- Updates from the Islands -

- - Culebra (PR) - -

- 97L goes orange

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:57:36 -0400

The alert on 97L has gone to orange, which suprised me a bit as itseems to my eyes to be more disorganized, but there is always moregoing on than meets my untrained eyes. Regardless, I bow to the weatherweenies and will continue to watch *what happens next*. For somereason, the new models haven't come out yet, or not where I can findthem. They should be out any time now.

- And the earth moved...

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 10:36:13 -0400

We had a 3.3 shake around midnight last night, 15 miles off of Culebra. I didn't feel it but I'll be asking around today to see if anyone I know did. It has been so still, I'd think it would make a bit of a ripple.

The water itself has had that glassy, glossy, mirage sort of look to it, where space is contracted and horizons are hard to make out. Weird, but I kind of like the visuals, even though the heat factor rises. A living Monet painting.

We are in the middle of two high pressure systems, hence the strange quality of weather at the moment. Maybe some rain later on? Apparently we got some last night but...I slept on. For absolutely no particular (not even seven particular) reason(s). That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Happy Birthday, dear Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn....

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Save What's Left!

- Marco and...

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 17:55:24 -0400

Out of the blue comes first an invest and very rapidly TS Marco, in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing to do with us, but always interesting how fast these systems can form. It is due to be over land soon, packing a bit of a wallop. Don't put away your storm prep bits yet!!!

And in the deep blue to our east is (yikes, the mosquito spray truck just went by, I got a little woozy there for a second..is this stuff legal?) an area of interest. Nothing expected but we know it's out there. Our island, as so many others, are saturated. Even though we are so much better off - despite our roads - than our close neighbors to the west and north. Supposedly shear is going to take care of this one.

In the meantime, enjoy the cooler evenings!

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Save What's Left!

- What the sat doesn't show

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 20:54:46 -0400

but the radar does. We just got a slamming rain lasting 15 minutes or so, but, according to our local radar (because I can't feel - or see in the dark - a bit of wind, from the north to the east. I did hear it on the *wrong* windows but not enough wind to make it come in.

Well, good. The plants will be happy, and so will the mozzies, which are tormenting all of us. I stood in the middle of the bridge today with a friend, delighted to feel the wonderful breeze and NO mosquitos! Maybe I'll take my little tent and move there for the next days until they go away.

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Save What's Left!

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- Wait Five Minutes

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 07:40:56 -0400

Good Morning,  This morning's first light was on fire.  Five 
minutes later it was "mellowed-out".
The last few days Culebra has had fantastic weather, super clear 
and pleasant breezes.
Every now and then we get a quick "typical tropical" shower, but it 
looks as those the main
part of the wave will pass south of us.

Enjoy,  William


Bill's Daily Notes & Photos:
http://islandculebra.livejournal.com/


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- Zoom

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 14:37:49 -0400

I woke up in the dark and woke up again in the dawn to weather that made me think, nothing really to write about today, another pretty day with blue skies, fluffy clouds, north swells...until about 30 minutes ago when suddenly a gust came that shook us up. A look at the sky that had been deep blue moments before showed a trail of almost black clouds from the east to the south, while north & west were still blue and fluffy. The temp dropped. Home now and looking at the radar, it seems this system is sliding by us to the south at a good clip and we may not get a drop of rain out of it...which, truthfully, is okay.

The trench that ate my car and has me walking again to town is the cause of daily road rage in my spirit, but it increases when the rain (or the water pipes that spring leaks due to incredible pressure changes..they haven't gotten it right yet) makes the deeply rutted (trenched) road a mad dance to navigate, by car as well as by foot. No one in a vehicle tries to hurry me in my *1 to the left, 2 to the right, 3 down the middle of the road cha cha cha* if they are behind or in front of me, either glad they aren't walking or stopping to give me a ride. I keep kind of hoping one of the off island workers will indicate even a flicker of impatience so I can vent, but they don't. I know it's ridiculous, but the combination of horrible road work, terrible construction practices and now the new one, via the word of one of the clinic nurses, an outbreak of hepatitis due to breathing in every foul thing that this digging (and not covering quickly enough) has provoked, gets me as uptight as a country girl driving in NYC (which I have experienced, but that passes fast enough on the here to there drive; this doesn't).

Something, obviously, needs to be done soon to alleviate this situation, but in the meantime, a passing system that doesn't drench the hillsides isn't a bad thing (since cisterns are full and plant life is thriving).

Argh. I think I used this to be my passing off island guy on a dozer...diffused. Thanks! One beautiful thing today...the pregnant horse that grazes in the now unused building's lawn across from my cart had her baby...so cute, so tiny, prancing after Mama on the grass...

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Save What's Left!

