We left Wrightsville Beach anticipating some nasty weather and only went to Southport. We paid for a slip because our usual anchorage is shoaling in, it was forecast to be very windy and it was going to be low tide when we wanted to depart in the morning. The storm pretty much formed off the coast near us and then ripped up towards New York and New England. They got hammered badly with 60+ MPH winds while we only got an hour or two of 35 knots at a dock. When we left in the morning it was still rainy and foggy but it cleared up as we headed west. As it cleared up the temperature dropped like a rock. Long underwear time. TMI? Sorry.
We went to another marina the next night. Two paid slips in a row! Unprecedented! The Bucksport Marina was 75 cents per foot so the piggy bank wasn't broken, just scratched. The Southport marina was $1.25/ft. Still not too awful.
We then went down the Waccamaw River to the mouth of Winyah Bay to time our departure out into the ocean and to let the weather finish its trip up the coast to Connecticut. We'd been in communication with our friends on Gelato and suggested they meet us out near the Charleston Channel in the afternoon and we could buddy-boat them on their first deep-water offshore passage. They departed Charleston a little early and were about ten miles in front of us. We had some VHF communication but lost touch with them. We were well out of cell phone range with the shore so they were on their own even though we were likely within 10-15 miles of them. Their boat is a little faster than us when they want to be so we were shocked when morning came and found them less than a mile BEHIND US! It's a big ocean and their finding us was very, very surprising. They had a interesting tale to tell but, once again, I'll let them tell their tale when we're all back at Waterbury Squadron get-togethers in 2018.
We went into the St. Johns River in Florida and tied up at a free dock near a former anchorage of ours in Sisters Creek. The next day found us in Saint Augustine and here we started seeing a lot of damage from Hurricane Irma. We also had dinner and caught up with old, I mean, long time friends Bob and Jane.
From St. Auggie it was New Smyrna Beach, Dragon Point and then Fort Pierce. We spent four nights in Faber Cove, restocking food and fuel and visiting with Mike and Carol Guay. We would have liked to stay longer but a weather window was threatening to close and if we wanted to get to Marathon in time to fly out we had to get moving.
As I said, the passage wasn't great but after our arrival the wind and rain started blowing 25-30kts for four days. The weather is easier to take when it is 80 degrees out. Of course, someone on our boat complains about the temp. and humidity. Any sympathy from our northern friends and family? No. I didn't think so.
The damage along the western shores of our ICW passages was extensive but arriving in Marathon showed us real destruction. Many, many boats in the mangroves. Major damage to the City Marina where we stay. And several dozen boats have just vanished. No one knows where they are. The main channel has been cleared of sunken boats but there is debris everywhere. The streets are lined with junk, the mangroves are damaged and a lot of housing is unlivable.
We debated whether we should come down here and add to the stress on the infrastructure but we felt we have made Marathon our second home and wanted to contribute in any way we could. The businesses need us snowbirds (the land and sea varieties) to survive but there are very few workers for the businesses because there is no place for them to live. It's a tough situation.
The boating community we are part of is busy trying to get their lives in order and also help others out. People are rebuilding the marina garden, pulling junk out of the harbor waters as well as the surrounding mangroves. There is a lot of work to do. It will take years to get back to normal and at least several more months to even come close to the life we all had here. We are torn between advising friends to come and help or to stay away until next year.
It seems to me that people are in a kind of shock. I think they would deny it even as they try to overcome it but to me, coming from the outside after being away for eight months, it shows.There are fewer boats left, fewer people, it's quieter but in that quietness there is a determination to rebuild and get their lives back and make this area paradise again.
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| Still on her mooring |
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| Outer dinghy docks from the City Marina |
The terrible thing is all this damage is relatively minor when compared to the horror in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We simply cannot imagine it.
