30 Jan Full Monty and Hurricane Dorian
From the moment we knew that Hurricane Dorian was going to make a direct hit on the Northern Bahamas Islands, we starting planning on how to best make sure Full Monty came through the storm afloat.
Friends who were staying in Freeport, who had their boat at our previous marina, were so busy getting their boat storm ready and helping other friends that they didn’t have time to take down our canvas. We were in Cape Breton in 2016 when Hurricane Matthew stalled off the coast and the winds were so high that our cockpit canvas was shredded. And Matthew had been downgraded from hurricane status at that point. What this Category 5 hurricane was going to do was totally unfathomable. We reached Thomas in Freeport. He had helped look after our boat in the past when we had flown home, and we reached out to him to help us out. Along with Fabian, one of the dock masters at Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, they removed the canvass and everything else that could be unscrewed, undone and stored safely inside the boat. Safely only if Full Monty survived!
September 1st, Dorian made landfall on the Exumas, the furthest north and east of the Bahama Islands. Then he moved west to Grand Bahama Island. We followed the hurricane reports, checking hourly at times. The wind speeds and the storm surge were almost unimaginable. We saw pictures of a plane’s fuselage in the departure lounge of the Freeport International Airport. And then Dorian just stalled. It moved at less than 1 mph for almost 48 hours, devastating the island. We tried calling, but no calls were getting through. We waited. Finally, by September 4th, Dorian had headed out to see and towards the US east coast. Still no calls or emails were getting through. News reports had scanty details, just stories or terrible devastating, mostly from the 22 foot storm surge. At one point, over half the island was under water.
By September 5th, David was talking about taking the insurance money (less our $37,000 named storm deductible) and buying an RV. I was checking out prices on barge boats to cruise the European canals.
We waited. I called, still to no avail. Emails weren’t answered. And the reports were getting worse and the death toll was increasing. The stories were so sad. If Full Monty had sunk, at least we had insurance. Most people affected didn’t. And we waited.
I thought of what we’d lost if she’d gone down. When it came right down to it, the only thing that wasn’t replaceable was a painting of Full Monty that David’s sister than done, and given to us the year before she died. Since it was acrylic, maybe a diver could retrieve it for us. The rest was all replaceable. It would be sad to lose our floating home, especially since we’d put so much into her. We steeled ourselves to accept the worst and we hoped for the best.
Monday September 9th, 10:30 am. I get a WhatsApp call on my cell phone.
It’s Fabian! And he’s shouting, “She’s afloat! She made it!” David starts talking, wanting, of course to know what Fabian was saying, and I can’t hear either of them. Then I hear, “Phones dying!” and that’s it. She’s afloat. So much for the French canals and freshly baked croissants for breakfast… Yeah! She’s afloat.
We won’t find out the extent of any damage for several more weeks, but if she’s afloat, we’re good.