BBQs, Tornadoes & Social Media

I'm not sure this roof would stay on during a tornado.

Indiantown Marina hosted a BBQ on Saturday, which they do most Saturdays provided the weather is cooperative. The marina provides and grills the meat and everyone brings a dish to share. There were a lot of salads this time, which is a good thing. It helps balance out my chocolate intake.

When I looked around the table I was sitting at, I realized that I had met everyone there through blogging and Facebook. It's kind of strange to think about the fact that social media is how I meet a lot of the people these days. After all, I'm pretty new to this stuff - we've only had our blog for 2 1/2 years ago and I joined the dark side and set up a Facebook account less than two years ago.

Sitting on one side of me were Matt and Jessica from MJ Sailing. After following their blog for a couple of years, it turned out that they were our neighbors in the work yard at the marina when we bought our boat here in April. I think they've been at Indiantown Marina for a year now. It's kind of frightening to think about the fact that we've all been here for so long. Of course, we did take our boat to the Bahamas during May and June, so at least we managed to escape Indiantown for a while.

On the other side of me were Bruce and Michele from Sailing Wind Spirit. I got to know Michele through our blog and then got to meet her and Bruce in real life when they shipped their boat to Indiantown from Oregon. They've been in the work yard for a few months. I think it's been almost three months, but we probably shouldn't say that out loud. I think they wish they were already out there cruising. But, they too have been sucked into the vortex that is Indiantown Marina.

Across from me were Laura and Hans from Knotty Cat Tales. Laura contacted me a couple of days ago via our Facebook page. They had their boat stored at the marina and were planning on splashing her so we made arrangements to meet up.

Laura and Hans were due to splash on Friday, but severe weather put a stop to that. The marina canceled all the splashes that day due to high winds, thunderstorms and tornado watches. Like everyone else, I stared out my hatch during the height of the storm wondering if any of the boats on the hard were going to tumble over. Fortunately, the tornado watch never turned into a tornado warning at Indiantown.

I grew up in Ohio - we had tornado drills in school and there were times at home where we spent hours in the basement with the radio on hoping one of the twisters didn't strike our neighborhood. But here at the marina, there aren't any basements. There aren't really any suitable shelters to hide out in. Sure, I guess a few of us could cram ourselves into the showers and bathrooms by the office. They don't have windows, so that's a plus, but I'm not sure how long the roof would last.

Severe weather sucks. But, on the bright side that meant Laura and Hans got to join us at the BBQ since they weren't able to splash until Saturday. They planned on heading off to Stuart yesterday, but we had some more severe weather, so I'm not sure if they managed to get out of here.

I got a 4:30 AM wake-up call on Sunday with wind rocking my boat back and forth. Winds gusting 40+ MPH, rain, lightening and another tornado watch. An invigorating way to start the day. Who needs coffee? Well, I do. I quickly made some in case the electricity went out. After the worst of the storm passed by Indiantown, a tornado formed ten miles to the east of us. Fortunately, our tornado watch never turned into a warning, although there were plenty of warnings in other parts of Florida and the severe weather caused loss of life and property damage.

It was windy the rest of the day, but once the tornado watch had been lifted and the gusts settled down into the 20-30 MPH range, it was so much more relaxing. So relaxing, in fact, that I took a long nap. A perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!