Moving Forward

FYI, this is a pretty depressing post. It's our blog, meant to record our life as it happens. This is as real as it gets.

In all honesty, it has been a tough few weeks. Since Irma passed, we had thought our boat was repairable and looked forward to returning to the islands and helping out where needed. Jared flew out to Puerto Rico with a lot of supplies and was waiting for a vessel to take him over the next day.
He was going to deliver the supplies, secure our boat, rescue Sunshine (our dog) and help out as needed. We should learn to stop making plans.

Maria was forming and heading our way. The second hurricane within a week. Another Cat 5. Jared flew back to Maine, where we are staying temporarily with friends to wait out the storm. He booked a flight to head back a few days after.

It was during this waiting period we got word that Maria had caused further damage and our boat was now sinking. It had come off the seawall and the starboard side was going under. Someone had stolen all our fenders and who knows what else off the boat.  Despite all efforts to contact the marina and a salvage company, no one would help us. We've called, emailed, texted and nothing. The only response is "maybe we can get to it, but no promises". The marina manager stated they could not move any boats without a surveyor signing off. Our previous surveyor was on site and could do the job, but our insurance denied this, stating they had to use their own. This delay caused us to lose our home!

If something had been done to secure RoundAbout before Maria hit, we would still be ok. Now, we truly are losing our home and everything on board.

Since then, we've booked another flight, only to have it cancelled. Three times, we have been attempting to get there. We are beyond frustrated. We have to keep trying. So far, we have another flight booked for later on this week.

In order to maintain some degree of sanity, we try to keep a routine. We are doing the best we can for our children at present. Keeping somewhat of a school routine, taking them on outings, and keeping up a strong front for them. However, it is a huge challenge to do so. The other morning, I just lost it and couldn't keep myself together any longer. My children comforted me, which made me feel worse. I am supposed to stay strong and I failed.

We have received word that our insurance marine surveyor is on the island and will get to the boats 'when he can'. We have no idea when he will get to ours or how long it will take for them to get back to us. We think it will be totaled, as the starboard half is submerged and gets even more so each day. Water is already into the saloon. I get sick at the thought of this. After all the hard work to get to this sailing life and now it has been taken away, before we even got started. We literally had 5 days. DAYS! Ugh.

So now what?

We are not making any plans at this time. We are just trying to survive from one minute to the next. Earlier today, I found myself crumbling and I had to talk myself through the next few minutes. Doesn't that sound crazy to you? Sometimes, it just overwhelms me and it is all I can do to focus and get through it. These waves of anxiety and stress are so hard to struggle through. Friends remind us to breathe and that it will be ok. The rational side of me knows this. However, I find it hard to breathe, literally,  and the feeling in my stomach just won't go away. Jared and I are going back and forth from being the supporter to being in need of support.

It then reminds me of an article someone posted on one of the BVI facebook groups about hurricane victims and what they go through. Yep, totally checked off all those indicators. Then, I get angry with myself for getting so low. This is NOT me. I am the "chin up and deal with it" kind of girl, not this emotional wreck of a person. Perhaps, this is a teaching moment, or an opportunity to grow from this experience. See, there is my rational and positive side coming through.

So, we take the days as they come, deal with whatever photos and news comes through from those on the island. We try to remind ourselves that we are fortunate. We have our family and are together. We are insured and will get through this. Still, it is very hard to deal with.

Despite all these emotions and despair, we do have some hope. We know that once things are settled, we can find a new boat and start anew. We are not giving up just yet.

Hurricanes Suck!

Well, if you have been following our Facebook page, you already know the status. If not, here is the status update on the RoundAbout crew. Forgive the out of sequence posts, but this one takes precedence.

We took acceptance of the vessel on August 30th and moved aboard the next day. We finally were here and so excited for our adventure to begin. Little did we know, we would have quite the kickoff, for the next day, we began to prep for a hurricane.

Taking down the sails.

Early on the morning of September 1st, we brought RoundAbout to our slip over at Nanny Cay marina. We settled in and then began purchasing materials for hurricane prep. Why didn't we just sail off out of the path? We were not equipped properly for out at sea. We still needed to purchase a sat phone, radar equipment, epirb, get all of our stuff out of St Thomas, the list goes on. We had so much to do before we could take our family out to sea. So, we opted for securing the boat as best we could in our marina. We enjoyed the time we had in between prep and kept a close eye on Irma's path. At some point it looked like it would track north and we would be ok. We bought plane tickets just in case; insurance should the storm change direction. It proved to be a good decision. We learned it was heading straight for the BVI and that the eye would pass over our island of Tortola. We had to leave.

