Month: September 2017

NOAA updated recently added aerial images of the damage Irma caused in the Keys. The maps are available at https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/irma/index.html

Zooming in on Marathon, I managed to get a closer look at Pearl. Continue reading “Better look at Pearl”

Ok. This rounds’s over. Irma has left the ‘hood — trashing the Keys but possibly not as badly as she could have. Most of our friends in the Keys should be ok. We haven’t managed to reach a few of them who stayed, but the surge, etc., didn’t seems to be as bad as it was made to sound (in Key West). We have no idea as to how people’s boats that were left in the water faired. Keep your fingers crossed.  Remember, some of these boats were also their only home.

Pearl may have come through Irma intact. The boat yard where she was stored seems to have come though ok. She is likely still on the stands that she was on before the Hurricane. The attached picture offers a clue.

The boat yard where Pearl was at is in the far left of the attached picture. The last pictures of Pearl we received from before Hurricane Irma show her racked somewhere along the hedge on the right side of the row. Most of the boats seems to be upright and intact so we hope Pearl’s one of them.

While we may have been lucky, there are many other people who have lost everything, homes, pets, boats, … the things that make up their lives.

For a little while, it seemed like Hurricane Irma’s track would pass directly over Pearl. Right now, it looks like Irma’s split the difference between where we used to live in Key West where Pearl’s currently located in Marathon.

“Fortunately,” Irma is going through the area as a Category 4 Hurricane rather than the Category 5 that it was when it lambasted the Eastern Caribbean. While this is really bad, it could be worse.

The question is how much damage the storm will cause. Will the bridges and causeways that connect the middle and lower keys be intact? How are people going to get food, supplies, and medical attention — since the medical facilities in the Lower and middle keys were closed and evacuated? Is the aqueduct that supplies water to the keys still intact? All of that remains to be seen.

While we have no idea as to how Pearl’s weathering the storm, that’s infinitesimal in relation to what people who are permanent residents there will face.

 

It’s been a while since we were on Pearl. She’s been on the hard in Marathon for coming up on two of years now, and we were contemplating going back to her this winter.

Hurricane Irma makes me question whether Pearl will ever sail again. It looks like Marathon (her current location) is directly in Irma’s path.

Pearl’s out of the water. She’s was mostly stripped down by us for bad weather when we left her. She was checked and further prepped by the boat yard she’s in yesterday: the lines, soar panels, and bimini are now off. With a bit of luck, she’ll ride out Hurricane Irma with aplomb — the same way she’s handled everything else.

While we’ll be okay, we’ve made friends over the years who sold everything and became live aboard sailors. These boats are not just for fun. They are homes. They are dreams. Wish them well.

If you’ve sailed on Pearl or thought about sailing on her, here are recent pictures of Pearl awaiting our return.