The Electrical Storm

We've stayed in Port Maurelle waiting for the winds to go back to somewhat normal. We've had 25-30 knots for the past couple of days and there wasn't much point in moving. Monday was shore day and I managed to get all the rust stains off the boat and cleaned up some corroded bits on deck. We had a great walk into the village on the north end of the island yesterday and weather permitting I will go back today to help one of the locals tour operators with some wiring on his boat. As I write this however, it's grey, overcast and raining. The weather has quite frankly been less than we had hoped for here. Last night, in particular was bizarre. In the wee hours of the morning Cathy woke me up saying someone was shining a spotlight on the boat. We very quickly realized that it wasn't a spotlight at all but lightning! We got up, put our spare GPS and a handheld VHF in the oven (theoretically it would protect them in the event of a strike on the boat), switched off most of the breakers and watched as the sky was lit up by crash after rash of lightning. OK we've both seen lightning storms before, but this lasted well for almost 4 hours and it really didn't let up. There were a couple of close strikes and I'm hoping that they weren't boats. It was nerve racking. A couple we met in Mexico in January got hit while in Central America and basically blew out every bit of electronics on their boat. It was the last straw for them and they're selling the boat. All these things go through your mind as you watch the sheer fury of nature as you are blasted with rain squalls, listening to thunder and watching lightning crash all around.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com