Choosing fenders and lines.

We secured RoundAbout as best we could, You can see videos of our work on our Facebook page, linked on the left sidebar or you can click here.  She was tied with many dock lines, most of were bought BRAND NEW a few days before the storm. We purchased a bunch of new fenders. The largest we could find. A new friend we met while buying supplies in the chandlery drove Jared to pick up tires to tie to the dock for added protection. We took down all the sails, canvas, bimini cover, screens, basically anything that would lessen the windage. The marina staff came by and we added lines to the chains embedded in the concrete underwater in front of the boat. We did all we could do.

The night before, we took the kids out for ice cream bars and wandered around our new home of Nanny Cay. We love it so much and all the people we have met along the way. It is such an amazing community! We made our way back to RoundAbout and all laid down on the trampoline to enjoy the quiet evening. This is one of our favorite things to do on our boat. It is so peaceful and restful. The sky was clear and the moon shone brightly. I thought about all the nights we would have to do this and tried to keep the anxiety about the storm at bay. We got the kids ready for bed and fell asleep gently rocked by the incoming swell.

After packing some things into backpacks (we thought we'd be returning in about a week) and leaving Sunny with a friend who had a concrete safe room within their house, we set off for the airport.  We were lucky, that we had bought those tickets, because we wanted to ensure we could get the kids out of the way if Irma did track towards the BVI. The lines at the various check-in counters were long.

Mainsail and stack-pack down.

You see, days leading up to it, many were nonchalant about the entire affair. They didn't think it would actually hit directly, because nothing like this had ever happened before. The storms always tracked away from the islands. We didn't even see boards getting put up until two days before. We actually were thinking of cancelling our flight, but my gut just wouldn't let me. I'd rather risk losing the money instead of not having an escape plan in place.

We arrived at the airport early and sat down on the floor to wait for the Seaborne airline counter to open. There were a group of younger 20-somethings in front of us. They were desperately trying to find a way off the island and ended up chartering a helicopter at $11,000. It was either that or figure out where they could stay that was safe. I felt for them and all the others who begged for a spot on a flight, even if it were just to get their kids out of harm's way. As a mother, I hurt for these parents, desperate to send their kids to safety. Again, I hugged mine close and tried to breathe. Would the flight be cancelled? The departure screens flickered and with each flicker, more and more flights showed cancelled. We waited. We checked in and talked with the airline clerk about her plans. Would she be safe? Would she get home in time to secure her home? She was scared and wanted to hurry home to get ready. We prayed together for the safety of all, that this storm would somehow magically track north.

After getting our boarding passes, we made our way through security. Again, I was the only one who got stopped. In Miami, it was a wrench Jared had tossed into my backpack after the escape from being trapped behind the storage place's gate. This time though, it was the kid's large toothpaste tube that one of them put inside my backpack. Of course, once this was discovered, the guy said he had to search everything. This included, to my horror, pulling everything out. Yes, my underwear was held up for display for all to see. After getting through all of that, the guy asked if I wanted to him to repack my stuff. "No thank you", I said as I shoved everything back in as quickly as I could manage.
We settled down in the hard plastic seats, with the news blaring overhead about the approaching doom, I mean, storm.

We were scheduled to depart at 10am, but after that came and went, we started to wonder if it really would be cancelled. An announcement came that there was some delay in Puerto Rico, so we would not depart until 11am. We all got up from where we were sitting to walk around a bit and then settled into chairs near the departure gate. We were discussing the delay and what it could possibly mean, when a man leaned over showing us his phone. He had an app that showed whether the plane was in the air or still on the ground. Ours was still on the ground at SJU. We started to worry. Was the plane damaged? Pilots not wanting to come over here? What?
We chatted a bit. This man, originally from Britain, lived in Tortola but decided to evacuate over to Puerto Rico. He had done this before when the last hurricane came through. He described the hotel he would stay in, that it was made of thick concrete and he felt safer there.

