From Dry Ground!

Hurricane Earl in all it's Category IV splendor prompted Laura and I to pack it up and head to VA Beach. I'll stay on the island for a Category I or II storm but once it's a Category III storm that looks to have an impact on our little sandbar I pack it up and head for greener pastures. There are a lot of people who stay on the island and everyone has their reasons and I respect that. For me though I've never been one to buy into the "go down with the ship" mentality - I'll build a new ship! Anyway the other thing is that the island is pretty much shut down anyway so we'd just be sitting there doing nothing so we drove up to VA Beach and are staying with Laura's brother and his family. We get to visit with Laura's nephew and go out and have a drink and I even went for a surf this morning. Waves weren't all that special - waist high maybe up to chest high on the set waves but fairly mushy and lacking any power. I did get some nice long rides though and the water felt good so I'm glad I paddled out.

Yesterday was a busy day getting the shop buttoned up and the house ready so we could take off when Laura got out of work. We have our roof sign on hinges so we just have to knock down the support arms and lay the sign on the roof and secure it in place and we pull all the kayaks inside and board up the windows. The whole process doesn't take too long and we actually had a pretty good day of business considering the island was in the process of evacuating! It's been a while since we've had an evacuation of the island but it never ceases to amaze me how out of touch people can be. The evacuation was announced at 8am for all visitors on the island - at 1pm I had a woman in the shop buying some things asking me what I though of the approaching storm and if I thought there would be an evacuation. When I told her that we were CURRENTLY in the midst of an evacuation and all residents were supposed to be off the island by 12pm she was shocked - no idea at all. So if in the next couple of days you're watching the news and see someone crying about how they barely escaped the storm with their life - I wouldn't feel too bad for them - they had plenty of fair warning from people obviously way smarter than them!!

*Drew now steps down off his soap box*

The pic below is the most recent storm track which, thank goodness, is showing a turn to the North and seems to be sparing Hatteras Island a direct hit.

Hurricane Earl 5-day forecast track

Despite the apparent miss, the island is still going to get Tropical Storm force winds (40-72mph) minimum and likely hurricane force winds as well (>73mph) although not necessarily Category IV storm force winds (cross my fingers, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye...) as well as get an ass kicking from the surf. Speaking of which...

The Frisco pier seems to be in the throes of death unfortunately. I pulled the following photos from the Facebook page of a Frisco resident who is on the island - keep in mind that the pier has been closed for, I think, two years now in a state of disrepair so it wasn't looking so hot even before the following pics were taken.

The Frisco Pier - taking a beating before the arrival of Earl

Bits of the Frisco Pier on Frisco Beach

If you're still on the island I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow or Saturday safe & sound!! I'll have the shop open as soon as humanly possible and I'm looking forward to getting back and going for a surf! Love you Hatteras!!