Wednesday May 18, 2016
It was another hot day. Beautiful sunny skies, with the hot Florida sun beating down. The humidity was about 100%. I was hot! I was also very ready to get moving again. But first we needed to have our alternator reinstalled, and we needed our new regulator. I called Jas Marine in the morning. Was the regulator in yet? No, it should come in the afternoon. At 1:30pm I called again. Status? Our regulator was in, and Joe would be over soon to work on our boat. I was happy! We would be able to leave soon. Yeah!!!!
I gathered up our sheets, towels, and dirty clothes, and called for a golf cart ride to the Marina office. It would have been 1/3 mile walk, so I was happy for the ride. Beautiful hot day. Maybe a few clouds in the distance, but nothing to worry about,
The Marina office, restrooms, and laundry are housed in temporary metal trailers. The new Marina building complex is scheduled to open next week. I started my 3 loads of wash, plugged in my iPhone to recharge the batteries, and settled in next to the machines.
At 4:15pm, I left my laundry and went out on the partially covered deck. The sky was black and the rain was a downpour. I sat down at a table with a security guard. We were under the overhanging roof, and mostly out of the rain. He said that he’d seen a little tornado. He pointed in the direction of our boat.
I called Jim on my cell phone. How was he? How was the boat? Jim said he was resting when the boat tilted suddenly to port. Everything loose went flying, including the cast iron frying pan in the oven. The consensus was that the winds were 60-70 knots for about 20 seconds. A mini tornado. Our Bimini was a mess. The two aft straps had snapped in half. At least one of the solar panel wires had pulled out of its connection. Several other boats on the dock had damage.
When the rain stopped, I wrapped our laundry in a garbage bag, and got a ride back to our boat. It could have been worse. No one was hurt!
But I was not going to be caught out on the waterway in something like that! No way Jose!