In my last post, I talked about our whirlwind last few days in Michigan and Indiana. Part of what kept us so busy in Indiana was keeping an eye on hurricane Dorian. In the end, we decided it would be safe to ride out on the boat, and we would feel better if we were there to help protect our home.

We also watched hurricane Dorian completely destroy the only part of the Bahamas we’ve been able to visit, the Abacos. We spent our anniversary in Green Turtle Cay, no news got out of that island for almost a week. Are the swimming pigs still there? We haven’t heard (there are swimming pigs in the Exumas, they are fine). Tahiti Beach is gone. We stopped twice in Marsh Harbour, the best groceries in the Abacos, but it sounds like there isn’t much left. The footage coming out of the islands is sickening, the level of devastation is unimaginable. It is heart-wrenching to understand the hurdles to making reparations there – the ferries were all inoperable after the storm, and for the barrier islands the ferries were their only supply source. For on-going support, Charity Navigator has a list of highly-rated organizations to make sure our donations go as far as they can to aid recovery.

As soon as we arrived in North Carolina, we got to work helping Kyle’s family prepare the marina for the storm surge. We anticipated some wind, but the storm surge would be the real challenge. Anything on the floor needed to be moved higher, docklines needed to be set loose enough to handle high water, but tight enough to prevent boat/dock damage. Our boat and the one right behind us were in the most precarious position, being tied up to the seawall instead of a slip.

The wind was forecast to blow us toward the seawall, so we set spiderlines across the canal to hold us off the wall, but we had to leave them loose enough that we could still step off the boat.

Naturally, the worst of the storm was supposed to hit during the early morning hours. We stayed up late on Thursday watching the storm’s progress, but finally had to go to bed. It was breezy and the water was up a little, but the storm was generating a lot of tornadoes. We didn’t get much sleep.

The storm slowed down, the worst was supposed to hit around 6-7am. We got up at 5:30am on Friday, keeping an eye on the storm surge as the rising water levels started to accelerate. Just as it started to get light out, the marina lost power. We still had plenty of power on the boat, but no internet and soon we lost cell reception as well.

Peak water levels were about 3.5 ft above normal, well over the seawall we were tied up to. The wooden bumpers floated up over the wall, as did all our fenders, which meant the only thing keeping our boat from bashing into the concrete wall were the lines we’d run across the canal.

We tried to tighten the lines, but we were pulling against the full force of the wind. Kyle and his dad were able to get some leverage in order to tighten the docklines, but not before we bumped the concrete during a huge gust.

The worst of the wind hit between 8-10am. Sustained wind of about 35-40 kt (40-45 mph), with gusts up to 50 kt (60 mph). Kyle’s dad still got out and walked around to check on things during that time. The monohull behind us heeled over pretty far in the big gusts, but it was amazing how calm the water was. Not a single wave in the whole marina! A huge contrast to the swell we encountered at the marina in Charleston. We now have a new standard for marina protection! (We’re at Cypress Cove Marina.)

The water started to recede, but the gusts were still as strong as ever. We knocked against the concrete several times in rapid succession, and neither of us could see the green line so we thought it had snapped!

We called Ken on the radio and he rushed over to help us, it turns out the green line was still there but it needed to be tightened. This one line definitely did all the heavy lifting during hurricane Dorian.

Around 11am, we put our boots and raincoats on and went for a walk. By that time everything was already soaked, including the insides of our boots and raincoats, even the salon of the boat didn’t have many dry spots left because we’d been in and out checking on boats and adjusting lines.

We walked out the entrance of the marina and looked down the road. The entire thing was flooded. This shot is looking straight down the middle of the road.

The Scuppernong River had actual waves in it, I’ve never seen that before. With the high water levels they were crashing high up on shore.

The big ice freezer in front of the store floated away at some point. It wasn’t until later that afternoon when someone found it. It floated out of the marina entrance and down the road a ways before coming to rest in a neighbor’s yard!

The main workshop lost a few windows, and a few things got left on the floor and water damaged. The store had about a foot of water in it. Lots of debris washed up, quite a few logs. Shockingly, power was turned back on late afternoon on Friday. We later found that we’d almost pulled a cleat out of the dock. There were a few tense moments, mostly when we made contact with the concrete seawall, and a few really strong gusts, but all in all, it was more adventure than anything else. Which is about the best you can hope for with a hurricane.

We are quite far inland here. The Outer Banks experienced much higher winds – over 90 mph. Okracoke was hit the worst by hurricane Dorian, with people stranded in their attics when they were hit by a 7-ft storm surge.

We spent the weekend trying to dry things out. We teamed up with brooms to help push water out of the store, and mopped up what couldn’t be swept out. By Monday, things were dried out and life started to get back to normal.