Good morning!!  I am posting a few images of before and during our little tropical depression “Ana”.   By the way, these are supposed to be in color.  It looks like I shot these in black & white.  Fascinating times!

Morning Sun May 9th –

Dark skies to the east – May 9th

Dark skies to the west – May 9th

Southern view from our boat May 9th

We knew there was a disturbance to the south of us.  We thought that we would be able to move the boat with all the exceptionally great weather we had had – northward!  I found Southport Marina and it looked like a great place – a well sheltered cove in case the weather turned sour.  We chose well!

Wayne’s Niece once asked me “What will you do if a Hurricane comes along?”  I told her, “We will just move the boat to a safe location.”  Right?  Well, young Niece, it turned out we couldn’t just move the boat.  Once we got to Southport and we started attending the weather briefings from Hank, we figured out pretty quickly that moving the boat was not an option.  Already the winds and waves both in the rivers and off-shore were just too high for safe travels.  Waves off-shore got to be anywhere from 6 – 24 ft depending on the moment the buoys were checked.  Winds were sustaining…which means that the wind is constantly blowing around 20 mph.  Cool.  Then the gusts of 40 – 60mph would zip around the marina.  We could hear the wind move around the marina.  We had to wait for “Ana” to pass… slowly…but pass.  We have learned more about weather and forecasting than we ever thought we would in our life time.

That little blue dot?  That is where Southport, NC is located.

Storm track – May 10th

We sat around reading books, surfed the net, updated the blog, watched TV and listened to the wind whistling through the sailboat rigging from the many sailboats close to us.  We heard strange noise of metal and wood grinding.  We heard boat canvas covers flapping so loud as if a door slammed shut every 10 seconds.  We heard our lines squeaking and groaning with the wind.  With any new weird sound, we were up looking out our windows…what could that be?  Great news.  No coconuts flying through the air!  You southern Floridians know what I mean.

Wayne says he is glad we secured the boat with multiple lines.  That lovely ladder I have mentioned more than once was taken up and stowed so that it wouldn’t get beaten up with the wind and dock movement.  We secured the boat as well as we could.

We both have been in high winds and rain during our youngster days living in Mobile and Miami.  Actually, Phoenix gets some really good winds from time to time…especially during the summer “monsoons” or their “haboobs”.

What is it like to be on a boat with sustaining winds of 30 mph to gusts over 60mph??  I know you want to know.  We heard the wind before we felt it.  It tumbled through the marina – wind flapping all of our eisenglass on our flybridge.  Whomp!  Fludder.  Whomp.  Fludder.  Silence.  Whomp.  Fludder.  Silence.  It is the silence that is more scary than the wind constantly hitting canvas.  You know?  For hours!!  For almost 48 hours.

The folks here have gone through this more than once.  You could tell by the casual nature of their preparation.  Also, the marina is in a cove.  Trees to the south protect the marina on it exposed side.  Well protected.  A perfect place to wait a wind/rain storm which turned out to be the first “tropical storm” of the 2015 Hurricane season?!!?

What did we do other than read, write, and watch TV?  What do You do during “tropical storms”?   We went to bed.  Being down in the master stateroom at the water level meant we really didn’t hear the wind.  We felt the boat move, but not overly rocking.  Actually, we slept pretty well.  An even rocking and rolling makes you think hammock?  Back and forth.  Zzzzzzzz   Sunday, Mother’s Day, continued with rain and more rain.  If you ever have lived through a hurricane or “depression” you know there is generally a lot of rain.

Wind tracks.  I love all the color!!  Isn’t this a great app??  The green lines are the wind speed.  Swirling around the low pressure.   We were north of the eye of the storm.  

Wind on May 9th

After 48 hours of wind and rain, the wind  calmed down.  Once the storm heads north, we shouldn’t travel north too fast or we will catch Ana’s tail.

This guy seems reasonably unfazed by all the recent events..

Marina Mascot

I spied color at sunset yesterday.  Want to see it?

Sunset at Southprot Marina, Southport, NC

OR tonight?

Sunset at Southport, NC

By the way… boats float.  We did good.  Always Home is awesome!!