NOAA said it was the first tropical depression for the season and that the first tropical storm may develop from this rapidly forming system. About half past dark we began to think money spent on a slip was a mistake. It probably wasn’t going to storm. About two Captain Morgans later and we wondered if we were supposed to have brought two of each kind of animals on board with us. The rain fell in sheets. The slips we were in were separated by four foot docks. Next to us, four feet away, was a 40’ plus ketch. We could not see her through the rain.
Much to our surprise, and pleasure, there was very little wind. I’m certain it didn’t stand a chance with the force of the rain. The rain was like being in the water, not having water fall on you. If there was wind it was coming straight down and it was shoving the rain ahead of it. It was hard to tell if there were lightning strikes. It seemed like there were, but they were hard to discern through the rain. Forget thunder claps. The only sound heard was rain.
A tropical confession about this depression is the rain’s ever incessant drain on our mettle. Fiberglass, being pelted by this downpour, was not exactly the same as rain on a tin roof, but it was as exacting on our sanity. Would the rain ever stop? Rain. Rain. Sheets of rain. Walls of rain. And just when we thought it would never end, it didn’t.
What to do when there is nothing to do? We were sitting in safe harbor and would not be going anywhere, so This Captain decided to sit with a little more of that Captain and sip out from under the rain. The Kid escaped without me, but then came back to bring me along. We went to two places that we had not been to in quite some time. The first place was when rowed across Sarasota Bay with a hand-tossed, two item pizza during a storm. The challenge to row against the wind and waves with a rapidly cooling pizza sliding around in a box with a lid that kept popping open takes special seamanship skills. As you pull the oar with its blade bouncing off the surface from crest to trough you must develop a rhythm. The blade of the oar is used to move your pizza safely across the water to your waiting sloop, and the handle is used to bump the pizza box lid closed during this rhythmic exercise. The cadence will vary depending upon the storm intensity and its effect on wave length, height and other dynamics. But this for now is about getting the pizza safely to your boat. Everything can get rained on, splashed, and soaked, but there is no excuse for soggy pizza. So the rhythm went like this: pull, bounce, crest, bump close, trough; pull, bounce, crest, bump close, trough. When we made it to the boat in twice the normal rowing time, and four time the rowing effort, everything on board the dinghy was swamped, except for the pizza. The other place we went was the time when The Kid was hustling pool at Captain Tony's in Key West. The details about that other place escape will wait for the next time, but during our rainy day on Chub it was a good place to go to wait out this tropical depression, turned storm. So, while we waited, the rum was good. The stories were good. The laughter was good, even though the rain continued.
Sometimes, even while at other places, you have to getaway. The rain was over by morning, but just to wait out a storm, to worry about something we could do nothing about, and stress-out, doesn't make sense when you can chill-out by escaping.
Pirate Alert Update: We have no new updates about our missing wooden pirate friend. Please keep watch and report to us if you have any information.
The Captain and The Kid
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