Weathering Hurricane Irma in our sheltered basin was...fun, actually!
We’re in a very sheltered basin. Not only is there the barrier island to go through, but we’re in a sheltered part of a sheltered fork of a sheltered river. Despite my parents’ insistence we go inland (I love you two very much :) ), we’re very happy we didn’t.
I had taken Labor Day week off since it meant only 3 vacation days off for the whole week, since I had that Friday off as well (I work a 9/80 schedule). We were hoping to go south and test our systems but stayed in port and played Starcraft all week instead. Still, I needed the break. We spent our not-video-gaming time preparing our marina for the hurricane and gathering supplies. As of this writing my work building has been closed all week (closed at least tomorrow, Thursday). Will they bother re-opening Friday even if they have power? Probably. But if they don’t, that’ll mean I got 2 whole weeks off for the price of 3 vacation days! SWEET!
The power began to cut in and out at 5pm, so someone threw the breakers at the marina rather than letting the intermittent power ruin someone’s wiring. So we made Hurricanes, drank deeply, and prepared for the storm.
The winds were pretty terrifying. Howling, keening, whistling winds accompanied by the green flash of transformers exploding in the distance (we thought this was lightning). We walked to the edge of the basin where the rain blew sideways, icy needles burrowing into your skin. Cold water splashed through the dock and onto our feet. We climbed onto one of the boats and I held onto line as the gusts sent the monohull heeling. (Why did we climb on the boat? Why, for the adventure of course!) It was thrilling! Exciting! Like riding a roller coaster but with the knowledge you could actually get hurt!
We kept walking out during the storm and heading to the edge because it made us feel so wonderful! So…alive!
Also without power it was really boring onboard.
During the storm, Shawn kept hopping off the boat to check everyone’s lines (had to re-tie ours a few times). The greatest danger to us was our neighbors. Out in the Eau Gallie river proper, there was an idiot moored to a channel marker that was already halfway out of the ground. We were half-tempted to get our shotgun ready to sink him if it started floating our way.
We didn’t sleep well that night since the worst of the winds came at midnight. Shawn kept getting up every hour to check on the lines, but we didn’t leave our boat after night fell on the marina. The water rose at least 3 feet that night.
But in the morning the extra water was all gone. Back to normal. How deceptive! As we speak, the water is currently at the dock (meaning about a foot) making it a royal pain in the neck to take the dogs on and off. Rhea will jump off, but Rig is scared so we have to carry him on and off. And he’s getting scared of being carried now. Which means he squirms more. Which makes it harder. Ugh.
With the water level higher, we looted a small log that holds steady that we use as a step to get onboard. Without it, getting off would be really annoying right now. I’ve been feeling some aching in my knees from all the jumping and climbing I’ve had to do lately. Probably landed wrong a few times.
On the bright side, with all of the vegetation thrown in the water it brought out my favorite creature – manatees! We spent some time picking plastic out of the water to make sure those little sea elephants didn’t accidentally eat a green bag of chips. They may be smart, but they have terrible vision.
Our only damage is one line experienced serious chafing during the storm and may have snapped. We had a single redundancy for every line so this wouldn’t have been a problem, but it means we need a new line. Whomp whomp.
Monday sucked. It returned to normal hot Florida immediately after the storm and power was still out, so we left the ports open and enjoyed a lovely breeze. It wasn’t enough though and we were quite happy for power (AC) to be back. We’re seriously looking into more insulation options for the boat (new plastic side-windows with UV reflective film applied? Replacing the stupid curtains on the inside with insulated canvas that snaps on to the current curtain hangings? Replacing all of the hatch and forward window covers for new ones with insulation stitched in? Sunshade over most of the boat, which is annoying with all of the riggings? E: All of the above?) We had a lot of time to think about it, with power still out.
We got power back late Monday night. Tuesday the local Indian restaurant offered a free buffet to the community, but they didn’t have power. So despite the food being absolutely delicious (especially with our stores running low), hot food in a hot building isn’t fun. We picked up some boba tea at the Vietnamese place and went to the game shop since it was open and had power/AC. Nerds don’t typically go out to socialize unless they have to, so we figured even though we had AC at home it might be a good time to make new friends. Sadly, we didn’t really click with anyone there except a friendly dog.
I’m quite happy my class got canceled this week because I hate it, and we were to do final presentations this week, so now we just have to submit the powerpoints. Hooray!
It also meant I finally got to go to the marina potluck at a reasonable time (I usually have class during it). The food was good, there was banana bread, which made me think of our friends over in Ft. Myers who had to flee the storm (one of them makes fantastic banana bread and may be reading this).
So overall…this hurricane wasn’t too awful bad for us.