Yesterday morning around 3am I awoke with horrible nausea and felt like I was hit with a Mac truck. I managed to drag myself into work and begin my day, slowly but surely I was able to finish the majority of the days work. It was a busy day so I couldn't call in sick and leave them holding the bag. I felt like passing out and the whole harbor was spinning when I finally grabbed Colby and told him I needed a ride to the boat. We had some bad storms coming and Jessica was preparing the deck and securing things for the blow. I woke up to Jessica telling me I had to come outside and see the storm front approaching, I clambered up on deck and this is what I saw
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These are called shelf clouds and they mark the beginning of a front. Not long after they enveloped us the temperature dropped a solid 20 degrees and the wind began to howl. We were also notified via VHF radio by NOAA that this front had produced and was capable of water spouts, hail, and winds over 50mph. The sight of such power descending down on us was beautiful, as well as hair raising. If I wasn't so ill I would have grabbed my Nikon, but reaching in my pocket was about all I was able to do. Not long after this shot I saw palm trees on shore bending in the distance, thrashing with such ferocity it looked like they would just snap. I could see the pressure of the system like a shockwave over the harbor and then in seconds the temperature plummeted, the wind blasted us and all the boats in the harbor heeled to face the oncoming storm.
At this point Colby was still out in the harbor having just done a couple loads of laundry and headed out to take care of the pets for his business, needless to say Jessica was worried sick. Not long after the initial blast we saw Colby motoring across the channel, his dinghy getting blown sideways by the gusts. We got him secured to the boat and inside right before the rain soaked him, and the laundry he just finished.
The initial storm turned out to be just a whole lot of bark without much bite, the rest of the afternoon and into the early hours of the morning we not. It rained, no it poured all night with winds rocking the boat throughout. Nothing worse than being nauseous and the room spinning, while the boat was rocking and spinning itself. It was a long night but we woke up to another beautiful day in the FL Keys.
Just getting back into the swing of things after a couple weeks back in Michigan freezing and dealing with the loss of my Grandmother. Not much to report, about the boat.. The kids are doing well in school and are constantly amazing me with their intelligence. Jobs continue and daily life marches on, we plan, we work and we wait until it's time to untie and venture off.
Till next time..
S/V Thin Line
