Damage to boats, marina in downtown Gulfport Florida after Hurricane

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Leadfree

Two questions:
--How will you get under the three bridges at Palmetto (Hwy 41 Bus, CSX RR, and Hwy 41) one of which (the RR bridge) is quite low?
--And I would be quite surprised if the people in the houses surrounding your choice would allow you to randomly anchor there, so expect a visit from FWC at the very least. If you get a genuine jackass, as is likely (this is Floriduh after all) you may expect that they will pull your boat off its anchor and out into the main river (that is, had you been able to magically travel under the bridges). You'd need to be aboard to possibly forestall that, and you have stated that you would not stay.

whoops. since it’s only a game, My analysis was not as thorough. You’re right. Those fixed bridges would not allow my boat in. I was confusing the entrance to this river with a different one that I was looking at. I also was confusing this with the entrance to the ICW that I have gone through down there where the bridge opens.

this is indeed behind two fixed bridges. I could not actually get into this location without pulling the Mast first.

I’m going to have to bend the rules in order to continue playing the game. I have to pretend I got the Mast pulled. That should have been doable sometime between Saturday and now.

if I did get the Mast pulled, I would have went to the other location that I highlighted actually. This one:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fmdBTZRMRHjcReVd9?g_st=ic

(27.8837513, -82.3081633)

I only picked the location that we are discussing because I thought they were drawbridges. attached is a screenshot of the other location that I would have gone to if the mast was pulled.

unfortunately I will have to go back and move my game piece to this new location

it doesn’t matter what people think on land. The FWC is definitely not out playing nanny state or potty police when there is an impending hurricane either.

hurricane situations are not like the situation where you are just hanging out in that pool having cocktails and swimming off the boat and annoying people on land playing loud music. in fact that area is under mandatory evacuation and The houses are empty.

even if the houses were full of people, it doesn’t matter.

one thing I will say right now is I think the people who are going to win this game are the ones that left. I don’t think my choice to stay was the right one. I have a faster boat than they do even just motoring and I would’ve made Pensacola before they did. So far, it’s been a pretty valuable exercise playing this game.

PS: I definitely would not stay. for most of the hurricanes, this boat has been through, it has been put at anchor like that and left. It’s always scary coming back wondering what you might find but as long as it’s not in a marina it does pretty well. I did lose a window once. But for the game, even though I had to move my game piece, I’m still on the Florida Georgia line in the rental car camping out in it. Waiting for things to change around and go back down and see if the boat is OK

[Chotu]

Just a little more commentary. I think the flooding down the river that I chose is going to be a big wildcard. I hope I can find some footage or some pictures or some evidence of how much the Alicia River floods and most importantly, how much and what kind of debris is traveling down it, at what speed. it’s going to be 12ft flood.

I should be sipping a cocktail in Pensacola.

This was definitely the wrong choice.

however, other rivers that go farther inland are a great choice still. Tampa Bay does not seem to have a perfect one.

[scherzoja]

It looks like my hypothetical journey was not hypothetical for someone else.

On Sunday, I noticed a sailboat named Shazaam leaving Tampa bay on marinetraffic.com with a heading of about 300 degrees. There were several others, mostly larger sport fishers, tugs, and some USCG boats heading in a similar direction. AIS dropped that sailboat after about 10 miles, but last night, it was picked up just outside of PNS.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...vessel:SHAZAAM

[Rohan]

Right now it's Tuesday morning. Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida late Wednesday/early Thursday. That's over a day's warning.

It's about 200 miles to get from Tampa to the east coast of Florida - and let's say 36 hours, so that's about 5.5 mph (slightly less for knots). That's easily doable for most boats whether motoring or sailing. That's where I would go if I still had a functioning boat after Helene, then hole up in a creek somewhere on the East coast.

[Chotu]

yeah, truthfully, this storm is really, really slow approaching. Typically I usually don’t have this much notice. There was plenty of time to go elsewhere this time

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Rohan

Right now it's Tuesday morning. Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida late Wednesday/early Thursday. That's over a day's warning.

