Trying to reason with Hurricane season

Well we’ve almost been in Grenada for 3 months now which is hard to believe as time is flying by. Being hurricane season I have to admit that I don’t mind the time flying by as it only means that it will soon be over. First lets start with the not so good part of Grenada.
Hurricane season began on June 1st as you all know. June and July were quiet months but our attention was always captured by the weather. Early on in August we got word that there was something out there that had just come off of Africa that had potential to develop into a LO. The stages of a hurricane are as follows: weather system comes off Africa, develops into LO, then tropical depression, tropical storm and finally cat 1 hurricane up to a cat 5. We are currently located at 12 degrees north and 62 degrees west, so we are always listening for the tropical features to go north. Dean who wasn’t yet Dean, was sitting at 11 degrees north for way too long. Finally the feature was upgraded into a cat 1 hurricane and only once it was named did it start to move north, but not north enough to miss the Caribbean. We prepared as best we could. We took all the loose canvas off the boat, strapped down the sail covers, set another anchor and then waited. We knew we wouldn’t get a direct hit, but we didn’t know what to expect. Dean passed through the St. Lucia channel (between St. Lucia and Martinique) on August 18th, not 160 miles north of us. We, in Grenada, felt nothing but the lightest of winds as Dean passed from the Atlantic into the Caribbean waters, that is until the next day. As Dean passed it was upgraded to a cat 2 hurricane and as it was marching along the Caribbean sea the last remnants of Dean slapped Grenada in the face…just to wake us up. The next night we still had everything strapped down, just being lazy, but thank god we did. The wind picked up in the anchorage and Mike got up to have a look outside…seeing a distinct line in the sky and thinking it was the end of the little squall we were already in, I came out and had a look. I turned to Mike and said “That’s not the end…that’s the worst”. I threw his foul weather gear at him and put mine on and no sooner had we started the engine did the 60 knots of wind hit. Horizontal rain pelted down and the wind howled through the rigging. We turned our lights on and got on the radio and informed the others in the anchorage to do so as well so we could see where everyone was. Everyone was alert and took care of any dragging that was occurring and soon the wind was down to a steady 40 knots, then 30 and then 20 and then nothing. Very scary, but Meggie was a champ and held into the wind and waves without much strain.Well now that that was over….I prayed that would be the only one. Remember September…remember September had been running through my mind since hurricane season had started. September is notoriously known as the worst month for hurricanes. Remember September. So around the end of August we got word that something had come off Africa with potential to develop. Not again! My stress level since Dean had been high and I became addicted to the weather, watching and listening to every detail. We listened and check the satellite almost every couple of hours near the end of August. We went to bed on August 31st after checking the satellite imagery and feeling somewhat confident that the tropical feature and dissipated somewhat. We listened to weather guru, Chris Parker at 7pm that night and he wasn’t on the air. If he isn’t on the air, this is good news, it means there is no danger in the near future. That put our minds and ease and although things looked good for no further development, we still prepared as best we could, 2 anchors, strapped the sails down etc…
I didn’t sleep well that night. Not a ripple in the water and not a breath of air, but I still had an anxious feeling, almost like the calm before the storm. At about 3 am on September 1st, after dozing off I got up instinctively. Mike asked what I was doing and I said I thought we should get up. The wind had begun to blow slightly and I knew something was to follow. I got the foulies out and got mine on, I got out into the cockpit and waited. I didn’t have to wait very long. By the time Mike came out the wind had increased considerably. We turned the engine and our light on and I took the helm, just in case. The wind gusted violently, gusting up to 65 knots with sustained winds at around 55-58 knots. This time it didn’t ease so quickly. Unfortunately for us, the wind was coming straight out of the south (the only direction we weren’t protected from, except for 2 reefs). So not only did we have to deal with the wind, the waves in the anchorage were way too big for any anchorage. We heard our boat being called on the vhf, and learned that another boat was dragging and it was headed in our direction. We couldn’t see a thing even though boats were only about 100 yards away. The rain was so strong we couldn’t look out, so we hailed back and asked it D and Don could keep us posted on the location of the loose boat. The wind screamed for what seemed like forever and as day broke we began to feel a bit more comfortable as the wind finally began to subside. The boat that had dragged had snagged another anchor and was hooked up on it, but only after smashing into 2 other boats in the anchorage. Meanwhile a trimaran had dragged onto the beach and Nicoli in his little motor boat was trying to help get him off. A wave came over his transom and swamped his boat, and down it went along with him. Mike jumped our dinghy and began his way over but we finally saw his head come up and knew he was safe. While Mike was in the dinghy, I was on the radio to another boat who’s dinghy was sinking fast….So Mike went over to help them with their dinghy….
I tuned in to the 7 am weather report and Chris (weather guru) informed us that the tropical feature had strengthened in the over night hours (no shit!!) and had been upgraded into a tropical storm (almost skipping the tropical depression part completely) and had now been named Felix. The eye had passed only 10-20 miles south of south Grenada! There were reports that as Felix was passing Grenada it was upgraded to a Cat 1 hurricane. Hurricane force winds start at 64 knots and someone in the boat yard on shore where we are clocked 65 knots, so who knows for sure.
It was a crazy morning and by 9 am the wind had relaxed to about 30 knots and we felt comfortable heading to shore. The feeling on shore was one of relief. Everyone’s adrenaline was still pumping from the mornings adventures and instead of ordering coffee from the restaurant the majority of people ordered a beer.
Felix was a scary event, but again Meggie kept us safe and sound, however I feel it was too close for comfort. We’ve decided that if there is anything at all that looks remotely threatening we will seek a better harbour.. We went away for the weekend 2 weeks ago and before departing we hauled up the second BIG anchor that had held us during Felix.
It took Mike, myself and our friend Scotty 3 hours to get this sucker up! Mike had to dive down 25 feet about 8-10 times to rig up several systems to get the beast off the bottom. We now trust our anchor even more.
So now I’m wondering if I should leave it there for now.
We still have carnival to talk about as well as the hash (no…not drugs…hashing is known as drinkers with a running problem and we run all over the island…in jungles, rivers, mountains, fields you name it) and also delivery of schooners, and all the other things we’ve been doing in this wonderful country.
Grenada has treated us well. With its kind people and beautiful country, we will be sad to leave this place that has become home for the last few months.
So, I think I’ll leave it there and will not be too long with another entry.
This is Kylie in hot, hot, extremely hot Grenada signing off.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. And No…we won’t be having turkey….its too friggin hot!
Be cool (literally…I wish I was)
Kylie and Mike
PS...more exciting pictures next time...I promise.