Hurricane Ida

Day 100, November 9th, 2009

We met for breakfast at 7:00 and decided we should return to be with the boats. Pat had phoned back to the marina and heard that an evacuation had not been ordered but the owner, Fred Turner, was recommending we get back as soon as possible to strip the boats and get ready. (When an evacuation is ordered you have the choice of moving your boat to protection in a creek or mangrove swamp, or paying them $300.00 to take the boat out and put it on the hard.) A hurricane watch was in effect from Mississippi to Florida along the Gulf Coast! This was beyong anything we had experienced. The weather channel repeatedly forecast that it would more than likely fizzle out as the storm moved North into the cold waters of the Gulf but that didn't seem to be happening at that moment. We drove home as fast as we could watching for signs of flooding. The road was clear and dry and the rain didn't start until we got back.

We talked with our slip neighbours - they weren't too concerned and had decided to stay put but had taken down a lot of their enclosure and strapped their sail bag tightly on the boom. John and I decided to follow their lead. They had weathered many hurricanes and obviously knew their area intimately. We worked quickly. Took the jib down and stowed it. Took the dodger and bimini off and packed them away. Lashed down the main on the boom and anything else that looked loose. We tied the dinghy to the side of the boat at both ends, and finally doubled all the lines on every corner of the boats centering it between the four pilings. Paul and Sue made similar preparations but Pat and Diane decided to spend the night in a hotel after securing theboat.

We were told the Marina would probably disconnect the eletricity but in actual fact they never did do that. It was a comfort! We monitored the weather almost hourly on wifi. It had been downgraded again to a tropical storm but was making steady but slow progress directly to Mobile Bay. John and I hunkered down below and got comfy! When in doubt - eat!!! I cooked a ham in my pressure cooker with pineapple and carrots with cauliflower cheese on the side! That was pretty good! The rain, that had started at 10:30, just beat down outside, and the wind howled a bit but we were warm and comfortable, two bugs in a rug!!! After chatting with our kids on skype, I got out my knitting and we watched the whole of one movie, then nodded off at the climax of the second. We popped our heads up every once in a while but things didn't change at all. The water rose a bit but didn't go over the dock. It really never got scary at all. We eventually went to bed in our clothes, just in case we had to get up in a hurry but dawn came with no ill effects. We'd also left the VHF radio on all night and checked in with Twice 's Nice every couple of hours. And that was our Hurrican Ida experience. Bit of an anticlimax really!!!