This was the week of hell for Nick and I…After we left our home dock and started cruising, a month later Hurricane IRMA rocked our world. Join us through this week of preparations, waiting, and seeing the aftermath of this beast of a storm.
Video Transcript
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Irma’s coming in good Irma is taking
doubt the super van her the super van is
taking a direct hit push it off bye Emma
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it’s heading directly for us
directly for us here is the hurricane
and we’re right here so task today is
we’re just going to get this boat moved
we’re gonna tie it up over at salty
Samson we’re gonna start tearing down
we’re gonna start tearing down the sails
and Bimini and everything else that can
be planted there’s the latest powerful
classic buzzsaw
look there’s a projected path again a
closer look at that path shows that
while it will likely stay north of the
islands it definitely gets close to Cuba
and then this entire area right here is
what we have to watch for landfall
potentially sometime on Saturday late or
into Sunday
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salty Sam’s
t-minus six days it’s Monday Labor Day
we’re going to provision before shelfs
start emptying we’re gonna get as much
as we can we think we need we’re gonna
try to get most of this stuff taken care
of within the next couple days off to
the grocery store I think we’re going to
target you Bengali I forgot are the keys
I always do it
Justin’s peanut butter with honey no
just get regular we got it all looks
like it’s all candy
out of water okay turn it’s out of water
six days all right
well we’ll come back tomorrow they’ll
stock it up again tonight long lines
bare shelves and frayed nerves as all of
Florida braces for what could be the
worst hurricane to hit the state in
decades you take a look here at this
Publix grocery store where all the
sports drinks and water would be the
shelves almost already completely empty
people scooping up what they can when
they can whenever our friends and
patrons are out of town his boat is here
and so we’re gonna help them out we’re
gonna take his Bimini down he’s got a
catch so he has three sails got two
solar panels got a hair conditioner
that’s a job in itself so I’m gonna go
over there right now
sitting ducks sucks
but keep working
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I am on the hunt for water my god
you guys it’s really insane I’ve been to
five places not one drop of water
there’s like Gatorade and stuff like
that but everyone is buying up the water
like it’s crazy I’ve never seen anything
like it and I’m from Florida I’m gonna
just keep on plugging and hopefully I’ll
find it keeps the water so
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taking down the solar panel sale bag and
this man is prepped ready to be taken
down I’m gonna take the battens out as
we go it’s getting dark but it’s not
much wind so it’s not hot it’s a little
chilly
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looks like it oh they’re open
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supervan it’s actually dingy seats and
folding bikes thinking if this thing
floods hopefully that thing floats in
here at least maybe protects at least
the motor I don’t care what the bikes
that much and her solar panel protected
by Paul’s chatter saying Amma is now the
strongest hurricane to ever plow into
the leeward islands
yesterday we mentioned only hurricane
Allen from 1980 was stronger in recorded
history for the Atlantic by 5 miles per
hour
Erma today however has surpassed Allen
by continuing to churn for over 24 hours
with winds above 180 Allen never did
that been a while since I’ve actually
never really take it out without the
Dodger on it’s kind of Awesome how do
you know
peeling up before the storm chop it up
tanks we got to jerrycans
so ten extra gallons and then we’re
gonna fill all the cans we can with
gasoline wardrobe
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got it yeah Suns going down though
pretty sunset and we’re kind of getting
this chafe gear set up what I’ve done is
I’ve run a line two lines to every cleat
and then I’ve also run a line to each
winch and then cross slip here just in
case any bone breaks free from one of
these and blows down here hopefully I
don’t know if they’ll matter or not but
maybe this line will keep them out keep
14 lines on earth yeah it’s pretty
substantial
so this is it final walkthrough I can’t
help but think I missed a few things I
don’t know it’s pretty nervous
this really sucks I’ll tell you that
we like sex I’ve made up really nice
though only that let’s hope it’s that
way when we get back
crossing the fingers she’s gonna be fine
yep
over good boy
Irma’s fury all inspiring and terrifying
to race against time now in South
Florida and Beyond with hundreds of
thousands of residents ordered out the
storm now wider than the Florida
peninsula forecasters saying it could
pave a path of destruction the length
and width of the state those already on
the move packing highways lines for gas
bumper-to-bumper but at many gas
stations the pumps have gone dry images
from the Caribbean in the wake of Firma
tell a story of Paradise Lost islands
like Barbuda and Saint Martin are
decimated there’s a latest honor man now
back up to category five winds of 160
miles an hour chance over the next few
hours it could weaken a little bit now
that it’s moving over Cuba but I still
think it’s probably going to maintain
its strength and go through the keys as
a category 5 hurricane and then once it
makes landfall the latest track is
taking it probably somewhere near south
of Naples and then through Central
Florida maybe a little more west that
track continues to come a little bit
closer unfortunately probably worst-case
scenario for us not only for satori
because
it’s gonna make landfall in Fort Myers
Beach where satorious but also because
the track then extends up through Tampa
and that’s where we are so we’re a bit
nervous to say the least
reached out to some of our friends they
live here in the same town that Kelly’s
parents do and they have a each other
yes nice big house with hurricane
shutters and everything I think that’s
our plan is to go take shelter with them
scary tale scary
nervous it’s Friday night before
Irma we’re at my parents house yeah
we’re just killing time figure we’ll
deal with that tomorrow tonight we drink
wine nothing we can do so attentive not
because he’s on camera but because
there’s cheese the eye of the storm is
back out over open water and very warm
open water at that that is what’s going
to allow this storm to re-intensify over
the coming hours the official forecast
from the National Hurricane Center does
take that trek back up to a category 4
strength directly over the Florida Keys
then it continues up the west coast
we’re talking Naples Fort Myers then
into Tampa taking a walk through
neighborhood here just north of Tampa
minor aches
it’s a Saturday night storms gonna hit
tomorrow almost hitting tomorrow and I’m
from Minnesota and so this is a little
surreal for us because for me anyway
because I’m not used to walking around a
neighborhood everybody’s boarding up
their windows it’s just like the winds
starting to pick up so it’s really
getting pretty windy and have this weird
darkness going on right now gloomy yeah
the outer bands of the storm are
starting to roll over it’s just like
makes you realize the sheer size of this
thing it’s just massive I mean it’s
still down in Cuba Satori’s basically in
the line of fire first is that thing
makes its turn it’s right now projected
to go pretty much right over Fort Myers
it’s like we can’t get away from this
thing
look there it is there’s the porter
compound hurricane Norma devouring
Florida tonight the storm making its
first US landfall at cojo key in the
lower Florida Keys at 9:10 a.m. these
storm chasers clocking speeds at 117
miles per hour the actual speed may have
been higher just before 10 a.m.
