Hurricane Irma was a direct hit for the Keys. It is amazing to look around at the damage left behind. I go all over the country to work storms. This is totally different. The storm got my home town this time. It feels strange. I drive around and look at places that I love to go to and they are torn up. Lots of places not open and won't be for a long time. I was working claims in Texas when Irma hit so Sharon had to get the boat ready. She took all the sentimental stuff off Sleepy Dragon. We really felt with a direct hit from a cat 4 that she would not survive. God was good to us and she not only survived but came out without a scratch. It has been a job putting all the canvas back up and getting the boat back into living condition verses hurricane ready but we are getting there.
Ir was a very hard time after Irma for the first 4 or 5 days not knowing if we still had a home. The government would not let anybody back into the keys and the news kept showing the same three pics of the damage in the keys. Finally we were able to get a satellite photo showing that Sleep was still on her mooring . We could not tell if she was damaged but at least \we knew she was floating We could also see Grace but could not tell if she was damaged either.
Our little boat "Amazing Grace" did not fare so well. I had her anchored with two 100 lb. anchors. The lines did not chafe through where they attach to the boat, but instead broke between the boat and the anchors. I speculate that another boat crashed into her and the keel chafed the line into. Only God knows. We found her on the other side of the bay up in the mangroves between two other boats. The bow both sides and the transom were all smashed. She had a hard ride to the mangroves. She is a total loss.
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| Satellite pic of Grace in the mangrove between two other boats. |
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| Before Irma |
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| She was a beautiful boat. |
