The Worst Averted?

Talked to several people today (at the gas station, in a restaurant, on the beach watching the wild waves and surfers) and consensus is that there's not much to worry about with Ida here.  Rain and wind gusts, yes, but probably no car damage and probably no power outages. 

The bulk of Ida is hitting Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL.  And although Pensacola isn't so far from here, I guess because Ida isn't real big, we'll miss most of it.

So we'll see through the night, when she makes landfall in the wee hours.

I did get to the beach after sundown (about 5:15PM) and snapped these.  As the Gulf is usually smooth (and the "natives" call it "the lake") waves about eight feet are substantial.  But I didn't have much luck capturing them at their height (click to enlarge):

Having slept only five hours last night, arising to catch Ida's progress and decide whether to stay or leave, I'm fading.  Time for a movie in bed.....that is until I fall asleep in ten minutes.

Sixteen Hours Away...

and the waves are kickin' up. 

Oh yeah.  I want Stephanie Abrams job. 

So these really are photos of Miramar Beach ("my" beach) today late morning.  I'll try to get back out there before it gets dark to shoot more.  (Ya gotta click these to enlarge to get the effect....)

And I did go buy some candles and matches.  Just in case.

Hurricane Horoscope

Talk about a relevant horoscope for this morning:

Monday, Nov 9th, 2009 -- It's difficult now to know whether you should laugh, cry or do both as you are confronted with extreme situations where you must choose a course of action. The pressure is real, but your emotional reactions are also part of the problem as your fears are brought on by uncomfortable memories. Luckily you can minimize your biases by sticking to the facts. You'll come out on top today if you can keep your focus on the current events, and not on the past.

If that doesn't describe my dilemma perfectly, I don't know what.  It's 8:15AM and I'm trying to decide if I should leave.  Everyone's sick at my son's house, so I don't think heading up there is a good idea.  Still boils down to two things and those are will my car sustain damage (downed tree limbs, flying debris, or scenario like photo above) and will I be without power for an extended time period?  The Weather Channel has just issued a flood warning for Murder Creek in Mobile....Murder Creek, gees, who named that?

Ida has just been downgraded to a tropical storm, no longer a hurricane, but meteorologists are still predicting flooding and power outages.  Is my horoscope suggesting I focus on current events (fact that this is just a tropical storm) and not the past (prior hurricanes) and therefore, just stay and not worry?

I guess I could risk it and run to the local Walmart for candles, matches, a battery-operated radio just for some connection to the real world, and pack a cooler with some sandwiches.  I've read that the food in your fridge can be okay in a power failure for up to 24 hours if you don't open it.

There have been a mere three hurricanes in recorded history that have landed in the U.S. in November, only one of which (Kate -- 1985) hit the Panhandle.  The bull's eye for this storm is Pensacola Beach, upon which I walked at 4:30PM just yesterday --- past this dome house which has been built to survive hurricanes and survived Hurrican Ivan in 2004.

More info on dome house here

If only there were someone else here with whom to light the candles and play cards, watch the winds,  and bemoan the conditions if the power fails!  I'm afraid it's going to be solitary confinement for two days.

Update

When TWC positions Stephanie Abrams and Jim Cantore an hour away from me in Pensacola and another reporter right in Destin, that has me concerned.   Just saw that on TV.

Not that I'm worried for my life or anything like that, as so far, Ida is only a Cateogry 2....but the tornadoes that could spin off from Ida will be in the northeast quadrant, which is where I am.....and #1, I don't want to risk damage to my car from flying objects (I have no garage here) and #2, I don't want to sit around in the dark with no TV or radio and no one to talk to in case of power outages.

So, I'm thinking of throwing the laptop and some clothes into the Silver Solara and heading six hours up to Atlanta to stay with my son and family till this blows through.

Will decide after tuning into TWC at 6AM tomorrow.  Stay tuned.  (Nice start to my winter stay here, huh?)

Hurricane Ida Approaches

Weather reports have Hurricane Ida currently coming ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi by Tuesday of this week.  Although Destin to Panama City are warned of possible storm surges and coastal flooding (hey, I'm less than 1/2 mile from the beach!) people around here aren't worried.  They say if there were any chance we were in danger, we'd have been told to evacuate, as they have been in Louisiana.

However, this was just issued by the National Weather Advisory: 

Hurricane conditions could be felt along the Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle late Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning. For that reason a hurricane watch continues from Grand Isle, La., east to Pascagoula, Miss.

The impacts to the Gulf Coast will not change if Ida is tropical or extratropical as it makes landfall. Winds up to 75 mph, heavy rain, some storm surge, and high waves are all likely from the mouth of the Mississippi east to the Florida Panhandle.

On top of that water rise waves of 16 to 22 feet are expected from Mobile Bay east to Destin, Florida   (me -- yikes!) by Monday afternoon. Waves from just east of Destin east to Mexico Beach (southeast of Panama City) could reach 12 to 15 feet. The waves along the islands off the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts and from Mexico Beach south to Apalachicola, Florida could reach 8 to 12 feet.

I'm crossing my fingers.

Here were some waves this afternoon, and we are supposedly still a day and a half to two days away.

Ok, I have to confess that I didn't take this picture.  I had forgotten my camera, so I had to find a stock shot that was as representative as possible of the waves we experienced today.  (I was so tempted to post something tsunami-like.....giggle.....but I restrained myself.)

Discovering Destin

I only know what I've read online about the Panhandle, so am discovering it for the first time this winter.  I'll share what I find, as I find it, with you.  To start, the sand and ocean are unlike any other place I've seen.  The ocean glistens emerald green/teal blue/aqua and the sand is pure sugar.

History of our Sand

The unique sand of the beaches in the Destin area is among the whitest and most homogenous of the world.

Consisting of small quartz particles, this sand came from a process involving the Appalachian Mountains and the Apalachicola River 20,000 years ago. At the end of the last Ice Age when the world temperatures began warming and the ice caps began melting, large volumes of water were carried by the rivers to the world’s oceans. The Apalachicola River, rising in the Appalachians, carried water to the Gulf of Mexico and continues today.

This water carried the quartz particles from the rock that forms the Appalachian Mountains and deposited them in the Gulf of Mexico, just 125 miles to the east of what is now Destin. As the sea level began to rise, these quartz sands eventually formed a new shoreline. The sands today continually replenish and reach as far west as the Pensacola Pass, their final destination.

Average Destin Weather the Six Months I'll Be Here:

(High/Low/Rainfall/Water Temperature)

November     72   48   3.2”   72

December      63   44   5.0”   64

January          61   42   4.0”   64

February        63   44   4.3”   64

March            68   50   6.0”   66

April              76    58   4.5”   72


If these averages prove true this year, it will suit me just fine.  Sixties and seventies with sunshine is paradise to me!

I'm on strip of land in the Panhandle surrounded by the Gulf on one side and a bay on the other:

My Winter Haven

Ok, I've described the rental process (somewhat), my trip down, my first impressions and later ones of the unit and area, so here are photos of the inside of my winter rental.  (Click on "winter rental" preceding this sentence, if you are unfamiliar with live links.)

And notice how it doesn't look like a cave from these pictures (probably because most of the lights are on!)  Or.....wait just a minute....the walls have been painted brown, not cream as in these shots!   Well, now, that explains a lot.  (I just noticed that while looking at the photos again....duh.)

P.S.  There's a second bedroom and bath, so come on down for a free stay!  :)

Map of Sandestin Resort