This episode was difficult to create.
It brought up so many emotions, especially with ongoing devastation from Hurricane Irma still being dealt with by many.
It was a tough to go back and see ourselves processing the difficult decision of leaving our boat behind for a potential direct Category 5 strike.
During this time period, we switched to “real time” reporting with regular video and blog updates on our evacuation and return to Marathon.
But we wanted to still mark this period of our lives with one succinct post that covers the span of time to insert in our Great Loop Travel Series.
So, here’s a video recap of the evacuation and return (under 18 minutes), with a lot of footage we haven’t shared before taken during the process itself. It includes clips from our security camera during the storm:
Since we’ve covered each leg of this adventure already in more in-depth posts, I’m just going to link instead of attempting to re-write the experience. They’re far more raw than anything I could share now nearly 2 months later.
- Hurricane Irma & The Keys in a Boat Update: Escape by Land or Sea?
- Hurricane Irma Evacuation Status Update: We Have Left the Keys by Land
- Hurricane Irma Evacuation Update: Out of the Cone
- Hurricane Irma Evacuation Update: We Escaped Florida!
- Hurricane Irma Update: Marathon Takes the Brunt
- Hurricane Irma Update: Y-Not Floats & Getting Back to Marathon
- Back in Marathon Post-Irma: Re-United with Y-Not
I’m also working on finalizing a video and post going over the specific decisions and hurricane preps we made to secure Y-Not in her slip.
We’ll have that up soon.
Great Loop Log (9/30/2017)
- Distance: 231.2 nm
- Stops: 16
- Marina Nights: 132
- Anchored Nights: 15
- Bridges : 11
- Locks: 0
Other Travel Posts in this Great Loop Travel Series:
- The Keys:
- South to the Keys:
- The Great Loop: South to the Keys (Part 1) — Ft. Myers to Naples
- The Great Loop: South to the Keys (Part 2) — Naples to Marco Island
- The Great Loop: South to the Keys (Part 3) — Cruising Ten Thousand Islands
- The Great Loop: South to the Keys (Part 4) — Everglades National Park — Little Shark River & Cape Sable
- Sometimes Nomads Need to Grow Some Barnacles (Two Months in Fort Myers)
- Starting the Great Loop — First Adventure: Punta Gorda, FL to Fort Myers, FL
View all our Great Loop Posts
on our new Interactive Map!
Current Status:
We’re deep in boat repairs after the channel marker incident, and working with the crew here at SeaLab Marina in Miami to tackle a bunch of projects that was on our list for up in Ft. Pierce. Current estimate is that we should be splashed in early December (they’re aiming for December 1st.. we shall see.)
We’ve also greenlighted our electronics installation for the boat (GPS, sonar, radar, etc). Our Patrons got a sneak peak at the equipment we’ve selected and thoughts behind the decisions. Once everything is finalized, and I can strap Chris down long enough, it’ll likely be an in-depth techie post here later as well.
‘Living on the Hard’ is an interesting adaptation, as we shared in a live video event on Sunday evening with a boat yard tour and update of the boat repairs. Maybe we’ll create a separate post with some tips about the experience later.
Ok.. this post catches up the travelogue an entire month. Just another month of adventures to go before we’re caught up.
Gasp! An unbelievable story and unbelievable experience I’m sure! I watched for your posts everyday during the storm, safely from Oregon, the left coast, the one without the hurricanes, hoping and praying along with you, that everything would turn out all right.. Thank you for sharing your lives, your joys, your challenges in the midst of the nomadic lifestyle. I feel like a voyeur… this should be illegal. Hopefully all repairs from the latest incident, are going smoothly and you will be on your way to enjoying the ride. P.S. I need to see Kiki please, now that all is well.
I am a BIG Technomadia lurker. Occasionally I post a comment. Felt I really needed to post here. On this update, I bow in deference to both of you on this video.
I assumed (wrongly) that in the chaos of the moment you wouldn’t be able to document the Irma experience. Amazing footage.
Outwardly, you two are stoic under pressure (though internally I’m sure you both were wrecks). Nonetheless, your experience with Irma is nothing short of fascinating. And as interesting as it all is, if I could wave a magic wand so that you and the rest of humanity didn’t have to endure it all, I would.
But Irma happened. Nothing we can do. You documented. You published. And it is very well done. I’m part of your legacy RV followers and I’ve been and continue to be hooked on your boat adventures.
One last anecdote, while I’m an easy laugh, I about lost it when Chris played the bass fish. Between the context of the situation and silliness of the fish, very funny. 🙂
Thank you for de-lurking, Jim.. and super thanks for your very heartfelt comment. Means the world to us. It was tough to go back and look at this footage, but I’m so glad we took a few minutes when we could to record a bit of it.
And I just couldn’t resist including the singing fish when I found Chris has recorded that on his walk-thru!
New Math: Technomadia = 🙂
Looking forward to so free WiFi to watch the video!