I've been looking around the great world wide web for information on boats in St Martin and the Virgin Islands in regards to how we fared against Hurricane Earl. I haven't seen too much so far but maybe that's because a lot of people still don't have power and/or internet service.
Here's a post on the Cruisers Forum from St Martin that has a short video and two photos of boats in Simpson Bay Lagoon. If they can't remove the wrecks, they really need to secure them so they will not move in future storms and cause further havoc.
According to Hans Meevis' Jewelry Blog, Dutch Sint-Maarten experienced 165 power failures last year. That adds up to 3 weeks of total downtime. Good old GEBE... He has a few good photos of hurricane damage.
I mentioned the photos from The BVI Beacon yesterday that has various photos from Tortola BVI.
I was surprised to see video and photos from Frederiksted. Much nastier over there than here in Gallows Bay, Christiansted.
Here's a video taken at 6pm from the Holiday Inn on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. He says a few things that are inaccurate such as it is a category 4 and could even be a 5. Also, the brown water is crap that comes out of the "guts" or drainage ditches that empties into Long Bay. Quite often this trash is blamed on the boaters but just look at the ditch behind MacDonalds in Frenchtown that is waiting for a good rain to be washed out into the sea. (This is one of my pet peeves... can't you tell?) this part of Long Bay is especially bad when the swell comes in because they are reflected off of the wall.
Here's a video of a plane landing at the St Maarten Airport. It is a great tourist attraction.
Here's a 5-minute video of Hurricane Earl and St Croix USVI. I haven't been able to watch it because my connection just got really S..L..O..W...
NEW (SEPT 2): Here's a story on Latitude 38 'Lectronic Latitude with pictures from Tortola
See my previous Hurricane Earl posts.
I have a bit of a rant to do but don't have time right now as we have to get ready catch the 10:30 bus to go shopping. But first, we have to drag that catamaran's mooring away so we won't get tangled in it.
So It Goes...
Showing posts with label Hurricane Earl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hurricane Earl. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Hurricane Earl - Noon Update
Monday, Aug 30, 2010: I just had a phone call from someone to see how we are doing. That's really nice! (ooohh, we just had some thunder and Willow is wondering if it is time to run and hide) He is watching Hurricane Earl on TV and was concerned. He was very surprised when I told him we were having 15 knots of wind and that St Thomas has a bit more.
Right now we are having a slight squall but when he called we might have only had 5 knots. I'M NOT COMPLAINING!
We never consult PassageWeather.com or WindGuru.com anymore. Last year when we were trying to make a decision about two possible named storms they were WRONG. They showed that the storm would pass to the north, for example, instead of it passing south which it did and based on their prediction we would have been going into the storm... not a good thing to do :)
So, just for fun, I looked at what they have to say... Currently we have between 10 and 15 knots.
Here, WindGuru says we should be having 35 knots of wind with gusts to 43. It's been pretty much like any other day except it is from the wrong direction.
This is the 11am (AST) prediction which shows St Croix in the orange 35-40 knot band. That's not what we have (fortunately).
I wonder when and how often they update these potentially important forecasts.
Here's a couple of pictures that I took at noon of our neighbor.
Here comes a bit of rain (12:33pm)
Once again, I'm glad..... (STARTED TO RAIN AND HAD TO DEAL WITH STUFF SO DIDN'T FINISH THIS POST)
UPDATE... AUGUST 31, 2010 11:03AM
So... let's see.... I shut down my computer and dealt with the rain and then took a nap. I woke up with one of the anchors stowed on the deck making noise due to the rocking of the boat. Then I heard Bob make an exclamation something like "where did that come from" but perhaps a bit more colorful :)
It was 2:30pm and there was a catamaran next to us. Where did they come from and when? We didn't hear a motor or an anchor dropping. There was no dinghy so did they plop the boat there really quick and get out of Dodge or did it drag the mooring and anchor from where we saw them earlier in the morning?
They did bang into us a couple of times...
