First Tropical Storm - Isaac

When we discussed moving to the Virgin Islands a few years ago with friends or family, many asked if we got hurricanes here. Well, yes, and August and September are the two most high risk months. We would always reply with it sure beats a wild fire (which we were accustomed to in Nevada, Idaho and Colorado, all places I lived since 1989) or a tornado. Why you ask? You get several days notice the storm is coming. I grew up in NJ and we had the occasional hurricane come through, but all I can remember was heavy rain and winds, we were 70 miles from the ocean.

As we speak, I have had several days notice now. We first heard of this storm last Friday. Shannon had a trip booked to her native Canada, to Jasper to visit her parents, brothers and 101 year old grandmother at her parents horse back riding business in the national park there. We went to the Chili cook off last Sunday with some friends and Shannon had some anxiety about leaving Monday with the "notice" of a storm a coming. I told her not to worry, the dogs and I will be fine! She left Monday morning.

Tuesday night we get an email from the marina manager that they were closing the marina on Tuesday morning at 10 AM. You see, by this time, we were under a tropical storm watch.

So what does the marina closing mean? We have a boat at Compass Point Marina and one of the reasons we have a slip there is that it is in a hurricane hole and you don't have to move it. But that doesn't mean there is no prep to be done. What they do is move all the boats 6 feet off the docks. We then have hurricane lines that are attached to the pylons and then the pylons are roped criss cross creating a big web. Then they chain of the entrance to keep the Goony Boats out, there are many sailboats moored in the bay and by the looks of some, they aren't going to move on their own with a motor.

So off I go to the Marina at noon to meet a friend's boat manager to give me a hand since I didn't have my first mate, Shannon. Besides an annoying cough that developed that morning, we had it done in an hour.

Now back to the house, shower, change and off to the grocery store for some cold medicine (yes folks, I coming down with a head cold in the hottest part of Summer on the eve of a tropical storm). Of course I did get some other needed items, rum, beer, bread and a steak, yes my first steak since leaving the mainland back in April.

In the beer section, the entire middle row was pallets of water. Nope don't need that, have a reverse osmosis system. And the lines, well it was what I expected.

Groceries unpacked, now for a nice steak dinner because if we loose power for a while who knows when my next good meal will be. So here is my last supper, mind you, I am high on Sudafed now. Order a movie to rent on my IPad.

Restless night sleeping, keep waking up with all that I need to do the next day.

Wednesday morning, turn on the Weather Channel and they said that Isaac may turn into a hurricane, we have a hurricane watch, only 6%. Better get up and get going. Listened to the radio with my coffee and the local meteorologist is saying the storm will go south, top 35 MPH winds and heavy rains. Still, I better be safe than sorry?

Ok, checklist, generator and extension cords out, unlatch all the hurricane shutters so they can close easily. Bottle some more drinking water. Close up the apartment. Run to the gas station and get an extra 5 gallons of gas, remove the patio furniture and get the batteries out for the inverter (brought my RV solar panels down). I had my helper Bristol with me.

By noon I had it done. Lunch, leftover steak in tortilla with black beans grilled on the stove. Laundry, vacuum and dishes, hey I can't have a dirty house in a storm, right?

Around 3 PM, first band came through with winds at 20 MPH gusting to 27 MPH. Then Sun back out and then windy, cloudy, sun, shower.

The latest on the storm is it has weakened now with two centers. Most of the storm will be late tonight and in the morning.

All I can do I guess is take some Sudafed and a glass of red wine and maybe sleep better tonight. I will let you know how it turns out. One of our friends is having a Hurricane Party, but I don't think they would want me spreading my germs?