Thursday, 10/01 - Hurricane preparations
We're really glad we pushed it to get into our marina in N. Myrtle Beach. It has great, floating concrete docks and 15' tall concrete pillars for the docks to rise up. We figure that a 15' surge would actually wash away all of the shops and homes here before us.
It was raining much of today so we did a few boat projects and laundry and prepared Samba for severe storms which we knew were coming. We also anxiously watched the development of Hurricane Joaquin and the various paths it might take. Since we were potentially right in the cross hairs, we also prepared a hurricane plan for our insurance company that included contingencies if the hurricane actually hit us.
The plan was to ride it out in the marina unless the winds were forecast to exceed 100 mph. Then, long before the winds hit, we would leave the marina and head for the upper headwaters of the Waccamaw River and tie to cypress trees - - and hope for the best!
Friday, 10/02 - Rain
During a lull in the rain, we rode our bikes across the waterway to check out the shopping complex of 128 shops, restaurants and theaters. It looked like a fun place to visit with our friends, Mark & Barb Yoder who were scheduled to arrive at Samba on Saturday afternoon. We just hoped they could make it here due to all the weather problems.
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| Harry & Anne from Sasea learned to play Mexican Train |
Now, the forecast was for "
historic" rain & flooding in this area along with the possibility of a hurricane landfall here. Argghhh.
That evening, we had Harry & Anne from the boat, Sasea, over to play Mexican Train and enjoy some of Anne's brownies. By now, the rain was torrential and the power was out in the marina. Fortunately, we have substantial house batteries that worked just fine.
Saturday, 10/03
Barb & Mark Yoder arrived at the Charleston airport that morning & rented a car, drove 2 hours to the Myrtle Beach airport and then took a cab to our marina. Phew, quite an effort! We're so glad they made it safely in all of this weather mess!
Fortunately, they got out of Charleston before the worst of the flooding hit. By Sunday morning, Charleston had 11 inches of rain and had closed 125 roads due to flooding. We
only had 8 inches of rain so we were lucky. The forecast for Charleston was potentially another 11 inches - devastating and historic!
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This boat didn't fare so well when the power was
out in our marina. His batteries failed, the bilge pumps quit
and he filled with water! |
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| BoatUS spent much of the morning trying to re-float and move him |
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Talking with Harry from Sasea
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| Steak kabobs on the grill & corn on the cob. Yummm. |
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| Carol & Barb worked on dinner |
Sunday, 10/04
We took a cab across the waterway to the House of Blues for their gospel brunch.
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The House of Blues brunch
Jim & Carol Pattison
Barb & Mark Yoder |
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| It was a beautiful old bar / restaurant |
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| The gospel group was quite entertaining |
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They even got some of the audience involved.
Notice Barb & Carol on the back row. |
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| Barb & Carol enjoying the choir |
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| Jim even tried their chicken & waffles. Not too bad. |
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| RIP - Rest In Party |
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| Notice the shoes around the door and ... |
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| ...shoes around the light |
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| Bam Bam's cradle on the House of Blues front porch - LOL |
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| The House of Blues |
We waited on the House of Blues porch until there was a sort of lull in the rain. We were looking forward to walking around all of the shops that were maybe a block away. When we got to the shops, they were eerily quiet and vacant. The T-Bonz restaurant was still open so we talked to them & discovered that while we were having brunch, the area had been put in a state of emergency, all shops had been closed, employees sent home and that they were in the process of closing roads!
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| A great day if you're a duck! |
Fortunately our cab driver only lived a few blocks away so he was able to get through the water to pick us up and get us fairly close to our boat. Even our marina parking lot was flooded now.
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All shops closed & employees sent home!
Roads were flooding & closing. |
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We played Mexican Train during the afternoon.
Notice the large party boat docked across the way. |
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| Our slip on Friday. Notice the height of the concrete pier. |
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The slip on Sunday afternoon.
Maybe 4' difference! |
By Sunday afternoon, it became apparent that the docks across the waterway from us were in danger of floating free from their pilings. All of the boats on their dock evacuated and found places in our marina.
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The party boat moved directly behind us for safety.
Notice the pontoon boat being pulled by the little dinghy. |
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| They couldn't get the engine started so the dinghy towed him - - backwards. |
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| Celebrating the rainy day with pizza & a movie |
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| Everyone was closed so we made our own |