Another half hour goes by and I asked an employee if the plane was approaching or if the status had changed again. She said it was departing soon. Had we missed something? The British man leaned over again and said the plane was still grounded. Maybe the app didn't update? At least, that was what I wanted to think. Others must have had the same app, because phones were at face level, eyes never leaving the screens.

All of a sudden, someone shouted "yes"! We all turned and she announced that the plane was in the air! A few minutes later, the announcement came on the loudspeaker that our plane would be arriving shortly. A huge collective sigh of relief was heard from the room.

Soon, we were boarding the plane and on our way to Puerto Rico. It was a bumpy start, as the winds were picking up and as we looked back towards our island, the clouds were dark and ominous off in the distance.

Landing in San Juan 30 minutes later, we went directly to the American Airlines counter to see if we could get a flight out today instead of our 8am flight tomorrow. No such luck, even with the added flights to help get people out of the storms' way. So, we had some bad pizza and checked in to our hotel room at the airport.

The kids were restless, as were we, waiting for any news. Some people had already begun posting on Facebook what it was looking like back in the BVI. Still making preparations and stocking up on supplies.

We decided to take the kids to an early dinner and while walking back to the room, we spied a laundry area and a hot tub. Of course, the kids all wanted to go into the hot tub, so while Jared watched them, I did laundry around the corner.
While sorting the loads into two washing machines, a young woman came up and offered me
a box of laundry soap she didn't need. We got to chatting and I learned they had just started their honeymoon when they had to trade in their little island villa for an airport hotel. They would be stuck there for the remainder of the week.
A couple of hours later, we were back in the room and decided to make it an early night due to our early wake-up call the next morning.

At precisely 4:40am, the alarm went off, so we drowsily packed up and made our way to go through security and find breakfast. As we sat waiting to board the plane, we watched the flight announcement screen. Some flights had been cancelled, but ours was still on time. Of course, worry crept into my mind once again. Would it be cancelled? Would we get out in time?

A airline employee sat opposite me, as we waited. We made small chit-chat in Spanish. She was leaving her 1 year old and 8 year old back with her parents while she would be on this flight to Miami. As the plane would not return until the storm had passed, she was going to stay with family in Orlando. Yes, she was scared about leaving her children but felt safe as their home was prepared. However, as a mother, I could identify with her anxiety. We really had no idea how powerful this storm truly was. Reports from the leeward islands were barely starting to come in.

I heard my family's name called to the airline counter. My breath caught. Was there something wrong? Would we not be on this flight after all? Overbooked? It turned out that they wanted to place us all together since we had children. It meant we were in the last row of the plane, but at least we were on it.

Once in the air, I began to relax a little. We were on our way to the mainland. The pilot made an apology for the rough ride during takeoff. I looked out the window over the kids' heads and saw nothing but white fluffy clouds and blue sky. By the time we landed in Miami, Irma would be in the BVI. I tried to think positively and focus on what we had to do once we landed.

Of course, we would hit the ground running. We had to get the camper and car out of storage and get the heck out of Florida.
About 3 hours later, we were getting into a taxi and heading straight for the storage place. After cancelling our rental agreement, we hooked up and headed out of there. Our friend Karen, who was watching Sunny, was texting me photos and updates. "It's about 80mph now, but all is well", she said. Sunny looked like she was sleeping through it all. Karen was cheerful and it made me optimistic. Maybe things would be ok.

Trying to get OUT was an issue. There was a gas station next door and the line for fuel was LONG. I had to get out and motion for a van to please move forward, so we could squeeze by. No easy task as we were towing 30 foot travel trailer.  We plugged in some random northern state into our GPS and headed north. Trying to find gas was difficult. All the stations we passed had bags wrapped around the fuel nozzles or caution tape around the tanks. Fortunately, Jared had the thought to fill up with gas before we placed it into storage. I don't think we would have been able to make it out otherwise.

We made one stop at the mall for Cadence to pick out her birthday present. For the past year, she had been saving her money for an American Girl doll. With her birthday in a few days, my mom guilt was too much and I made Jared stop so she could get her present. What kind of birthday would she have with us on the run anyway? We needed to do something special. The beam of a smile on her face made it worth it all. She was one happy girl.  We stopped to grab a coffee on the way out and the barista had no idea about the hurricane coming her way. We told her to start getting ready, for we were starting to see the devastation it had caused in the islands. Again, as Jared drove I was constantly checking my phone for updates. About 1:30pm, Karen's texts stopped. I figured the island had lost cell service.

