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Sept. 6, 2005 Before any of you can say a word about the title, let me preface this article with a personal note to my good friend, Ken Hughes. Ken dear-this one's for you!!! Ken and I write each other at least daily and oftentimes far more frequently than that. We exchange opinions, beliefs, and thoughts on an array of topics. I value his opinion and judgment. He asked me to write an article about my experiences with Katrina and I wrote an article about how a city should plan instead. Sometimes, you need to know who your audience is and write for them-Ken this means you!!! So here goes- In case some of you are unfamiliar with my living quarters of late this is a refresher. My boyfriend and I reside between Key West and Apalachicola, Fl-we have homes, investment properties, and real estate offices in both locales. This past winter we sold our last house in Key West and purchased a 63 foot Bertram Motoryacht in Miami, Fl-in retrospect maybe not the brightest idea we've had. We've been renovating her ever since and finally after months of work we might have her completely redone by Columbus Day-let's keep our fingers crossed on that one. Two Thursday's ago was the day-August 25th, 2005. The day began much like any other day except we had a tropical depression moving in, which is typical of this time of the year. Most of us went about our day with the idea that it was business as usual. Throughout the day we kept an ear to the weather reports. The weather forecasters kept telling all of us in Florida that this was just an ordinary tropical storm. They named her Katrina. We prepared accordingly. I added extra lines and doubled up on the fenders too, but not a lot more than that. By late that afternoon Katrina had been upgraded to a category 1 hurricane, but our skies were still clear and blue for the most part. I figured not that big of a deal after all I rode out the last cat 1 in the same slip aboard the same boat and we had some strong winds and waves, but no damage. Pat, my boyfriend, had been there for the last storm. However, he was at our house in Apalachicola, Fl for this one. I would ride this one out with my dog and cat and the help throughout the day from many people along the dock. 5 to 6 pm our clear skies gave way to dark rolling clouds and thunder that clapped as streaks of lightening lit up the heavy sky. Rain began to intermittently fall in torrents. The winds peaked at about 30 miles per hour and then subsided to the teens, but there was little doubt that the real storm was on her way. Most of my comrades tied up their various vessels and began drinking with a vengeance. They begged me to come out and play, but I had a lot of things to prepare and wanted to keep my wits about me. Throughout the late afternoon weather conditions deteriorated. I checked in with the marina guard around 8 pm, which is when we lost power on the docks and I began my generators. Both coughed and sputtered and ran rough-then perfectly. I figured I had no worries. Maurecio, the guard, asked if I was ok. I said yes. He inquired as to if I was alone aboard or not. I said I was. He came inside while we decided to exchange phone numbers in case I had some situation that I was unable to contain. At this time the winds were steady at 50 plus miles per hour and the rain was moving sideways through my wing doors in the wheelhouse. My dog, Abu needed a walk. I donned my rain gear and hopped off the boat with Abu and Maurecio-the guard. A gust of 60 or so clipped us on the finger pier nearly toppling her into the sea. I bent down and sheltered her until the wind lightened a wee bit and we could make passage down the wind and rain streaked dock to the soggy grass near the parking lot. We passed through the first gate without further incident-just driving rain and blustery winds. Just prior to the second gate we had to stop to pick up a dock box lid that had been ripped from its hinges and replace it atop the box. It took both of us in these strong winds to do so. Once we passed through the second gate and got in the lee of the buildings we had a clear picture of how the winds were affecting the rest of our buddies and the marina properties. Huge steel and fiberglass signs turned on their axis like the head of the woman in the movie the Exorcist. Awnings had been ripped from their frames and left flapping in the wind above the offices in our complex. Another extremely strong gust pushed us along. We noticed one wooden dock had been ripped up in places and dangled in the rising water. Abu ran up to the sodden grass and quickly relieved herself before shaking off some of the excess rain to little avail. The clouds emptied the heavens and rain pelted and stung our faces like fine grains of sand used to remove paint. We were soaked through our rain gear and considered taking off our soaked shoes, but thought about walking on broken glass