Nature Rules

Probably the biggest lesson you learn when you start cruising is that Nature Rules. Yesterday the kids had plans to get a lot of stuff done on their boat before dinner, and then Nature said, "Nah Uhhhh...." 

The kids decided they'd rather ride that one out on a bit bigger boat since they had one available, and closed up their boat tight and headed over. Brian has been studying the weather since their transition to the boat and made the comment that it is so much more interesting to see it from the water since you can see so much farther and actually watch it develop. Earlier in the afternoon we could see the blow off from the top of the storm over our heads, even hours before the storm actually got here. it was clear it was going to be a big one.

After checking mooring line chafe guards, securing small items on deck, and clearing the propane lines, we sat under the dodger and watched as it approached. It turned out to be a non-event for us despite its threatening appearance, but some other people near us got hit hard. As you can see by our position marker in the radar pic, Miami has a way of breaking up approaching storms with its concrete island effect so we passed through the middle of two large cells relatively unscathed. You just never know which ones are going to hit you hard and which ones you'll escape, though, so each and every one requires careful preparation on the deck. As I've stated before in this blog, I firmly believe in the Black Box Theory so we always prepare as if each and every major storm is going to be the big one that can bite. And, since I've already had one person ask me why I do this, we turned our propane off at the tank and cleared our propane lines because it was forecast to be a big lightning event. After yesterday's trauma here in the mooring field I was pretty prickly on boat fires.

This morning dawned clear and calm, it's my birthday, and Tim is coming home so it promises to be a great day. Just a few minutes ago the crew of The Floating Bear paddled over in the dinghy named Eeyore and serenaded me with "Happy Birthday to You" and delivered some creative artwork done especially for me by the kids. I can honestly say I've never been serenaded from a dinghy before and I've never had a birthday gift delivered by one either. Even after all these years of living on a boat and nearly a year of cruising there are still firsts. It's what makes this life so interesting. Happy Day everyone!