We drove straight through for two days, only stopping to sleep. Our original plan was to head for family in California, but then when our dear friend offered us a safe haven at her home in Maine, we made the decision to turn back and head there. For one, it was a shorter drive and we would all be on the east coast when Jared flew back to assess the damage and help out. We could also see the fall colors and enjoy visiting with friends for awhile. The kids would have acres of room to run, a river to play and fish in, and friends to play with. We turned back east, but took a more northern route, away from Irma's path.

While on the road, we were glued to our phones, searching for ANY news of our friends, our boat, and the damage Irma had caused. It was terrifying. Our island home, that we had just begun to familiarize ourselves with, was gone. Obliterated. Numerous buildings wiped out. We just couldn't believe it. We had no idea it would have been this bad. Had we known, we would have thrown everything we could have into our packs and taken Sunny with us. Or, maybe we would have just immediately sailed south.

In hindsight, yes, we should have just taken Sunny with us, but she had recently had surgery and was fragile. I did not want to add stress to her healing process. Now though, I would give anything to go back in time and get her. As of now, we have heard the friends watching her are fine, but we have not had any word from them. We are praying that Sunny is also fine. The kids ask every hour and it is breaking my heart not knowing.

I was browsing through Facebook photos one evening, while we were still making our way towards Maine, when I found RoundAbout. I rushed out of the camper to get Jared, who was on the phone with a client. "I found her! I found RoundAbout"! We easily identified her by the dock lines, fenders, and main sail battens that were still lashed to the deck.

She was still tied to the floating dock we had left her to. When the storm surge came in, it destroyed the dock, but RoundAbout had held on! Her stern was resting on the hard, while the bow rested on another boat that had plowed into her in the water. The mast, boom, rigging, and stanchions were all down. The mast bent forward over the trampoline. The roof was crushed in and the bimini had been ripped off. There were multiple marks on the sides of the hull,  but no broken glass that we could see from the photos. The rudders and keel would need replacing, as would the props and possibly the sail drives. Our fenders were still in place. We could still see all the duck tape we had placed over the helm station instruments, including the radio. Maybe those would be alright?

Thankful that we had SOME news of RoundAbout, my focus was now about our friends and Sunny. Slowly, the missing list on one of the BVI facebook groups would have names highlighted green to indicate they were safe. I checked th,is list multiple times a day.  Eventually, we heard one of our family friends, the Allen family were fine, but with damage to their home. It took a few more days before we heard of the well being of the Simpsons, who were also watching Sunny. Still no news on Sunny though. I kept following the community boards, searching for any news. We received a text from Clive that they were safe and would call soon. We kept praying and hoping.

I read a book once, where the character lost a loved one. The pain she felt both in her heart and stomach, were exactly as the author described. I felt as if I had to hold myself together with my arms across my stomach to ease the pain. It was relentless and I couldn't eat. I was scared for the people who were in trouble, anxious about what our future would hold, and wrestled with regret over what we should have done. Maybe we should have just gone immediately over to St Thomas, picked up our pallets, an EPRIB, and other equipment the first day we moved on board. Then made a run for it! We would have been ok. We would still have a functioning boat. But we didn't, we had not an inkling of what this storm could do. We listened to the experts and secured her to the dock and left. We had to keep our family safe. They say hindsight is 20/20. It's true.

We arrived to Krista's on Monday afternoon. Exhausted. We were so glad to be done driving for awhile. To have a home base where we could recharge. We had so much to do though, and so on Tuesday, we ran errands, buying replacement clothing, warmer clothing than we had, since island life only requires shorts and a t-shirt, maybe shoes.

We also got the text we had been waiting for. Sunny was OK! She was safe and well. Karen had taken her to get the staples removed by a vet and asked when we were coming to collect her. Jared booked his flight and we bought a lot of supplies to take back. Our friends made requests of specific items, so we bought those as well. One of our friends back in CA is Search and Rescue (SAR), the same team Jared volunteered for back when we lived there. He is going to meet up with Jared and help him with Sunny and the boat.

Today is Thursday and we heard that the pallets we had shipped to St Thomas were safe and undisturbed. Little by little, things are looking up. Our boat is heavily damaged, but maybe she can be repaired. We will know early next week, as our insurance emailed to let us know they have sent out a surveyor  who will be on the island the same time Jared will be. There is so much figuring out to do, though.