or splintered wood or something equally as dangerous and decided to stay as we were. Maurecio escorted us back to my boat and said to be sure to call if things got more hairy. I watched him make his way with difficulty back down the dock toward the marina offices. I listened to channel 16 on the marine VHF that gave regular updates from the Coast Guard regarding this storm. Winds on Key Biscayne had been clocked at 80 plus miles per hour and several vessels were hailing the Coast Guard for help. The Coast Guard invited them to switch and answer on channel 27. Just then a large wave picked up my boat and tossed us about like a cork atop the surf. I reached for anything to steady myself. The winds howled and the rain splashed against the windshield and ran inside the wing doors with more force than before. I tossed my rain soaked coat over a hook and bent down to begin to vacuum the water from my new carpet. Generator one quit-it was now 11pm, quite dark, and very scary. Half of the things I had turned on could still worked for the time being. And thankfully there was still light and some air-conditioning aboard. Maurecio and I spoke again before I thought I might lay down and catch a little sleep. I tossed and turned with each new wave battering the sides of this vessel not knowing what might happen next. Sleep would not come easily tonight. I heard a few loud bangs and crunches and scrapes. I rushed upstairs to see if I could locate and isolate the damage. From inside the boat I could tell the boat was pegged up against the pilings and the fenders were forward and aft of where they needed to be to protect us from harm. I heard a horrible scrape and rushed outside in the driving rain and fierce wind to see if it was possible to thwart this act of nature. I looked up. I saw a six foot crack open up near the roof of the boat where it overhangs the deck. The roof was lifting off the side walls of the boat because we were now three feet above the pilings, water was over the concrete docks and seaweed was strewn from end to end. Winds were upwards of 80 miles per hour and felt as if the were strengthening by the moment. Rain was coming down in sheets sideways. I couldn't see the boat directly across the dock from me. I tried to push us off the piling with everything I could muster. The boat lurched forward, then aft, then back into the piling. Soaked to the bone and making little progress against nature, I was unable to move this vessel an inch in this situation. Crack went the thunder as lightening lit up the entire horizon. I jumped nearly out of my already wet skin. All of the sudden all went completely dark. Inside and out. The only light was intermittent from the only generator powered boat up the dock from me. I was forced to locate the flashlight by feel alone because the second generator had now shut down. It was 1am and the winds appeared to be even stronger and last longer than before. I found the flashlight and made my way along the dark corridor and into the engine room. It was extremely hot inside here and the smell of hot water permeated my senses-still I hoped for the best. I turned on the 12 volt lights. They were dim and growing dimmer by the minute-battery power would not last for the remainder of the night. I walked forward between the toolbox toward the gen sets and saw where oil had belched and spewed every where. Black dots dotted everything in its wake. Steam was pouring forth from the radiator cap. Rust colored stains ran along the exterior and confirmed my assumption that it had overheated. The floor was wet with oil and slippery. Each place I touched or leaned covered me with fresh oil. I began to scrub it with paper towels and 409 spray. It was not easy to tell if I was making things better or worse at that time. Finally, I decided to give it a rest until daylight where real assessment might matter. 3am, Chris came over from a neighboring vessel and asked me if there was anything he could do to help. He had noticed that I was in the dark and knew I was also alone. I told him that I lost both generators. He said he knew something about mechanical things and boats and could he take a look. I said sure, I would be eternally grateful for anything he could do to help. Again, we made our way down the dark corridor to the engine room. Past the greasy oily engines toward the gen sets. We stood there looking on with soggen rain gear, wet to the scalp hair, and shoeless. I showed him what I already surmised. He confirmed my best guesses and told me to stay away from those things while I was soaking wet and without shoes or I might not be around for daylight. I promised to do as he asked. He was aboard the only other boat with generator power and told me that the storm was between a category 1 and 2 according to the winds on the weather channel. We chatted about the last storm and ventured opinions as to how much stronger this one was than that. I