Lucky so far…7 weeks to go!
Maine is in the rearview mirror. In mid-September, we left AQUAVIT in the capable hands of Journey’s End Marina. They will do some winterizing on the engines and generator, a couple of maintenance projects and then put her in a heated barn for winter’s hibernation.
After a leisurely drive over 4 days we arrived home. But, our happiness at being home was short-lived. The next day we started nervously watching the tropics, hoping that a disturbance in the Bay of Campeche would just go away. Well, it didn’t and within 3 days of arriving home there was a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Helene was developing with our home port in the bull’s eye.
Hurricanes haunt us all from June through November (and sometimes a little longer.) This year has been a nightmare for many and, surprisingly, devastating for parts of North Carolina where few expect or remember hurricane weather disasters. Nearby, in the Big Bend of Florida on Apalachee Bay, disaster has visited multiple times over the past 13 months. Helene was the second storm in 2 months to make landfall in the Big Bend and the third storm to hit the area in a year. Hurricane Debby was a category 1 storm in early August. By the time it made landfall on September 29, Hurricane Helene was a category 4.
In all 3 cases, the storms were predicted to come ashore in Apalachee Bay but within the last few hours before landfall the hurricanes took a sharp right turn. We have been so lucky and are so grateful. We are sorry and sympathetic with the communities to our east in Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, and Suwannee Counties. Their bad fortune left us on the “good” side of storms. The worst we experienced was from Helene, resulting in a little yard debris and 18” of water over our lot.
Each year before we take off for our summer cruising in Maine, we put up our shutters and storm panels to protect our coastal home and make arrangements for securing our in-town home. In preparation for Helene, we put up plywood on all the doors and windows of our 100-year-old cottage in Tallahassee. So, with the potted plants and yard furniture secured, we were as prepared as we could be at both places to face the fury of the storm.
This year after our spring cruise to the Keys, we had our sailboat, Bay Breeze, hauled at Snead Island Boat Works near Bradenton. Our thought was that she would be secure on the hard and strapped down for the summer. Then, when we went cruising in the spring of 2025, we would already be half-way to our destination. We wouldn’t have to make that dreaded Gulf crossing before we could enjoy ourselves.
That scenario worked well when Debby churned up the Gulf. It worked well as Hurricane Helene sped by the west coast of Florida, leaving flooding and wind damage from Naples to Cedar Key, before making landfall. But, less than 2 weeks after Helene flooded Snead Island Boat works, another powerful storm was developing in the Gulf of Mexico. This time, the storm, Hurricane Milton, was headed straight for Tampa Bay. The boatyard is located on the southern side of Tampa Bay. This time we were worried about Bay Breeze.
As the storm approached, the predictions of a 15-foot storm surge had us despondent that our boat, no matter how well strapped, would survive. A shift to the south in Milton’s predicted path brought it ashore at Sarasota and Siesta Key. Sarasota is about 25 miles south of Snead Island. Just a few miles resulted in no storm surge at the boatyard. All of the impact of the storm was again in SW Florida.
Today, four days since landfall of Hurricane Milton, we visited the boatyard to check on Bay Breeze. Fortunately, Sue, the assistant manager, said all of the staff were safe and recovering. From either Helene or Milton, the yard had some damaged buildings and destroyed docks on the Manatee River. No boats were lost.
The best news for us is that Bay Breeze was unscathed. Even materials from work the yard was performing and left in the cockpit was unmoved by the wind and rain. We are thankful that our boat survived, while humbled to know so many others did not have such good fortune.
We appreciate all the well wishes and interest from our friends and subscribers to this blog. We look forward to getting back to posting about cruising instead of hurricanes!
Thanks for reading!
10.14.2024
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Luck was certainly on your side thru both of these storms! This was the worst one - two punch in my memory. Happy for you and sad for the thousands who lost everything.