If RoundAbout can be repaired, where will this take place? Ideally, Nanny Cay marina, so we could move back home. We've applied with the government to assist. Jared would serve as engineer and I would assist the schools.

If RoundAbout is totaled, then we will look for another boat. Yes, this storm set us back a huge amount, but we will overcome this and move forward. We are not giving up. We WILL set sail someday. It is just going to be a little while before that happens.

A silver lining to all of this (I really am trying to be optimistic about this whole thing; I have to in order to stay sane), is we are showing our kids that if you really want something, you go for it, no matter what. Sometimes life really throws a curve ball but if you are dedicated and determined enough, you CAN make your dreams happen.

Update and photos to come sometime next week.

Our Plans for Hurricane Irma

Well, the latest update has Irma coming pretty close to the BVI and we are not thrilled with this visit. Where we are located, the winds are predicted to range from 70-90 kts.

We are still working on preparing the boat before flying out Tuesday, as don't want the kids at risk. We have someone who we will pay to watch RoundAbout for us until we fly back, hopefully, on Friday. Still hoping it tracks back north!

On today's agenda is to get our anchor out and set. We will tie RoundAbout into a spiderweb formation tomorrow. I feel so helpless, because of not knowing what to expect or of anything else we should do to prepare. Our neighbors have been super helpful and we have read a ton online. Still, I worry. I can't help it.

Part of me does not want to leave her on her own, to weather out this storm. At the same time, I have to also think of my family and their safety. As I walk around the marina, I see that most of the boats here have done the same as we have. Others, haven't touched their boats at all. The people we talk to are 50/50 as far as preparing or brushing off the threat all together. As of yesterday, no one had put up any plywood on any of the buildings in town, which made me think that it may not hit as bad as predicated. However, yesterday I learned that they would do this closer to the time the storm actually hits because it gets way too hot inside that way, without the ventilation.

And Sunny, our golden pup. She can't fly away as easily as we can, as her surgery is still fresh and she is still in a critical healing period. Thankfully, one of our dear friends is going to take her to her home where they have a concrete safe room. I felt so much relief after she offered to take and watch over Sunny for us.

For the kids sake, Jared and I try to explain the truth about our situation, but that we will be safe and away from the danger. That we will do our best to protect our home and come back to her as soon as possible. We will then jump in to volunteer for our community as needed. It will be good to help out and the kids will learn a lot from this experience. Oh, and homeschooling? Well, we are doing a lighter load than usual because we just don't have the time. After today, they are going to get the rest of the week off. Of course, they don't mind that at all. And I realize they are learning: boat prep for severe weather, how to monitor and track wind speed, vocabulary associated with a hurricane, geography (where we are in relation to the storm), etc. Still, I wish this wasn't the forefront of their educational experience at this point in time.

We will make the best of this and stay positive. We can do this.

Here are a couple of videos of our hurricane preparations:

Starting to prep the boat (video 1)

Prepping continued (video 2)

Moving in, celebrating a birthday, and hurricane prep

We moved aboard yesterday! So happy and excited. It was also Zachary's 10th birthday, so we had lots to celebrate!

The bad news? Well, later that day, we decided to put our hurricane prep plan into action because there is a hurricane headed our way. We had been watching the weather closely and hoping it would change its track. It moved slightly north today, but still, we have to prepare.

So, day 2 is now spent on hurricane prep. What a way to start this adventure. Of course, why should we expect anything different. The past couple of weeks has had a lot of drama and while we survived, we think Murphy's Law is kicking us around quite a bit.

Forgive the lack of blog updates from the past month, but I have to help Jared prep this boat. We are moving to our slip in Nanny Cay within the hour and will put our plan into action: taking down the sails, canvas, lowering the boom and securing it to the deck, tying lines and putting RoundAbout into a spiderweb of strong and sturdy dock lines.

Our plan is to stay with the boat unless the winds exceed 70mph. We then have a plan to get our family off the island and to Florida, Monday at the latest. Our camper and suv are still there in storage, so we will go north or west to get away from the hurricane path. Once it has cleared the islands, we will head back to the boat.

I don't have the wifi to upload pics, but you can check them out on our facebook page.

Here is hoping the hurricane moves way north of us and away from the islands!