That's how sitting in the cabin with 25-30kt winds outside accompanied by rain can best be described. Fortunately we have books, music and some movies and TV that we can watch on my laptop.

Still....

There was some vicarious excitement when one boat, a 38' cabin cruiser decided that they weren't going to wait here longer than the one night that they were here and off they went. They corkscrewed their way out into the centre Chanel and made it through the Alligator River Swing Bridge before they shut it down due to the high winds, and headed south. At least for the first part of their trip they will have following winds and seas. The question is where are they planning to stop? They left around 0830 so I would expect that as a power boat they could easily get the this end of the A&P Canal by 1030 and through it by early afternoon. The problem is they really shouldn't be going any further than Bellhaven since Publico Sound has a gale warning issued for today. If they continue I am afraid we will be hearing a Coast Guard message about looking for that boat.

We, on the other hand, are staying put. We are paid up for another night and are pretty much ready to go tomorrow morning when the forecasts are much better. Our position at the facedock is exposed to the winds but we are behind a breakwater so there are no waves to contend with. We did lose a fender last night but it kindly stayed next to the boat and Barb was able to fish it out with the boathook. We are lucky to have not one but two fender boards and at present they are both in use although one has some badly perished ends and needs repairs.

Regardless, I feel that we have become sort of boat bound curtain twitchers, peering out the cabin ports to see who's coming, who's going, and what the weather is like, all the while speculating as to why someone would want to be out in weather like this if they didn't have to.

We have fuelled up and are ready to go. Miss Wanda, the old owner of this marina, has passed the torch to a nice retired couple who are managing the spot for the new owner. We can recommend the place if you arrive here towards the end of the day or you simply want to stop getting pounded by bad weather. Good facilities that are in the process of being upgraded, friendly staff, with plentiful albeit hard and a bit sulphurous. What more could you ask for? As with everywhere else make sure you tell them you are a BoatUS member to get the preferred rate. That and the towing service are two excellent reasons for getting the membership. For US cruisers it's a no brainer, but for Canadian and other foreign boats it might not be something that they would normally think about. They should.