Florida Hurricane Safe Marinas

[S/V Illusion]

[QUOTE=Kita;2993099]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Wow,lived in Florida all my 60 years on the west coast & all I can think is WOW! Your boat must be way faster than mine! I have learned from past mistakes trying to outrun the storms and sometimes it seems like you just run right into him no matter which direction you go they seem to be able to turn faster and when you just run into it. It's a whole lot easier to hunker down and make a stand in your best spot and take your chances hoping that you don't get a direct Category 5 because then it wouldn't matter anyway

Sorry if you don’t agree with the message but don’t shoot the messenger - I was only reporting the consensus opinion. Also, I wasn’t suggesting you wait “until the last minute to move.

[Nicholson58]

[QUOTE=S/V Illusion;2993327]

Originally Posted by Kita

Sorry if you don’t agree with the message but don’t shoot the messenger - I was only reporting the consensus opinion. Also, I wasn’t suggesting you wait “until the last minute to move.

I agree. If you stay aboard you can’t run away. If you go on the hard it had better be out of the zone. We do Trinidad. If you are in the water, NOAA generally gives about five days of pretty good path predictions now. You only need about one day of sailing to avoid the path. Two years ago in the Caribbean, Barbuda was destroyed, Cat V, while 25 miles away in Antigua they experienced 45 knots, no damage. There are definitely US east coast places where you can’t scoot 90 degrees to the predicted path to escape but several days should be enough. I understand many insurers will pay your expenses to move away from named storms.

[Kita]

[QUOTE=S/V Illusion;2993327]

Originally Posted by Kita

Sorry if you don’t agree with the message but don’t shoot the messenger - I was only reporting the consensus opinion. Also, I wasn’t suggesting you wait “until the last minute to move.

Hey I ment no offense, just from past experience. I am in Tampa area & have tried to run north & the storm hook to the east & i had to hide in Swanee River. And if I was to head south the storms are always coming from the southeast so it kind of puts me heading right into that path. For me it's always worked better to hunker down in a good place and I've been lucky enough to not suffer a direct hit other than Irma while I was in Suwannee River. Fortunately by the time the storm got that far north it was beat up to a category 1 or 2 and was not a big problem but it was certainly educational.. but if I thought I could outrun one I would certainly give it a shot. Good luck to you guys trying that... I honestly mean that... but knowing when to run is definitely a very important factor. I guess I was just waiting too late to make that commitment because it's so difficult to tell which way the storm is going to go at that point

[Mystic38]

There is no "hurricane safe" marina in FL... it is an absurd construct.

You pay your insurance, you make your choices, and you live with the results...

[dennismenace111]

My boat survived Hurricane Andrew and every Florida hurricane since! The key us to get as far inland as possible on floating docks. In South Florida, that's the Miami River or tge NewRiver in Ft. Lauderdale. Further North, the Okeechobee or Saint Lucie waterways, both protected from tidal surge by locks.

[Group9]

Our experience is that to have your boat survive a hurricane, you generally have to go inland a ways, and then you have to find a place that
1. will be available (if you think it's a good place to ride one out, others will, too)
2. can withstand some storm surge (we had a town 25 miles north of us that got fifteen feet in Katrina, front the water that came right up a river). Another boater I know, who tied his boat off well inland, had his boat pull six pilings straight out of the mud due to storm surge in Katrina. It was found on land, relatively undamaged, and still tied off to all six pilings.
3. won't leave you trapped by falling trees (I know of a Cape Dory 30 that survived Katrina by being tied off way up a canal, some distance inland. It took a year and a half of moving fallen trees before he could get it out.)

I've just seen too many boats destroyed in marinas in hurricanes, (and, even in tropical storms) to ever leave ours in one. We have insurance, but we like our boat a lot, and really would rather have it than the check!

And, to he honest, a lot of how you fare, no matter what you do, is dumb luck.

[JamuJoe]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

As we live in Florida, the consensus is that your ability to move is the best defense against hurricane damage; leaving the boat on the hard is the LAST thing you should do.

Hurricanes are generally very local events in terms of damaging winds/water being that most severe weather is centered within 100 miles and often less. It’s relatively easy to move out of the target. If you pull the boat, it’s just ‘dumb luck’ if you escape the center which could have been avoided by a one day sail.

Furthermore, most marinas in Florida are within the typical flood plain obviating any safety by pulling the boat. And that’s assuming marinas have anyplace to store it which many do not.

Well, you’ll get different opinions on that. My insurance company even gives me a lower premium when my catamaran is on the hard in FL. They do require ground anchors.

