Today, June 1, marks the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. It’ll run until November 30, and it’s predicted to be an active one.
And yup, we just bought a boat in Florida.
The way we see it, aside from rushing our cruising up the east coast to say … upstate New York, there’s no escaping the potential threat. The hurricane strike zone is pretty darn huge. Heck, last season we were chased up into South Carolina ahead of one storm, and dealt with outer bands of Hurricane Matthew as far north as Maryland.
Since we can’t realistically escape the season, we intend to be cruising around the state for the hurricane season. There’s no point not continuing to live our lives & dreams for the potential threat of something that might happen.
The question about how we intend to deal with hurricanes has come up more than once, so we thought we’d kick off the season addressing that.
First, here’s a quick video to go along with this post:
So here’s our approach:
- We’ll be paying extra close attention to the weather and any developing storms.
- We’ll tap into local knowledge as to the best course of action – cruising out of the projected path, moving more inland, double anchoring in known safer ‘hurricane holes’ or double lines at a marina. We already have an extra anchor, lines and fenders.
- We won’t take chances with our lives – we are fully prepared to secure the boat and leave if that’s the best choice.
- We won’t be left homeless if our boat doesn’t make it through a storm. We have our bus in Central Florida fueled up and ready to book it out of the area if needed. We have family on both coasts of the state with guest space awaiting us.
- We made sure our insurance policy covers us for being in Florida during the hurricane season with a reasonable deductible.
We’re no strangers to hurricanes. Chris’ family lived in Miami in the early 90s and was ground zero for Hurricane Andrew. I lived on the barrier island of the east coast of Florida from 1994 – 2006, and have gone through my share of category 1 and 2 hurricanes.
We’ve experienced first hand the destruction they can do. And while they can certainly keep you on your toes, just because you’re in a hurricane zone doesn’t mean you’re instantly fated to their doom either.
They’re definitely nothing to joke about or take lightly. But what hurricanes do come with is a bit of warning and time to prepare and make plans.
We’ll approach this as we do most risky things in life – keep our eyes wide open, stay informed, deal with whatever may be and proceed on with our lives.
It’s the best any of us can do.
When Hurricane Andrew struck, 3 days after it left I arrived back from NC, at our yard in Ayr Ontario. I walked into the office, the boss gave me a Piece of Paper, signed by the Florida Governor, that said I am doing relief work for the State of Florida. For the next two weeks, starting that day, all I did was take about 15 trailer loads of empty water bottles, to most every major City in Florida. I would come back up to a rest area on Hwy 79 outside Pittsburgh OH, where one of our other drivers would bring me a loaded trailer and down to Florida I would go. I loved it, no scales bothered me, no log book needed.
At one stop at Truck Stop in upper West VA, I met a Couple out of Town in Ohio, who had taken a load of relief supplies, using a 3/4 ton truck and a 16 foot trailer. When they left Ohio, the local brought them a couple of Video cameras. We viewed the footage they took in that truck stop. It was very interesting footage, yes it was.
aloha . happy voyages. I had never heard of the great loop till today. we too RV and hope to be boating very soon. I am a traveling nurse he is a traveling captain. We have a home base in Central Florida. we tend to work 3-6 months solid then return to home base which very soon will be a tiny house community. we have the sptic and solar in place . we are comparing cats and towable sailboats AND EVEN A SEACAMPER- TOWABLE HOUSE BOAT.WE ARE ON A 2 YEAR PLAN working on creating passive income as we get closer to that full time status. we are also staying close to Florida while our parents age.they are all snowbirds with 6 month south and 5 months north even as papa T turned 89. water makers with uv lights and a bigger better solar set up need to be built here in the yard before we take off. we are also working on a aroeponic garden in a bucket that fits into any rv or boat sink.so far it is going well.Jason wynn suggested captain mark build a wifi booster and 2 tube videos and a review of all the parts we have in the garage reveals it will be a totally doable project.after 3o hers and 206K miles our rv finally needed new airbags whick led to new brake disks but we can not find a different rv that we like as much as our current fore travel grand villa.we hope to find a boat that has similar specs. as my parents live just off the great loop in canada this seems like a perfect addition to our future routes. so mahalo for the great idea.here to a safe hurricane season and fun summer of travels for us al.
Hi Cherie and Chris! One of the things I love about your blog is being able to look over your shoulders as you work through these things. I agree, do all you can to be prepared, and then go have fun!
