Oh what great plans we had for this week, visit Green Turtle, dive the reefs at
Guana and Foul Cay hit the FULL MOON party at Yahoo's on Thursday night. We were
going to get our monies worth out of this week... little did we know!

Monday morning sunrise was a disappointment, it was mostly overcast and gray.
We did the morning ritual, drinking coffee and munching on toast from Bahamian
Bread, tuning in on channel 68 to listen to "Barometer Bob" on the "Cruisers
Net" give his usual weather report. We first heard the name that would haunt us
for the next two weeks....DENNIS. He was somewhere below the southern Bahamas
and no one seem to know exactly where he was going, so we iced down the Kalik
and set off again to do Sandy's. Not having to worry about the neophyte snorkelers
we covered the whole reef. This was great trip we found turtles, three large
Leopard Rays flying in formation and two small sleeping Nurse Sharks on the
sandy bottom between two coral heads and of course we provided lunch to the fish.

Tuesday morning there was much more activity on the Cruisers Net. Barometer Bob
seem to think Mr. Dennis might be heading our way and on the radio Silbert was
echoing his concerns. That day we decided to hit the northern end of Guana and
the reef on the outside. Heading north between Hopetown and M.O.W. there were
large swells rolling in, these condictions changed our plans about doing Guana,
so it was another morning wandering though M.O.W. buying more T-shirts, and a
canvas bag from the sail shop. That afternoon was a peaceful trip floating back
though Tilloo Banks, drinking Kalik, and another lunch stop at Yahoo's. That
evening it was dinner and after dinner drinks out on the deck watching a almost
full moon and discussing what we were going to do about the coming hurricane.

Wednesday morning, the "coconut telegraph" was hopping. Barometer Bob and Silbert
were forecasting that Dennis would arrive in the area sometime Thursday. Since
Chas and myself live in the hurricane capitol of the east coast (Wilmington, NC)
and had weathered three servere storms over the last two and half years there
was a very serious discussion of whether to stay at RockyBay or try to get an
early flight home. A call to the airline found seats available so we tried to
talk Karen into leaving early, but she would have no part of it. She said if
Chas and I stayed she would stay, besides she was very attached to a little
starved kitten, who look like she was on her last leg ,which we had found upon
our arrival.

Well, with the vote in, it was decided to take the boat back to LaSue late that
afternoon with the hope of getting it back on Friday after the storm had
departed.. The caretaker called and said they would be over to board up the
house late that afternoon., We began to make preparations for the storm, checking
the generator, making sure it would start. A trip to the store to stock up on
food, rum and Kalik, not necessary in that order and getting all the stuff
out of the boat. We managed to get one more snorkel trip to The Mermaids before
returning the boat, and getting Joel to run us back to White Sound. around 5P.M.

That evening after dinner on the deck, looking out at the ocean you would never
know there was a hurricane less then 24 hours away. Now RockyBay is the first
house I have ever stayed at on Elbow Cay which had a phone, which I didn't care
for. If I want to talk to someone I'll call. However I guess its worth it.
Friends and relatives started to call informing us of the pending storm. Late
night reports said that Dennis had slowed and was not expected to arrive until
later Thursday night.

Thursday was the most beautiful sunrise of the trip. Since we were without a
boat we decided to rent a golf cart and perhaps do the reefs off Hopetown Lodge.
Neither of the two rental places were open , they had shut down for vacation.
"stranded on a sandbar".

After listening to "Barometer Bob" again and learning that Dennis had slowed and
was expected to strengthen. He was now not expected to arrive till sometime
Friday. We had another vote and decided since the rest of the week looked shot we
would try to return home. Called the airline,. there were no seats available,
seems like every one had the same idea.. You snooze, You loose. Late that
afternoon the caretakers came over and put down all the storm shutters on the
house. Talking to Lucille and her husband was a trip.Both borned and raise on
the island they were super nice people. She said we shouldn't have any problems.
One disturbing bit of news she had was during a hurricane five years ago which
went to the east side of Elbow Cay the ocean waves were so high that they were
breaking between the RockyBay house and the house just north of us. She told us
that the house next door had the windows busted out of it by the waves which
moved the frig and the stove into the living room. That bit of information had a
chilling effect on the crew since the house next door was very close and the top
of the ridge between was only a few feet lower than the floor of RockyBay.

RockyBay is a bright airy house, after all the shutters were closed however the
place was like the inside of a tomb, needless to say our sprits were heading
toward the pits. We found that Abaco Inn had decided to close early and sent
their remaining guess (if there were any left) elsewhere, however Sea Spray was
open for dinner. In between showers we walked over to Sea Spray for dinner, the
service was great, the food was outstanding as always. of course there were very
few (wonder why) for dinner that night. Returning to the house around high tide
we found that the water in White Sound was up to the road in front and waves
were almost up to the bottom of the steps of the deck on the ocean side. The
wind had really picked up and there was a lot of salt spry in the air. The rest
of that evening was consume with firing up the blender, listing to Buffett and
of course the damn phone.

I'm not sure how much sleep the rest of the crew got that night but I think I
was up every hour and walking around to the lee side of the house for a look &
see . I ran into the Chas doing the same thing several times that night.

To be continued, are you bored yet?

Later
RJ

Follow Ups:

Re: Trip Report Part III "Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season" Jerry and Laura 22:58:25 9/05/99 (0)