[MikeRyan]

We have been at the Palm Coast marina since 2011. We have weathered Matthew, Irma, and Dorian here. Palm Coast is midway between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. Each of those places has an inlet at the town and suffered greatly from Mathew. Palm Coast harbor is 27 miles from each of those inlets and has about a mile of barrier island (Anastasia Island) between it and the ocean.

Although we have had extensive water rises during these storms (four feet above the main dock in Matthew) and wind gust above 100 kts., there is no fetch, so we only get some white caps, no big waves. With proper use of lines we have been safe in all the storms.

In spite of the recent spate of coast hugging hurricanes this is the least visited part of the East coast south of Boston. It is the Western-most point on the East coast, and usually hurricanes either re-curve back out into the Atlantic, following the Gulf Stream, or cross Florida much farther down. (We are about 300 miles north of Miami.) Previous to Mathew the last hurricane to hit this region was in 1966.

Also, the Palm Coast Marina is the most friendly and well managed marina we have stayed at in our trip (many years ago) down from new York.

Only one boat has been lost in these storms in this harbor, and that was a freak accident due to some idiot tying his boat off to the fire hydrant pipe during Matthew - the pip broke and sprayed water into the boat next to it. That boat had blocked cockpit scuppers and the fresh water went into the boat. All other boats (including our Freedom 40 and many quite small vessels) survived with no damage.

Michael Ryan
aboard here There Be Dragons
lying Palm Coast Marina
Palm Coast Florida
617-935-9023

[CaptBobR]

Look at the marinas up the Caloosahatchee (sp) river just before the lake

[RSH]

We bought our catamaran in St. Augustine, where it had been on the hard for two years.

Saint Augustine Marina has the capability to pull your cat and put it back in, and the waterways are protected from the open ocean (we did our ASA 101-114 there).

Prices were very reasonable.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by MikeRyan

Although we have had extensive water rises during these storms (four feet above the main dock in Matthew)

I think our definition of "extensive water rises" are very different. We call four feet above normal, a "super tide" here (we got five feet of surge in our back yard from a hurricane that passed by a hundred miles away one year, with nothing but blue skies).

But, if that's all the surge you got with a direct hit of a Cat 3 or 4 hurricane, then that is a good place to be.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by JamuJoe

Well, you’ll get different opinions on that. My insurance company even gives me a lower premium when my catamaran is on the hard in FL. They do require ground anchors.

One former insurance underwriter tried to require we store anywhere north of the Florida border. That’s disaster-central! We store on the hard in Chaguaramos, Trinidad where there are NO hurricanes. 24 hour watched yard, high fence. Underwriters were obstinately stupid and pig headed. We switched to Geico. Our plan is to never be in the zone in season. Somehow all of the coverage providers don’t get this. We who get out of Dodge wind up paying for their past errors in judgement and for storm coverage for everyone else.

I don’t consider any Florida or east coast marina safe, just a crap shoot.

Every year another provider looses big and cancels the Caribbean. This year, Geico. Two years ago, Lloyd’s. So now we are without coverage while we negotiate yet another survey and search for an agent. We have two quotes 210% and 250% of last year’s plan, now $7000.00, +/-. Same stated value and features including a provision we vacate the zone in hurricane season. I suspect we Caribbean cruisers are subsidizing the hundreds of charters that stay put in the summer and east coast vessels that do the same. I can’t help thinking there should be some recognition for owners that control or eliminate risk, protect their principal.

Images. Why we go to Trinidad. There is quite a community of nice people here, great services, low rates, affordable air fare, OCC port captain is in the yard & is a tour guide. Street food is excellent and cheap.

[Scatterling]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

...Why we go to Trinidad....There is quite a community of nice people here, great services, low rates, affordable air fare, OCC port captain is in the yard & is a tour guide. Street food is excellent and cheap.

Things must have changed. When I was last in Port of Spain on a business trip, we were chaperoned around because it was so unsafe. The front page of the daily newspaper was filled with reports of all the murders that had occurred the night before.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Scatterling

Things must have changed. When I was last in Port of Spain on a business trip, we were chaperoned around because it was so unsafe. The front page of the daily newspaper was filled with reports of all the murders that had occurred the night before.

Never been to POS except on tour with Jessie James, OCC port captain. The ONLY marinas for cruisers are in Chaguaramos, Trinidad. Power Boats and Peaks. PB is #1 in our book.

[DennisRyan]

Another vote for Indiantown. Great friendly marina that does quality work.