Fortunately we had an internet connection throughout the storm (thank you Broadband VI) and we looked up the daysail catamaran's website and found a phone number so they could deal with the boat. They cut themselves loose from the mooring and shortened up the scope on their anchor which allowed them to clear our bow when the wind shifted. They stayed aboard all night which made me feel better. This morning Bob looked at their mooring and it was complete with all the bits including two bent sandscrews. Their anchor was probably fouled on the mooring next to us (fortunately not the one we are secured to!).
This morning (Tuesday) when I was making coffee at 7am, I noticed a monohull way out and pretty close to the reef. It looked stationary but there wasn't a dinghy attached and probably unattended. I wonder what route this boat took? It gets pretty shallow in places behind that island! Did it go by us or down the other channel?
Our neighbor said that he saw the boat out there at 3am.
At around 8:00 this morning, we saw a dinghy and a person on the bow moving it. Another dinghy looked like it was on its way out there but then turned around and went away... Strange... Was he looking for salvage? Anyway, I don't know who they were but they seemed to have left it in a weird place and quite possibly tied to a navigation buoy :)
I noticed that there are a couple of uprooted trees on the beach near the pavillion.
This motorboat was dropped off near us (of course) for Earl,
They quickly lost their bimini and the dinghy kept trying to blow off the foredeck but didn't for some reason...
We've had quite a busy day catching up with various things. No rain which is nice. It is now almost 6pm and definitely time for a rum on the foredeck with Bob and the company of the kittens. They were happy to go outside today. It is nice and calm.
I hope Fiona will be as nice if she stops by for a visit. We are going to leave our anchor down (along with being on a mooring) in the meantime.
Hope everyone else is OK. Here are some photos from The BVI Beacon for Tortola BVI.
Right now we are having a slight squall but when he called we might have only had 5 knots. I'M NOT COMPLAINING!
We never consult PassageWeather.com or WindGuru.com anymore. Last year when we were trying to make a decision about two possible named storms they were WRONG. They showed that the storm would pass to the north, for example, instead of it passing south which it did and based on their prediction we would have been going into the storm... not a good thing to do :)
So, just for fun, I looked at what they have to say... Currently we have between 10 and 15 knots.
I wonder when and how often they update these potentially important forecasts.
Here's a couple of pictures that I took at noon of our neighbor.
Here comes a bit of rain (12:33pm)
Once again, I'm glad..... (STARTED TO RAIN AND HAD TO DEAL WITH STUFF SO DIDN'T FINISH THIS POST)
UPDATE... AUGUST 31, 2010 11:03AM
So... let's see.... I shut down my computer and dealt with the rain and then took a nap. I woke up with one of the anchors stowed on the deck making noise due to the rocking of the boat. Then I heard Bob make an exclamation something like "where did that come from" but perhaps a bit more colorful :)
Surprise!
It was 2:30pm and there was a catamaran next to us. Where did they come from and when? We didn't hear a motor or an anchor dropping. There was no dinghy so did they plop the boat there really quick and get out of Dodge or did it drag the mooring and anchor from where we saw them earlier in the morning?
They did bang into us a couple of times...
Fortunately we had an internet connection throughout the storm (thank you Broadband VI) and we looked up the daysail catamaran's website and found a phone number so they could deal with the boat. They cut themselves loose from the mooring and shortened up the scope on their anchor which allowed them to clear our bow when the wind shifted. They stayed aboard all night which made me feel better. This morning Bob looked at their mooring and it was complete with all the bits including two bent sandscrews. Their anchor was probably fouled on the mooring next to us (fortunately not the one we are secured to!).
This morning (Tuesday) when I was making coffee at 7am, I noticed a monohull way out and pretty close to the reef. It looked stationary but there wasn't a dinghy attached and probably unattended. I wonder what route this boat took? It gets pretty shallow in places behind that island! Did it go by us or down the other channel?
Our neighbor said that he saw the boat out there at 3am.
At around 8:00 this morning, we saw a dinghy and a person on the bow moving it. Another dinghy looked like it was on its way out there but then turned around and went away... Strange... Was he looking for salvage? Anyway, I don't know who they were but they seemed to have left it in a weird place and quite possibly tied to a navigation buoy :)
I noticed that there are a couple of uprooted trees on the beach near the pavillion.
This motorboat was dropped off near us (of course) for Earl,
They quickly lost their bimini and the dinghy kept trying to blow off the foredeck but didn't for some reason...
