Back in Marathon Post-Irma: Re-United with Y-Not

Two weeks ago today Irma’s eyewall passed just a mere couple miles from Y-Not’s location in Marathon, striking as a full force Category 4 hurricane.

From the safety of our bus parked nearly a 1000 miles away in Summerdale, AL – we watched on our security camera until cellular service went out in the early morning. We of course hoped for the best, but were prepared for the worst when we left.

The destruction Irma left in her wake is devastating.

The lower and middle Keys took a heavy wallop. People have lost their homes, and at best have weeks to months of recovery to go through.

In Boot Key Harbor, the location of our Y-Not, it’s estimated that nearly 75% of the boats were sunk or otherwise destroyed. Many of those boats were the full time homes of locals or fellow nomads passing through.

Boats in the city mooring field, where we had stopped by the morning of our evacuation to see if there was one available for us, suffered substantial damage – only 54 of the 200+ boats were still on their balls. While none of the moorings seemed to have failed, anchored boats nearby cut lose and caused a moving debris field that took swaths of boats out throughout the storm.

But yet, by some force of luck / serendipity / magic / blessing / fortune  – I type this from Y-Not’s living room, with air conditioning no less, as we take a break between projects in the heat of the day.

Returning to Marathon

The road to the Keys was re-opened to all residents last weekend, and one of the main Burdines staff members kindly got aboard Y-Not and video called us to walk through the boat. It was enough to put our minds at ease that there was no impending rush to return.

Which was a relief, because adrenal fatigue had set in big time for us after a lengthy evacuation and return to Melbourne.

We opted to use this gifted time to rest, catch up on work and smartly provision for our return. We updated our tetnus shots, we got my mom’s home de-hurricaned (it did just fine), got the bus back in storage and we sought a cat-sitter for Kiki.

And we slept.

On Thursday, we hit the road south in our borrowed escape truck (packed to the gills with supplies), with an overnight in Miami area with long time followers Ron & Eva.

They had so graciously invited us to evacuate to their place if we wanted to stay nearby the boat during Irma, and had kept in touch throughout.

Their place did well, and they extended an invite for a slumber party. We couldn’t pass up a lovely evening bonding with new friends.

On Friday, we drove around Miami in search of parts that the marina needed – and ended up finding them at the West Marine in Key Largo.

The Upper Keys looked similar to much of the east coast we had just spent time in – lots of debris, missing roof shingles, car ports & porches collapsed. Many businesses were open, including grocery stores and gas stations.

But the further we headed south, the worse things progressively got.  Sand dunes lining the roads, sheds and small buildings tumbled about, roofs gone and massive piles of ditched housing interiors that were once people’s treasures.

And then we hit Marathon, a city we were just getting to know when we evacuated – a mere shadow of its old self. We turned down the road to Burdines, which crosses through one of the many trailer villages that provide affordable housing in the area.

The scene was horrifying, the street lined with destruction.

Had we not known Y-Not’s status – we would have lost all hope by this point.

Re-United with Y-Not

While we had pictures and multiple in person reports of Y-Not being a “miracle survivor” – there’s nothing like seeing her happily floating awaiting us.

(Thank you to ALL who helped get word back to us.. our neighbors tell us at least a dozen folks stopped by to check in on Y-Not!)

As we’re standing there with tears in our eyes (part joy for our miracle and part sorrow for the destruction around us), I feel a presence approach behind me that I know can only be Randy.

Since we parted ways – us escaping in his truck, and him to pick up his new RV – it feels like a lifetime has passed before bringing us back together in this spot. A hug greets us with the news that power just came back on (talk about timing!).

Later that evening, after spending a few hours doing our initial inspection, we hosted a live broadcast where we shared more of the moment  – you can catch the archive here:

We’ve now been home for 3 days, busily unloading the truck and starting to thoroughly go through everything on Y-Not.

There is minor damage and repairs to be made, of course – and we’re still making our list and checking things out as we go through lots of clean-up.

But at this point, we’re pretty confident in declaring Y-Not a survivor of Irma.

Amazingly, her second direct Category 4 strike (she was also in Punta Gorda in 2004 for Charley). This boat either has an astounding will for adventure, or a curious fascination for major hurricanes (we’re banking on the former, please – a third time will NOT be a charm!)

There’s much more to share as we have time (such as analyzing our preps, the damages found, philosophical musings, etc) – but for now, we are ever so grateful to be sleeping in our own bed aboard our little mildew-free  (what?!!? how?!?!) floating home again.

While we’re exhausted and sore – we know it’s not in our right to complain with reminders right in view around us of those not as fortunate dealing with so much more.

The mixture of emotions is intense from this rollercoaster ride, and we have not yet been able to process them. It’s almost numbing at times.

We look forward to shifting from getting Y-Not settled to volunteering around the community – our karma bank needs some serious refilling.

Before(top) & After (bottom) of Burdines & Panchos Marinas:

It’s been an overwhelming several weeks for so many, not just the Keys.

Irma impacted most of Florida and northward. And of course she delivered quite the punch to the leeward islands, only to be double smacked by Maria this past week (absolutely devastating beyond anything we’re seeing here). And so many are still dealing with Harvey in Texas, the fires out west and earthquakes in Mexico.

Here’s hoping Mother Nature will take a chill pill for a bit and allow life to catch up to us mere mortals.

Some further reading, and ways to help:

We’ve found some other stories from those in the area that we thought we’d share:

• Why Did Barefoot Gal Survive Irma? – Fellow nomad & cruiser Carolyn Shearlock shares the preps they did for Irma on their mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor, and analyzes just what happened to take out so many boats.
• Latch, Life And Love After Hurricane Irma at Boot Key Harbor City Marina – Fellow nomad who also just purchased their first boat, Kach Howe shares the story of their new boat surviving Irma and the community of Boot Key Harbor coming together. Within is also a way to directly help cruisers who weren’t so fortunate.

We’ve been asked by many to provide some links to local resources to assist those in the Keys:

• KAIR (social services) – http://www.kaironline.net
• SOS Foundation (social services) – http://www.sosmission.org
• Florida Keys SPCA (animals) – http://fkspca.org
• Keys Wildlife Center (animals) – http://keywestwildlifecenter.org

Also, the local American Legion and Elks Clubs have been very active in helping the communities, but do not have online ways to contribute.

We highly encourage you to join us in monetary contributions to any of these organizations.

But please please please don’t send “stuff” unless it is specifically asked for – there are literally truckloads of well intentioned donations coming in, and there is no where left to store, sort and distribute them to. We’re hearing from many organizations that are turning away non-monetary donations because of this.

And while the Keys are not yet ready for tourists (egads, Key West had their first cruise ship dock today) – we do encourage you to keep the Keys in mind for a future  vacation or visit. Tourism is the lifeblood of the Key’s economy and just as soon as the residents are ready – many will absolutely be dependent on tourists returning and spending their dollars here.