a 94 mile-per-hour wind gust in Miami
and ripping off the roof of this
apartment building on the streets below
more than 5 feet of storm surge swamp in
downtown Miami Tampa Bay this afternoon
emptied out dogs playing where it’s
normally feet deep highly underwater the
water literally sucked out to sea canals
dropping bays emptying up and down the
Gulf Coast people helping stranded
manatees here in Fort Myers Beach at the
pier the water would normally be well
over my head the fear now is that all of
this water that’s gone out has to come
back in it’s Sunday morning
Irma’s gonna hit and we are going to our
friend and Katrina’s to ride this thing
out
we got a few hours till the tropical
winds start kicking in and Key West has
taken a beating right now it’ll be later
tonight
wouldn’t hurt hurricane-force winds come
in like 12:30 right now rain started to
come down really hard King Arthur I see
judges mother for drinking too much
again mother he’s the cutest boy I have
a prediction that trees going down see
their roots moving the only concern is
that super van is right there more
importantly Dan makes bomb-ass beer yeah
he’s got a fridge full of it homemade
beer you know ain’t no gold shit
homemade beer that you just pretend you
like it’s good this is a first-place
American home brewers association that
ship
it’s beautiful yeah yeah
this look nice isn’t it yeah how is it
it’s good storm brew it’s great yeah did
you some more of that I think Satori
needs a fridge like this yeah yeah she
does yeah right now cheers brother
that’s yours we’re just happy to be in a
safe place Irma’s coming in burma is
taking down the super van
the super van is taking a direct hit
push it off by mo let’s push it off this
tree is so big not one man could
possibly move it oh I saw that shit
coming
at first light here in Fort Myers were
finally getting a look at this damage
and you can see the storage facility
sign didn’t make it through this either
and everywhere there are uprooted trees
there’s an uprooted tree here there’s
not fruit a tree here
Superman alright so uh we had a really
good night just want to send a big THANK
YOU to Dan and Katrina it’s taken us in
our thanks you we’re about to head on
the road and we’re gonna go check out
some friends in st. Pete we’re gonna
check Kelly’s parents house and then
we’re heading down this satori as soon
as we can as soon as some roads open up
bridges open up but um yeah I just want
to send a big thanks guys all right guys
be safe here
farewell everything is okay and fuel
tankers of
– for buyers to go
checkout story got about a two and half
hour drive
other people trying to get back south
quite the rush getting down here we got
some stop and go traffic some big-ass
machines coming in probably to do some
some cleanup as what I imagined blanket
stop lights are out people not stopping
waiting their turn these trees down
everywhere right here so right now we’re
in Fort Myers and this is probably right
about
where the I went through pretty dang
close publics
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all right pause intact which means our
dinghy and solar panel and everything
else is good I thought this would be
flooded looking dang
we just got to the salty Sam’s we’re in
we haven’t seen Satori yet everything
looks relatively okay but there is some
damage to some boats and this bull we
anticipate here some minor damage to
some of these boats the noising last two
competing looks like somebody’s already
there in that boat but this is what I
was worried about it just took a chunk
of his Stern here’s our girl there’s
some debris in the water but look at her
she looks pretty good
all these lines here she’s definitely
has some wear from some some of these
lines but our arch and gears intact we
busted your ass to get her prepared
that’s when this kind of pays off looks
like she doesn’t even have a bruise from
this storm I think we’re pretty
fortunate to have this slip
everything looks intact up there I can’t
believe this
category three hurricane the eye of the
storm was 15 miles from here
things good in here is it I’m pretty
damn excited this is so awesome I’m so
happy I mean I we had both we wouldn’t
want to say it but you know there’s a
point in time where we both kind of
didn’t expect even have her above water
when we got back here I can’t believe it
she’s untouched baby
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