Many of you called us as Hurricane Sandy was moving through the Bahamas towards Florida to check where we were and if we were in a safe place for the storm.  Unfortunately, we had internet connection and computer problems this last week and were not able to get a post out to let all of you know we were okay and safe at our slip.

The calm before the storm. This is a picture out the back of our boat over our canal, Isle of Venice.

We prepared Truansea for Hurricane Sandy last Wednesday evening.  The hurricane’s path was not forecasted to reach us; however, we would be on the edge of the storm with wind gusts possibly reaching 60 MPH.  We decided it was not necessary to take down our jib or main but we did take down our new dodger, the bimini, life sling, throwable pfd, lashed down the dingy on deck, tied down the main in the stack pack, removed the propane from the BBQ.  Mark also picked up 2X6’s to make a stronger fender system than the 2X4’s we had.  The larger fender boards ended up being quieter which was an added bonus when trying to sleep.

Larger fender board.

Extra lines were added from Truansea to the pilings and dock and we are ready.

Truansea stripped down for the storm.

The next evening the wind was picking up.  We went down to the beach to check out the surf and the wind.  The salt spray and sand quickly coated us requiring a shower for all when we returned to our dock.  We could hear the wind through the night and the boat was rocking.  We are quite protected where we are at and the winds only gusted into the low 30’s.

The beach along Highway A1A.

The next morning we went down to the beach to see what the coast looked like after a night of high winds.  Sand blew across the walkways and roads and debris was scattered along the beach and up the streets.  Some streets were flooded.

Along Highway A1A the morning after the storm arrived.

There was flooding in a variety of places near the coast, including our dock.  We could not get off our boat without getting wet feet.  If you look in the picture, you can just see our wooden finger dock on the starboard side is under water.

Flooding at our dock, a combination of high tide, full moon,  and storm surge.

Unfortunately the northeast coast did not get by as easily as we did.

Sandy was a Category 1 hurricane, but it was an immense storm almost 1,000 miles in diameter.  A near-record low barometric pressure occurred with Sandy offshore Monday afternoon. The pressure bottomed at 27.76 inches.

This was our first experience close to a hurricane and hopefully this is as close as we’ll ever get.

Fair winds~Christine