Friday morning.. Chas and I are up early, Karen still in the rack. Needless to
say there was no sunrise just a wet gray dawn. The wind is howling outside, the
surf is making a thunderous noise and you cannot tell if its the rain or the
palm leaves making all the racket. All and all "its just another shitty day in
paradise".

5 A.M. position 25.4N 75.3W
I bet every VHF radio in Abaco was tuned to the Cruisers Net that morning.
Barometer Bob was telling us that Dennis has strengthen during the night and was
more or less stalled out just south of Abaco but was expected to pick up speed
again and perhaps move in a more easterly direction. Silbert was saying much the
same thing and guessing that the full brunt of the storm would be in our area
late in the day. Winds in Marsh Harbour were reported to be blowing around 40 -
50 knots with higher gust.

8 A.M. position 25.7N 75.9W
.Just how far south is "Hole-In -The-Wall" anyway? A search of the house's many
books was begun, looking for a map of the Bahamas. Soon we discovered a world
atlas and were plotting the latest coordinates of the storm. Venturing outside
on the deck just above the ocean was an adventure in itself. The wind was
blowing straight down the beach.. Looking up toward Abaco Inn big waves were
washing over the pool. Every once in awhile a big gust of wind would hit and you
could feel the deck rise up a little bit. On the front side of the house White
Sound was living up to its name, solid white caps and spray. High tide was at
9:12 that morning and the ocean was a few feet below the steps of the deck. Not
as high an the night before.

11 A.M. position 25.7N 75.9W
Now the discussions were heating up on the "Coconut Telegraph" Silbert was
saying to expect a 4 to 8 foot storm surge when Dennis comes through later that
day. Barometer Bob was saying 1 to 2 feet of surge. Now being from Wilm. we knew
its not just the wind to fear during a storm but the high water during the storm
surge. I bet you can guess which forecast we were rooting for. To make matters
worst, we found a article in the local paper which feature a story about the
hurricane that hit in 1926 in which a twenty foot wall of water came into Marsh
Harbour destroying most everything and taking lots of lives. Now one would
expect that the blender would be turning out many Pina-Coladas and a first
class hurricane party would be underway. I hate to inform you that it wasn't
much of a party. I think only two klicks were consume and less than one blender
of coladas all day.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with filling up all the containers we
could find that would hold fresh water, taking all the deck chairs and tables to
the lee side of the house and securing them. I also think everyone was looking
for which Coconut Tree they would claim if things got really bad. Some time that
afternoon the owner of RockyBay called and told us to rest assured that the
house would hold up fine and his prediction was the storm would take a more
northeasterly track and miss us all together. That was some good news for a
change. A late afternoon field trip to Justin's place to make sure everything
was secure there was a real hoot. I'll say one thing about hurricanes in
Wilmington compared to Abaco, in Wilmington you don't have to worry about getting
killed by a flying Coconut......

To Be Continued....
Later
RJ

P.S.
Just another footnote;
It's 8 A.M. on Labor Day morning as I get ready to post this installment. The
weather radio alarm just went off saying a severe thunderstorm warning with 60
MPH winds, hale,etc. were about to blow through this area. Its been over a week
since I have returned to Wilmington and even though Dennis came ashore yesterday
(that was the third pass) and what's left of him is a hundred miles or so north
of us..... I guess, I hope, it is his way of saying goodbye.

Follow Ups:

Re: TRIP REPORT Part IV "There's Booze and the Blender" but we are on the wagon. NJCarol 08:34:36 9/06/99 (0)