August, 2004:

Charley is now passing by, winds are howling, but it doesn’t look like we’re getting more than 50 knots of wind, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to get much more than that. It’s not raining that much, and from what we can see on the satellite, we’ll have some nice clear weather after this passes. Hopefully we’ll have a nice weather window to get out to Isla Mujeres as soon as tomorrow. That’s what we’re hoping for….

So last night, we went into town in search of a hurricane party. We managed to find a restaurant open, where we had a great late hurricane eve dinner, and then we went down to the wharf and then Duval St looking for a joint that would take us in. There was NOTHING OPEN. So much for the legendary hurricane parties. Guess that’s all they are, legends.

During out venture into town, it started raining pretty hard, and since we left our rain gear on board, we had to improvise a bit. Hence the trash bags (click “more” to see the photos)

(more…)

Key West is quite abuzz today, there are all kinds of speculations and rumors that the storm is heading right at us, and the weather service is of little help. They’re just not putting out as much concrete info as they should be. I’ve been watching Charley’s movements pretty closely via the satellite and other weather sources like Accuweather for the past couple of days now. And in my limited experience as an extremely amateur meteorologist, it looks to me like it’s going to head just west of us. It should keep enough distance from us (probably 80 miles or so) to keep the heavy storming to a minimum. We’re expecting 50-60 mph winds and some rain, though not as much as if the storm were hitting us.

Andiamo should be pretty well protected in the marina she’s in, being fairly well blocked in on three sides, all of which are the potential wind directions. We have her tied in pretty good, both anchors are out, and will have the bimini, dodger and other windage all down and stowed below by this afternoon. My only hope is that she doesn’t get hit by any flying debris, since that’s where the real damage will come from, if any.

Thanks for all the calls, comments, and emails, by the way. It’s nice to know that some people care.

Oh, and it’s Mahi’s birthday today! So needless to say we’ll have a hurricane party with a dual purpose tonight! YEAH!

Key West is quite abuzz today, there are all kinds of speculations and rumors that the storm is heading right at us, and the weather service is of little help. They’re just not putting out as much concrete info as they should be. I’ve been watching Charley’s movements pretty closely via the satellite and other weather sources like Accuweather for the past couple of days now. And in my limited experience as an extremely amateur meteorologist, it looks to me like it’s going to head just west of us. It should keep enough distance from us (probably 80 miles or so) to keep the heavy storming to a minimum. We’re expecting 50-60 mph winds and some rain, though not as much as if the storm were hitting us.

Andiamo should be pretty well protected in the marina she’s in, being fairly well blocked in on three sides, all of which are the potential wind directions. We have her tied in pretty good, both anchors are out, and will have the bimini, dodger and other windage all down and stowed below by this afternoon. My only hope is that she doesn’t get hit by any flying debris, since that’s where the real damage will come from, if any.

Thanks for all the calls, comments, and emails, by the way. It’s nice to know that some people care.

Oh, and it’s Mahi’s birthday today! So needless to say we’ll have a hurricane party with a dual purpose tonight! YEAH! Comment from: Michael Greaney [Visitor]

Happy Belated Birthday Mahi!

2004-08-13 @ 07:18

 iro·ny
Pronunciation: ‘I-r&-nE also ‘I(-&ampr-nE

Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other’s false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning — called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play — called also dramatic irony, tragic irony

So, back we are here at Key West, in order to avoid the storm that was originally thought to be going to Isla Mujeres. Instead, now it’s coming right at us. So Andiamo is docked at a marina, and we’re hunkering down for the big blow. Hopefully it will go by quickly and painlessly. We’ll let you know what happens if it does come our way. Alot can happen between now and its projected arrival time of Friday, 8AM. We’ll keep ya posted.

At least now we’ll get a firsthand look at the legendary Hurricane Parties Key West is known for.

Pronunciation: ‘I-r&-nE also ‘I(-&ampr-nE

Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other’s false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning — called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play — called also dramatic irony, tragic irony

So, back we are here at Key West, in order to avoid the storm that was originally thought to be going to Isla Mujeres. Instead, now it’s coming right at us. So Andiamo is docked at a marina, and we’re hunkering down for the big blow. Hopefully it will go by quickly and painlessly. We’ll let you know what happens if it does come our way. Alot can happen between now and its projected arrival time of Friday, 8AM. We’ll keep ya posted.

At least now we’ll get a firsthand look at the legendary Hurricane Parties Key West is known for.

Comment from: Michael Greaney [Visitor]

Stay save Tony and Mahi….Have a Hurricane drink or two for us….
Mike and Kathleen

2004-08-12 @ 07:32

 Well, we TRIED to leave for Isla Mujeres yesterday. The weather was great, and the forecast was most excellent. Sure, there was a tropical depression looming over the Yucatan Peninsula, but it was sure to head north into the Gulf of Mexico and turn into Tropical Storm Bonnie and keep going north. This was good for us, and bad for Florida Panhandle and Mobile Bay residents. So off we went, with great weather, calm conditions and light winds, and off we motored towards Isla Mujeres.

We were watching the weather via our satellite phone and via a radio contact back at Key West. We noticed a new storm system forming in the Southeastern Caribbean. Within a few hours it became Tropical Storm Charley and now it was heading right to the Yucatan Channel. After some discussion between Mahi, myself and Mike, our crewmember for this trip, we decided to head back to Key West and watch the storm’s progress from there rather than go to a potential storm zone. The irony is that there’s also a good chance that Charley can just as easily hit us here in Key West. Fun, fun, fun…

Well, we TRIED to leave for Isla Mujeres yesterday. The weather was great, and the forecast was most excellent. Sure, there was a tropical depression looming over the Yucatan Peninsula, but it was sure to head north into the Gulf of Mexico and turn into Tropical Storm Bonnie and keep going north. This was good for us, and bad for Florida Panhandle and Mobile Bay residents. So off we went, with great weather, calm conditions and light winds, and off we motored towards Isla Mujeres.

We were watching the weather via our satellite phone and via a radio contact back at Key West. We noticed a new storm system forming in the Southeastern Caribbean. Within a few hours it became Tropical Storm Charley and now it was heading right to the Yucatan Channel. After some discussion between Mahi, myself and Mike, our crewmember for this trip, we decided to head back to Key West and watch the storm’s progress from there rather than go to a potential storm zone. The irony is that there’s also a good chance that Charley can just as easily hit us here in Key West. Fun, fun, fun…