- Culebra; September Rainfall

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 07:36:14 -0400

Good Morning,  A rainy, drizzly morning in Culebra, a good time to 
catch up on all the data listings.  It looks to be an off/on rainy 
morning and then clearing in the afternoon.

For September Culebra received a total of 14.60 inches of rain.  We 
received a similar amount in 1996 from the system associated with 
"Hortense".  We now have a year-to-date total of 33.80 inches of 
rain.

Enjoy,  William


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- Fall has arrived?

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:01:00 -0400

Yesterday was breezy and didn't feel nearly as humid and hot as the days after all the rain. Last night was cool enough to put on a light covering. It is dead flat calm out at the moment, but not heavy with humidity, just heavy with mosquitos. Enjoy

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Save What's Left!

- I love this

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:00:23 -0400

"Le Sol est brille". A wonderful day for light" from Dominica...what a wonderful phrase! While the *light* today was rather spirit drenching with sweat, there are days I just want to gather up in my arms because of the light. Light that enfolds you, light you feel you could take a bite from, light that you want to package up and send to friends in the grey, cheerless places of their winter. I'll hold on to that phrase as I hold on to the light when sometimes it seems just too freakin' hot.

In a little while many of us will be gathering at the beach to give a farewell party to a dear friend who is heading back to America, for all the various and valid reasons one does that (or England or Europe or Australia or where ever our myriad band gets here from). There will be excellent food, being cooked and packaged as I write, great libations, lots of goodies (which I'm sure Mary will have fun figuring out how to pack and ship), stories we've heard and stories we've not heard, swimming (someone will be the designated at the moment drink and cigarette bringer through the gentle waves) and woven in with all, much laughter and maybe a few tears.
When I first moved to the islands (St. Croix) I made friends with a couple that had been there for years. I had no reason to think they wouldn't be there for years more. Being the unsettled sort that I was, I was usually gone long before I had time to miss anyone where I lived...I missed them later on, when I was the one gone. But my traveling feet were, slightly, slowing down and I'd been there a couple of years. Then the couple announced they were leaving. I was devastated. They had been among the first to reach out to me in a funky wonderful but oh so different place where I had moved and knew no one...they were mainstays for so many...how COULD they be leaving?

And then another friend told & taught me about the transient nature of islands. How people come and people go and enjoy them while you know them, because tomorrow they might be gone. Gone didn't mean dying (though we have a lot of that), it simply meant, moving on to the next adventure. And that explained a lot...how people could be kind without being wide open until they found out if you were going to stick around for more than six months...about how we hug and kiss a lot, even if we see each other all of the time (once, when I was managing a hotel, I took a guest downtown and he said, oh my! you seem to know everyone, how long have you been away? I looked at him with a duh _expression_ and then it clicked...this was NOT normal behaviour...I told him, oh, I saw most of them a couple of days ago...that's just how we are).

So Mary will go, and the space of her will not be filled in, though others will come along. Who will ever make me a birthday platter of sashimi like that again? No one!!! Who will let me borrow great clothes when I have to dress fancy in America? Who will always look like a million bucks among the rest of us slobs (ok, we're not exactly slobs, but we're not Mary)? Ah, Mary, we'll miss you! But until we have to, party game ON!

--
Save What's Left!

- Kyle

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:05:29 -0400

And now, the infamous 93L has a name and its name is Kyle. Sort of a weird feeling inside me, that I'm glad it has a name because of all the destruction done, maybe it will be remembered, rather than written off by the *big world* as something that oh yeah, happened to destory lives, homes, livestock, crops on islands...uh, somewhere. Yes, I have a bit of an attitude about this. Such as with Ike. Do I disparage the horror of what happened in Texas? Not a bit of it...barrier islands are full of crazy people such as myself. But the islands that were devastated by Ike were, once it hit Texas, a 'sad bit of news'. People on the mainland CAN evacuate. And yes, a loss of a home is huge! But...there are some differences here and they bother me. When you are born to an island (and I grew up on a Florida barrier island, I was not born to the VI's or Culebra, living here is my choice), this IS your home. Most locals do not have homes built on the beach, they know better. But if your island is small (and relatively speaking, they are all small, but some are smaller than others) you are close to the water, regardless.
What is the point here? Nothing really, just that...what is a big hoop and holler on the mainland is often just reality in the islands. How help comes differs wildly. I'm of the help yourself and your neighbor belief, but then, I've always been a little silly that way.

One of my daughters took this pic while we were all in the mountains of North Carolina at my brother's extremely cool and very rustic cabin out in the middle of...somewhere. She entitled it Hollering at the Mountains. I guess that you can't teach an old hollerer new tricks, no matter where she is. I'll keep hollering (though at home they just call it MJ being MJ).

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Save What's Left!

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Description: JPEG image

- Peeking out...is it really gone?

