Hurricane Irma

One could say Hurricane Irma missed us by 11 inches

This sailboat washed ashore by the marina bedroom's balcony

This sailboat was anchored in Rock Harbor, and I suppose technically you can say it still is.... because it's still attached to its anchor, which is still in Rock Harbor!  Its rode (anchor line) stretches across the side of our condo and over the rocks and is currently in the mangroves.  When the water rose, and the anchor dragged, the boat came ashore and deposited itself inches away ... 11 to be exact!

Barb has to squeeze to get thru the opening

We actually measured!  The boat placed itself exactly 11 inches from the corner of our unit without any evidence of ever hitting the building.  I spoke with the owner who told me it is an 18 ton sailboat; I can't imagine what 18 tons would do bashing up against a building.  So glad we didn't find out!

This marina power pedestal was one of the few to survive

Val, a former dock master at our marina actually stayed in one of the units in our building during Irma.  He reports that during the height of the storm, the water rose to just under the "hat" of the power pedestals.  That easily puts the storm surge at 6 feet.  When I took a ruler from that point to the the floor level of our unit, we probably had 18 inches left before ocean water would have been running through our unit.  We were so dang lucky!

The road leading to the marina

  

When we entered Key Largo, and pulled into our complex, this is what the roads looked like.  Hours prior they were worse!  Someone with a chainsaw had cleared a small path through, enough for a car to pass.  

NOAA recorded 92 mph winds through Key Largo.  Many trees were down, and for the first time ever, with the remaining upright trees without most of their leaves, it looks like winter.

The boardwalk to the tiki hut pier lost all its planks

92 mph wind is one thing, but a 6 foot water surge is far worse, as our board walk and marina found out.  While there is plenty of damage to the marina, the three boats which stayed in the water because they were too big to be hauled out seemed to come through fine.

Our favorite hut tub is now a sea weed tub

At the corner of the marina is a "Grotto Hot Tub".  While a great deal of seaweed found its way here, there is debris and seaweed everywhere. We left a Toyota 4runner in the parking lot, and while it escaped any damage, when I started the car it sounded strange.  After opening the hood, I found a great deal of seaweed had blown up into the engine compartment.  92 mph wind does bizarre things!

Where did the water go?

Here's a mystery - sea water rose enough to cover the pool, yet when the water receded it took an extra foot of water out of the pool.  Strange!  While the pool looks fine, it will take a while to determine if there really is damage.  The surprising thing is even though they are right next to the ocean, the palm trees in this area don't seem to be effected in the slightest.

Two sailboats in the mangroves

Rock Harbor is normally a safe haven for sail boats.  The original settlement of Key Largo was actually here in Rock Harbor, likely because of this fact.  When sailing down the Florida Keys, countless boats anchor here as it's one of the few ocean side harbors and it's a good day-sail from Miami.  Someone counted seventeen sailboats anchored off our shores as the storm began; now there are three.  Above are two sailboats which are stuck in the mangroves.

Another sailboat in the mangroves

Mangroves are the bomb!  They shelter and protect the islands and without them, the Florida Keys certainly would have disappeared long ago!  Above is a third sailboat whose anchor didn't hold and found itself deposited in the mangroves.

The roads are getting cleared

It's amazing how fast the crews have been clearing the roads and debris!

This is a picture of the entrance to Mariner's Club, our complex.  I like this picture because on the bottom center you can see some wood railing.  It took us a little while to figure out where we had seen that before.  It's actually part of the bar from the Mandalay restaurant next door, easily a quarter mile away.  Somehow it must have broken off, floated out into the ocean, been blown into our marina, and then floated towards the entrance where it finally rested.

Shell World

Outside of Mariner's Club sits Shell World.... I think they are going to need a new sign!

We're bent but not broken

Barb wondered why I like this picture - for me it shows where Key Largo is at the moment, badly bent, but far from broken.

It's amazing to us that while our building sits ocean-side and probably 20 feet from the Atlantic, it took no real apparent damage.  We have some water damage from leaking windows and vents, but we expected much much worse!  They say Monroe County in Florida has some of the strictest building codes in the USA, and our building is a great example.

Not everyone in the Keys of course was as lucky.  Our hearts, and aid, go out to the people of the Florida Keys.  We love it here, and certainly love our neighbors to the South who have it far worse!

Our best wishes and prayers to everyone affected for a speedy recovery!