It's about 200 miles to get from Tampa to the east coast of Florida - and let's say 36 hours, so that's about 5.5 mph (slightly less for knots). That's easily doable for most boats whether motoring or sailing. That's where I would go if I still had a functioning boat after Helene, then hole up in a creek somewhere on the East coast.

Which creek?

As of Hurricane Milton Advisory Number 14
Issued: 10:00 AM CDT Tue Oct 08 2024
➥ https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refres...l/081455.shtml

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for...
* East coast of Florida from Port Canaveral northward to the mouth
of the St. Mary's River, including the St. Johns River.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for...
* Florida east coast from the Indian River/St. Lucie County Line
northward to Ponte Vedra Beach

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for...
* South of Port Canaveral to Sebastian Inlet
* Mouth of the St. Mary's River to Edisto Beach

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for...
* Florida east coast north of Ponte Vedra Beach to the mouth of the
St. Mary's River

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...
* Florida east coast south of the Indian River/St. Lucie County
Line to Flamingo
* Florida east coast north of Ponte Vedra Beach to the mouth of the
St. Mary's River

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for...
* Coast of Georgia and South Carolina from north of the mouth of the
St. Marys River to South Santee River, South Carolina
* Extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island,
the Abacos, and Bimini.

[GordMay]

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Which creek?

Does it matter? Any one of those would still be an improvement over tying up in a creek on the west side of Florida.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Rohan

Right now it's Tuesday morning. Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida late Wednesday/early Thursday. That's over a day's warning.

It's about 200 miles to get from Tampa to the east coast of Florida - and let's say 36 hours, so that's about 5.5 mph (slightly less for knots). That's easily doable for most boats whether motoring or sailing. That's where I would go if I still had a functioning boat after Helene, then hole up in a creek somewhere on the East coast.

But you're not there.

It's a totally different situation for those that are there and have a life.

For homeowners with kids, grandparents, jobs, etc, it's not just about a boat which is very low on the priority list.

They have tons of others concerns and preparations to make.

Some folks could lose their jobs over this storm when their office or shop is destroyed by the 10' - 15' surge and possibly their home.

Quite easy to make daring plans tucked in up the Chesapeake Bay then up the Potomac River just for the singular purpose saving a little sailboat.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Which creek? ...

Originally Posted by Rohan

Does it matter? Any one of those would still be an improvement over tying up in a creek on the west side of Florida.

Just seeking information. I don't know of any suitable 'hurricane hole' creeks, in SE Florida, that would be worth a 200 mi trip, in 'bad' weather.

[scherzoja]

Rohan,

Would it not be sufficient to go up past the Franklin lock on the Caloosahatchee River? You'd be safe from surge and rainfall forecast for that area is only about 2-4", so freshwater run off shouldn't be all that bad. Might be a bit windy.

Be careful choosing a creek that has a large watershed. With heavy rainfall, that creek could get increased downstream water flow with debris.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by scherzoja

Rohan,

Would it not be sufficient to go up past the Franklin lock on the Caloosahatchee River? You'd be safe from surge and rainfall forecast for that area is only about 2-4", so freshwater run off shouldn't be all that bad. Might be a bit windy.

Be careful choosing a creek that has a large watershed. With heavy rainfall, that creek could get increased downstream water flow with debris.

it would be completely sufficient.

That’s what I did for Ian in Ft Myers. 120 mile an hour sustained winds right over my boat. No damage.

It does get a little deep. Once Lake Okeechobee fills up, they have to empty it and let it come out. So it flows through and makes things flood.

But it’s no big deal at all because you are protected from storm surge and fetch

[Lee Jerry]

Tuesday night current weather:

Tampa Bay

Mid gulf

Pensacola

[NorthCoastJoe]

I think I will stick with the Pacific Ocean. Why would anyone want to be in Florida in the first place?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by NorthCoastJoe

I think I will stick with the Pacific Ocean. Why would anyone want to be in Florida in the first place?

not a day went by in Florida where I didn’t ask myself the same question. Ha ha.