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Four months into owning our dream boat, we had a hurricane heading our way. And we had no clue what to do.
A boat is mobile, so just move it, right? But Hurricane Ian was acting like a toddler in a toy store: it couldn’t make up its mind. None of the models could pinpoint where it would make landfall, so we were equally indecisive. Sail to Miami? The panhandle? The storm could go either way, and we were running out of time. In the face of uncertainty, we decided to stay put.
Our new home—and our livelihood—were on the line, and we were rolling the dice.
We prepped the boat like never before: we took down the sails, moved the dinghy to a friend’s garage, taped the hatches down with painter’s tape and used all our lines and fenders. Finally, we moved the boat from our home marina in Palmetto to one in Bradenton. With a better sea wall, plus a floating dock instead of a fixed dock, this other marina felt like the safest place to be.
We did all we could, and then we waited.
On Wednesday, September 28th, 2022, Hurricane Ian pummeled the coast near Fort Myers, about an hour and a half south of us. We stayed in our townhome across town, nervously waiting for the storm to pass so we could see how much damage our boat sustained. When we got back to the marina, we found that except for a loosened bolt and a minor leak, our boat was practically unscathed.
Others further south were not so lucky.
Three days after the hurricane hit, we drove south to Fort Myers. A friend connected us to a guy named Joe, who had ridden out the storm on his catamaran. We wanted to hear his story and offer help if it was needed.
The drive should’ve taken a little over an hour, but the interstate was closed, so our alternative route took nine hours. We finally arrived and met up with Joe, along with a few other boat owners, and they told us their stories.
Let’s just say riding out a hurricane on a boat is no joke. Their perspectives, along with the devastation we witnessed, gave us a newfound respect for the power of nature and the fragility of life—especially life on a boat.
We were privileged to be able to help out a few locals, handing out water, food, and supplies. This was our way of giving back, a way to acknowledge how blessed we were to go through this storm pretty much unscathed.
Because it could’ve been us.
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