 minutes after the microburst had happened things began to settle down again and we were able to go on deck and see the extent of the damage. Wondering Dolphin had moved into Liberties spot. Liberty had dragged its mooring some 600 yards away and Don's boat Sunshine had crept its way across half a mile of bay to the North. We found we had dragged our anchor 50 feet and were now close enough to CatsPaws we elected to reset it in case another squall appeared. Then the Radio crackled with a report from USCG that a water spout had been sighted some eight miles to the East of us. That further squalls should be expected and possible water spout activity could occur. As the winds decreased and the skys cleared I jumped in the dingy to check on our neighbors aboard Wondering Dolphin and Christa. Christian of the SV Christa had been aboard Wondering Dolphin eating breakfast when the storm struck. After finding him safe and sound back aboard Christa he told me his tale of being in his dingy in 4 foot seas approaching Christa with no safe way to get aboard. He had jumped to the bowsprit and in that chaos had somehow held onto the dingy.

It was while I was onboard talking with Christian the story of the Martians and the Hurricanes came up. You see though the storms come reaching west at us, on their way to the Eastern Seaboard, they pass us by. After Hugo in 1989 they have left Puerto Rico relatively alone. Our security guard here in Salinas maintains that soon after Hugo Aliens from Mars landed in the sacred mountainous region of El Yunque. There they erected a device that directs storms around the island. Since they were "never seen again" and the storms have passed around the island it seems another urban Myth is born.

On Returning to the Omarsea three more squalls lashed the boat driving us indoors to watch movies and eat popcorn. I was able to enjoy our cosy afternoon knowing that we were safely hooked in well away from other boats. There is nothing like the wind and rain slashing the outside of the boat to add to the ambiance of a scary movie.