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:52:20 -0400

I thought maybe the universe had shifted when I realized that some aspect of 93L was headed back our way. Was that the faint beating of drums I was hearing, keeping Haiti from yet another disaster? All I knew was that the sun went away, the clouds rolled back in. The sat loop showed that I was not crazy (well, at least that my eyes and brain are still fairly well connected). Curacoa and Aruba saw it too...I mean, they are part of the A B C's, how can they not be logical, orderly observations??

The rain started, I went and closed the *normal* window, a creature of habit, when it started coming in sideways through the two windows I close every 3 years when it rains on the wrong side. Lightning, thunder, smashing rain and then no phone, no computer - which lasted until this morning. Oh woe is me. Not. Here is what is happening on the big island that keeps perspective intact.

From the obs of a San Juanisto I trust to get it right:
Here are the highlights of all of what is going on in Puerto Rico:

1-Maximun rainfall total=Patillas,26.5 inches.
2-513 families in refuges.
3-17 schools are being used as refuges.
4-36,000 without water.
5-5,916 without power.
6-37 roads destroyed.
7-5 deaths.
8-Agriculture suffers heavy losses.

Yes, it will all get better again, as islands and locals do if they survive. I do think I might see if there is someone who would fund a bumper sticker saying "Heavy rains? Don't drive, stay alive" I know sometimes it's a desperate attempt to escape rising floodwaters, but sometimes it's sheer defiance of using common sense. A car is not a tank, even if it's an SUV. The power of water is beyond the average person's understanding unless they live near a dry creek or small riverbed that suddenly is in full roaring power, carrying away animals and trees...and cars...and people.

Anyway. The sun is shining. I'm hearing all the noise that the rains had silenced, trucks and the school bus, going about their regular work morning. There is a ripple on the incredibly ugly brown waters of the bay and I squelch down my anger at bad building practices that make a pretty house (or an ugly one) and ruin what the people moved here for because they don't want to pay for Paradise, just for Self. Oops, that isn't too squelched down is it?
Time for another cup of tea and then to make my way to town, to MAYbe opening the cart. Having an enforced extra week of holiday was not in my plan, but I did get more hot sauce made and that is good! And the cart, which Mark miraculously did get a coat of varnish, looks darn spiffy! If I ever figure out how to deal with E18 on my camera, I'll share a view.

--
Save What's Left!

- System 93 Backs Up

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:34:29 -0400

Good Morning

Last night #93 decided to do a "Lenny" and backup and come again at 
us from the SW.
Another 0.70 inches of rain, for a total of 8.20 inches from this 
unwelcome guest.
The old saying that after three days fish and visitors start to 
stink applies here!

We do have some sun and broken clouds this AM.    William

Bill's Daily Notes & Photos:
http://islandculebra.livejournal.com/


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- Mas Lluvia

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:19:34 -0400

Good Afternoon,  With a drizzly rain all night and a good downpour 
this morning from the last of #93 (we hope), Culebra received 0.60 inches to 
add 
to our 6.90 inches to make an even 7.5 inches of rain associated 
with this system.  Lots of runoff continues and the dry creeks are 
full and flowing out to the bay.

Bill's Daily Notes & Photos:
http://islandculebra.livejournal.com/


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- Wow!

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:06:59 -0400

The morning went from dead calm to dark to slamming rain in less than half an hour. The temp has dropped 4 degrees in the last five minutes, maybe seven minutes. But the system is moving fast. Just quite unexpected...well, ok, I was asleep and that means NOT watching the radar...usually.

--
Save What's Left!

- Culebra Rainfall, System #93

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:41:18 -0400


Good Morning,

Another 3.10 inches of rain through the night, we did not slide down the hill 
much to my amazement last night.  A total of 6.9 inches thus far for this pesky 
system.  I moved my chickens to higher ground this morning.  It is still 
spitting and sprinkling, but hopefully is moving off today.  This felt very 
much like a hurricane without the heavy wind.  Not much sleep last night.  

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- #93 Culebra Rainfall

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:28:32 -0400

Good Afternoon,  In a 24 hour period Culebra has received 3.80 
inches of rain, most of the heavy stuff came during the night time 
hours last night.  We have had some heavy off/on showers during the 
day.  All of this rain came on top of already saturated ground, so 
we are having a heavy runoff.  Our normally dry creek bed is really 
roaring and the bay is brown.  After this system moves off they will 
name it "Kyle".