We've had quite a busy day catching up with various things. No rain which is nice. It is now almost 6pm and definitely time for a rum on the foredeck with Bob and the company of the kittens. They were happy to go outside today. It is nice and calm.
I hope Fiona will be as nice if she stops by for a visit. We are going to leave our anchor down (along with being on a mooring) in the meantime.
Hope everyone else is OK. Here are some photos from The BVI Beacon for Tortola BVI.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Hurricane Earl - One Good Thing
One good thing about Hurricane Earl is that "they" say the worst bit of the storm for us should be between 11am and 6pm. Hmmmm, that's a long time but at least it is during daylight. Darkness adds a factor of x5 to my perception of storm conditions :)
We don't have a wind generator whizzing away and with no mast we don't have wind whistling through the rigging which can be quite disconcerting.
They say we might get 6-8 inches of rain. Have to go bail out the dinghy during the next lull. There are flash flood warnings in effect..
The radio went off the air earlier and they said they had to go on generator power. I'm surprised that we still have internet service because quite often the islands shut off the power during storms to prevent damage to the system (so they say).
When we went out at 7am to tape up the hatch above the bed, Bob's glasses started to blow off. He lost a pair of glasses in Hurricane Omar in St Martin, so we now have found our little tethers to keep our glasses on.
It stopped raining so Willow has come out... but here's pictures of the kitties during the last squall
It's quiet right now so we'll have to go outside to tidy up and bail the dinghy, but we haven't finished our first cup of coffee yet!
This is what it looked like at 8am.
Hopefully, we'll still be online for the 11am forecast.
Here's a link to the webcam at the Christiansted Boardwalk, by gotostcroix.com Harbor Cam
Catch ya later. Keep safe!
=
Stormpulse showing the 8am forecast with the "circle of death" positioned at 2pm.
Looks like we shouldn't get H-strength winds.
KEEP PUSHING EARL NORTH !!! WE APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORTS
We don't have a wind generator whizzing away and with no mast we don't have wind whistling through the rigging which can be quite disconcerting.
They say we might get 6-8 inches of rain. Have to go bail out the dinghy during the next lull. There are flash flood warnings in effect..
The radio went off the air earlier and they said they had to go on generator power. I'm surprised that we still have internet service because quite often the islands shut off the power during storms to prevent damage to the system (so they say).
When we went out at 7am to tape up the hatch above the bed, Bob's glasses started to blow off. He lost a pair of glasses in Hurricane Omar in St Martin, so we now have found our little tethers to keep our glasses on.
It stopped raining so Willow has come out... but here's pictures of the kitties during the last squall
Willow hiding under the bed and Buffy chilling out on my seat.
It's quiet right now so we'll have to go outside to tidy up and bail the dinghy, but we haven't finished our first cup of coffee yet!
This is what it looked like at 8am.
Gallows Bay, Christiansted, St Croix USVI - 30 Aug 2010, 8:00 am
Hopefully, we'll still be online for the 11am forecast.
Here's a link to the webcam at the Christiansted Boardwalk, by gotostcroix.com Harbor Cam
Catch ya later. Keep safe!
=
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Earl... Be a Good Boy, please
Well, it is now after midnight and the 11pm Earl forecast isn't looking so good for us.
At least Earl is still classified as a Tropical Storm, but as it passes by it's supposed to be an H1 and then an H2. Don't want that... Not for us... Not for anybody...
Earl, imagine yourself as a helium balloon and float upwards... yes, to the north... relax and float... Chill out...
Buffy & Willow don't like storms... Does anybody?
Tomorrow morning, depending on how things look we'll probably be toodling out of here.
So It Goes...
At least Earl is still classified as a Tropical Storm, but as it passes by it's supposed to be an H1 and then an H2. Don't want that... Not for us... Not for anybody...
So let's get together and push Earl to the North... NOW! Take a right turn, Earl. Be a good boy!
Earl, imagine yourself as a helium balloon and float upwards... yes, to the north... relax and float... Chill out...
Buffy & Willow don't like storms... Does anybody?
Tomorrow morning, depending on how things look we'll probably be toodling out of here.
So It Goes...
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