felt that it was considerably stronger than the one I had weathered before and this confirmed that belief. He left and lay down with Abu and my cat near me in the rising heat unable to open the ports because the rain was still coming down in torrents and the winds were still howling. Maurecio, Pat and I talked at regular intervals throughout the remainder of the night. When I walked Abu at 7am I noticed that a small dinghy was wedged between my boat and the next boat, it was badly damaged and sinking fast. A 50 foot catamaran from the Yacht Club next door had broken free and sunk near the bulkheads. Her hull lay cracked like an egg, open to the elements. Another smaller vessel was pinned in the gullet between our marina and the Yacht Club with her hull opened up in many places and rudder missing. Where there used to be roller furling sails atop many masts and forestays there were mere shreds of sails. They lay flapping in the still steady 30 mile per hour winds the day after. Many Banyan and Ficus trees had been torn out of the ground with their entire roots in tact. Several palm trees where shredded and left standing in trunk alone. Large pieces of wood and fiberglass, and plastic were littering the waterway. The color of the water itself was a milky white with blotches of oil or grease on top. Trash was every where. Huge marina signs and flag poles were downed and lay mangled and unattended. Except for the wind, me, and Abu nobody was up and about. The sky was a sickening yellow and gray. I cried for those that lost their vessels and hoped that they had not also lost their lives. 8 am or so the marina staff arrived and began assessing the damage to various vessels and their operations. They tied off lines to vessels that had been torn loose during the storm and wrote up incident reports to relate back to their owners. For five days following this storm I was without power, but heard from friends in other states via cell phones. They told me the storm was now hitting the Keys and then forecasted to hit New Orleans. They said it was forecasted to strengthen. I hoped not! Circumstances were such that we still had city water, but no ice and little food because there was no place open to provide food or supplies for us. I had some money, but no place to spend it. I had to empty the contents of my refrigerator and freezer because they had all melted and began to spoil. I left the doors ajar to allow air inside. Most businesses stayed closed because they had no power and no generators to give them power in the interim. A lucky few ran for some time off generator power. Liksa, the dock mistress and I located some coffee at one such place and were thankful to have found them. The line was stretched around the block. We patiently waited our turn. A couple of coffee's and a couple of cold empanadas and croquettes cost us $10, but we were still grateful for anything at all. Those few gas stations that were open and had power had lines that went on for many many blocks and took hours to get to the filler. Was I inconvenienced? Were they? Yes, but I knew I was lucky too! ------------ About the author: Michelle Malsbury was born and raised in Champaign, Illinois. She attended Parkland College and the University of Illinois before graduating from the University of Phoenix with her degree in Business Management. Currently she is working on her master’s degree in Organizational Management while concurrently pursuing her lofty writing ambitions. Ms. Malsbury moved to south Florida in 1983 and resides between the Keys and Apalachicola, allowing her to experience the seasonal fluctuations between the southernmost and nearly northernmost beauty in the state of Florida. Travels have taken her from Europe through the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and across much of the United States. Michelle has been a bartender, real estate agent, flight attendant, beauty contestant, yacht broker, and commodities broker over the years, but writing is her passion. She enjoys outdoor activities like sailing, waterskiing, hiking, bike riding, working out, and fishing as well as reading, music, theatre, playing with her two amusing pets (Abu Chez, her 6 year old Australian Blue Heeler and Zack, her two year old yellow tabby cat) and writing. Michelle is a regular featured author on the web site Useless-Knowledge.com and enjoys exchanging points of view with her comrades there. “Three Years With Adonis” is the first to be published of several books that she has written. In addition to “Three Years With Adonis”, she has authored four other books and three screenplays while continuing to explore all that life hands her. Check out my new web sites. They are; www.3yearswithadonis.com, www.threeyearswithadonis.com, and www.MichelleKayeMalsbury.com. Email Michelle Malsbury: zackywacks@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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