Dinghy photo

Whoa, two posts in one day. A first.....or second.
I realized I have not posted what Lumpy looks like now.
So, here it is. Still needs some work. Been busy with things like.....weddings, memorial service, hurricanes....you know, typical stuff.

At the dock in FMB, after it was raised from the deep

Hurricane Irma

Well, here it is November already. This season has been a wild ride. 
Early September had us watching a new storm developing - and a doozy of a storm it was, too. 
Irma - the wicked sea witch of the Atlantic Hurricane Season - was projected to bear down on the Keys. And she did.
I'll post my story another time - maybe on my sailblog blog; but, needless to say, we packed up everything and headed out. We meant to head to Texas, but we quickly discovered the boat was not ready for that kind of trip, so we ended up in Fort Myers Beach and hunkered down with the help of a couple of friends. We made it through, just losing one dinghy (actually, both sank but our diving friend, Robin, retrieved Lumpy - the dinghy we made). Here are some pics of the Curse of the Sea Witch Irma disaster.

Leaving Florida Bay in a Circle of Cloud

Heading out of BKH

After taking on water, and having the engine cause us a bit of grief, we were towed to a public dock in FMB. He set us at the end of the dock where the Sue was pounding against the dock as the wind was off the beam, so we felt it necessary to haul her, by hand, to the inside dock for better protection against the wind. Unfortunately, she grounded near shore, and it took us the better part of the day to get her back to the dock where we wanted her, pulling and tugging and winching the lines until we could tie her proper. Irma was less than 24 hours away, but the winds were already picking up quite rapidly.

We secured the Sue as best we could, and dialed the number that was given to Florida residents for transportation to a shelter. But, having no television on board, we missed the newscast from a few hours prior, the Governor stating that if people hadn't moved by now, they were plum out of luck. We tried the police department for FMB. Their recorded message said they were closed on the weekends (it was a Saturday). We finally called our friend, Robin, who called his friend, Scott, and he came and got us, taking us to a Condo rental where he worked.  Just in time, too. Talk about cutting it close!

Irma made landfall the following day just south of us, in Bonita Springs.

Here are some pics from friends that posted online at BKH.

The Sue made it just fine - with the exception of about 2 inches of water in the cabin. As I said, we lost one dinghy. We spent some time in FMB, then made it down to Naples, and stayed a few days there before finally making it back about a month and a week after Irma. 
The Keys are still considered a disaster area, but much progress has been made since Irma. It will take some time before things are back to normal, but probably never as it was before that Sea Witch blew through.