Here is site you need to monitor when you get to Trent-Severn Waterway – c.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/info/gestion-eau-water-management/page-niveaux-eau-water-levels
Being prepared is really all one can do – sounds like you guys are on it per usual! Looking forward to seeing where you get to in your floating home.
Watching this made me wonder about what boaters do during severe thunderstorms and also significant lightning (whether the storm is severe or not). So like if it is 2 o’clock in the morning and you guys are snoozing happily and the weather radio goes off for a severe thunderstorm warning (or a marine warning), do you pull up anchor and go to a marina or something? Or out to open water away from the storm? Or can you (sometimes) ride it out? Seems like one might be able to ride it out more often in an RV than in a boat.
We actually had 50mph winds last week at our marina (we were off in the bus) – our harbor master took down the bimini for us, and put on a couple extra lines. Apparently, those staying in the marina were offered hotel rooms to stay in.
We also had an exciting evening at anchor in protected harbor in April with some thunderstorms in the middle of the night. We took shifts with our eyes closely on our anchor alarm, and were prepared at any moment to turn the engines on if needed to re-set the anchor or hold station. Other than a rocky night, all was fine – anchor only dragged a few feet. Most our boating friends either try to steer around storms if possible, or ride them out in a safe “hole”.
Sounds like you and Chris have a solid plan. Boaters always have to think a head, and know the weather and navigate away from it. I’m impressed how seemingly smooth you have transitioned from rving to yachting. I look forward to reading future post.
Fair winds and following seas!
Watching the weather is definitely much more imperative for boating than for RVing, as we’re learning. I’m sure we’ll make mistakes along the way, but that’s how you learn 🙂 Thanks for joining along!
It sounds like you are prepared mentally and physically. The best thing I heard you say is you have an escape plan. Living on the upper Gulf Coast of Florida we are always thinking and planning for storms. For those not as aware as you FEMA has a good list of items needed on their web site. https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes?utm_source=hp_promo&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=ready
One caution about marinas. Other captains may not be that good at anchoring and securing with lines which can lead to damage from their boats. I saw a newly constructed floating dock marina lifted from the water and moved inland…boats and all during hurricane Ivan. A river, bayou, or other mooring may be a better choice than a “safe harbor”.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the tip on marinas.. we’re definitely learning there are great harbormasters out there who really go above and beyond (we recently had 50mph winds and our current one was out putting extra lines on boats for folks). And others who hardly walk their own docks.
We will definitely be keeping an eye to the alternatives as we move locations.. so we can make the best choice given the circumstances at the time.
Yeah, I think every year for the past several there have been these dire “active” hurricane outlook forecasts, for the obvious political reasons. And they’ve been wrong every time.
The plan fact is weather forecasts only begin to become reliable about three days out, and with hurricanes it’s even less, considering exactly where a storm will strike.
You’ve got the correct, common sense approach — vigilance and preparation.
For sure.. exact landfall predictions usually aren’t precise until they actually hit. But at least you knowledge a storm is brewing and you can keep an eye on it to try to make best guesses.
Yep, I would much rather have a hurricane warning than a tornado warning–you have much more time to prepare or leave, tornadoes just happen!
Exactly! Same with earthquakes and other natural calamities.
Not really. Tornadoes come out of storms so if you know what to watch for in approaching storms you can tell whether or not you should bug out. At least we can. Maybe that’s because of our years of watching NOAA radar.
But you may only have a day’s notice of an approaching storm? Hurricanes give you several days to a week.
Hurricane, schmuricane. Everyone should stay vigilant especially living on the watery coasts. So, wondering why a jaunt into Lake Superior isn’t part of The Loop? Smooth transition, no?
Because once you get into Lake Superior, at the bottom of it I do not think there is an exit to the Mississippi River. I took a Look at google Maps and I see no water way linking inland from there.
Correct.. some make a side trip of Lake Superior, but it doesn’t easily connect into the rest of the Loop to head south. You’d have to loop back to Lake Michigan to continue on.
Cherie, you should make one little side trip, once you get into lake Ontario, come through the Welland Canal in to Lake Erie, then at Port Maitland, come up the Grand River to Brantford, tell me when your here and I will come visit you.
Thanks.. it’ll be several years before we’re up that way at the pace we’re taking 🙂 So looking forward to it however!
Ok skip that thought, you cannot get your boat pas Caledonia, – https://www.grandriver.ca/en/our-watershed/GRCA-dams.aspx