Thar she blows!

Holy cow!  We had one helluva storm today.  It bore down from the north, so the Gulf was really kicked up.  Marquesa was really pitching in the waves.  People are so nice here...even though I got "trapped in the storm" in the laundromat here at Banana Bay, several people came down looking for me and to check Marquesa. They threw out more fenders and checked that her lines were secure.  I had battened down all the hatches and sealed her up before I left for the laundry, as I saw the approaching clouds.  It was something else!  The temp dropped from 84 to 68 in a matter of minutes.  The wind was a steady 30-35 knots, with recorded gusts up to 60 knots.  At first I got stuck by the pool, before I could make a run for the laundromat to get out of the weather altogether.



The picture doesn't do it justice...the wind was bringing the rain down sideways.



Our friend, James, whose boat was anchored in front of Banana Bay, drug
anchor in the storm and ended up on the rocks at the resort next door- yikes!

This was after the storm, which doesn't do it justice, but the water
was an electric shade of green against the dark sky.

So, while I was holed up in the laundromat, Donnie was out in that mess fishing with Kenny, his brother-in-law Ken and Mamaw!  They went fishing down at Washer Woman, a reef on the Atlantic side, but the storm blew in from the Gulf side, at their backs.  By the time they saw the approaching clouds, it was too late.  They were in 5-6 ft. seas, with that howling, gusting wind.  Donnie said you couldn't see 10 yards in front of you for the foam blowing off the white caps and the rain 'boiling' the water.  They nearly froze to death; Donnie said he's never shivered so hard- it gave him back spasms.  They were all just dressed in shorts and Tshirts, and Kenny was kind enough to give Mamaw his foulie jacket which helped to keep her warm. Bless her heart, Polly had warm soup waiting for them when they arrived safely back to the canal.  Hearing them retell their tale when they got back home sounded mighty scary!  Glad I wasn't out there...Paps and Willis would have jumped ship for sure if they had been out with them.

The rest of the afternoon was spent spinning yarns at the dockside....people had been listening to their radios for all the Coast Guard traffic.  A pair of kayakers from Banana Bay got swamped and drifted to shore over at Crane Pointe, a nature reserve about a half mile from here.  Several boats reported their boats were swamped with the engines out.  We heard a few maydays go out.  Two divers went missing.  Many boats drug anchor or broke loose from their mooring.  Tornadoes touched down at Key Biscayne and Little Pine Key. One snorkeler on a charter trip was pulled from the water unconcious, and arrived at the hsopital here DOA.  Diane said the hospital was crazy busy yesterday.  It was nuts!  I cannot imagine going through a hurricane on a boat...  60 knot gusts was more wind than I've ever seen on the water. 

After all that nasty weather this afternoon, the good Lord saw fit
to provide us with an electic sunset.  Simply beautiful.