William

Bill's Daily Notes & Photos:
http://islandculebra.livejournal.com/


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- Just in

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:53:24 -0400

This is from 10:30

SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1030 AM EDT SUN SEP 21 2008

SATELLITE IMAGERY...SURFACE OBSERVATIONS...AND NOAA DOPPLER WEATHER
RADAR DATA FROM SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO INDICATE THE LOW PRESSURE AREA
LOCATED ABOUT 70 MILES SOUTH OF PUERTO RICO HAS CONTINUED TO BECOME
BETTER ORGANIZED THIS MORNING. THIS SYSTEM COULD BECOME A TROPICAL
DEPRESSION AT ANY TIME AS IT MOVES SLOWLY NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD OR
NORTHWARD AT ABOUT 5 MPH. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE
AIRCRAFT IS CURRENTLY ENROUTE TO INVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM.

INTERESTS IN PUERTO RICO...THE U.S. AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS...AND
EASTERN HISPANIOLA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM AND
ANY PRODUCTS ISSUED BY THE RESPECTIVE WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES.

Head's up!!!

--
Save What's Left!

- welcome back home

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:56:10 -0400

Our internet has been down for many hours at a time over the last few days. Not a weather related thing but what they call *repairs* are the cause. So as we keep going deeper into a cycle of hard rain, sun and still air, I didn't know until a little while ago that 93L had been given a label.

Looking at our sat loops it's not easy to figure out exactly what is going where, to this semi-learned eye, so I can only say it looks like we have more rain in our immediate future. The streets, due to the ever on going sewer trench work, turn to rather dangerous muddy lanes - dangerous because they are putting in manhole covers along with trenches still just dirt/mud and if the hole is filled with water, you can drive right into it, as they don't have much in the way of cones or barriers to let you know...but otherwise, everything that can bloom is blooming, and green is the color of the month. I've had Mark, an excellent artist who does a lot of projects here, repainting the front of the cart, (which is the logo and much photographed; it got beat to hell with a month of rain) and thankfully, between rainstorms, he's done. Well, except for the varnish...but that DOES need no rain.

After seeing Monika, who is owner with husband Zach of Mamacita's restaurant, and telling her my freezer woes (yes, I was whining), she gave me, from deep in the freezer, something she said she couldn't stand to throw away and that wouldn't be used...six bags of mango chunks to use for my sauce! They are getting new freezers and want to clean out the old ones (anyone need a big chest freezer? they are giving the old, not pretty but working ones, away). Life is so good - often what gets taken away is replaced, just because the universe has a huge sense of humor and often, compassion, in ways absolutely unexpected and that much more amazing for the surprise. Plus, another friend, who'd been gone, brought me back (we are SO food related here, so much stuff we can't buy and that's fine, but when it comes along, oh wow!) boxes of Zatarain goodies. I'd had to toss all the ones I had - Zatarain dirty rice soaked in rotten mango..just isn't right! So that was also very cool. So my very tiny (in the current scheme of things) loss - is magically being taken care of and I hope for that for all who have lost so much more. Don't forget to check on Haiti & T & C's and do what you can to help make that happen.

We've been so very fortunate here. And that's all I will say about that!

--
Save What's Left!

- p.s. Yikes!

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:41:20 -0400

Reminder to self, read newest reports first, then write! Now I know what will happen when the blobs alluded to below collide. Be safe!

--
Save What's Left!

- Thursday

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:34:41 -0400

While the radar loop of our area (PR) looks really confusing (large blob to the east moving southwest, small blob to the west moving east), the lack of any moving air makes me wonder what is going to happen when the blobs collide. Our local weather discussion, if not exactly illuminating with much written about the unstable weather aloft, is at least entertaining in its language; here is a bit of it (ok, I confess, I love the word troughiness):

By Sunday...a bulge (induced troughiness) in the inter-tropical convergence zone will lift
northward across the local forecast area and further increase the
the chances of more active weather conditions during the daytime.

The jungle that is my yard continues to amaze me...enough to keep me from cutting the grass (which I'd rather have done than clean out the chest freezer that was, due to the electric breaker tripping out) full of pretty disgusting remains....most of which was gallons of collected mango for this year's hot sauce making...time for a new product line addition - I just keep telling myself, lucky this wasn't the Texas coast, there might have been no freezer at all to come home to). Green is the color of everything, no brown patches anywhere to be seen and very beautiful. It also means Culebra has been quiet. A lot of restaurants and stores are on low season hours and what is open has plenty of space...so if you are looking to come here and have Culebra to *yourselves* as visitors, now is the time!

This is not Culebra, this is the moon this morning.

It might be calmer & greener somewhere else, but I don't know how.

- oh joy

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:55:43 -0400

How good to be coming home and how even better to read the TWO this morning!!!!

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
800 AM EDT TUE SEP 16 2008

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...


TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

$$

There is nothing that beats that for good reading!

This is how you look at the full moon in the city...
FORECASTER AVILA

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Save What's Left!

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Description: JPEG image

- Culebra: Mas Lluvia

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:24:11 -0400

Tuesday afternoon brought more rain and big thunder and lightning.
Yesterday's rain of 1.40 inches brought the September total to 5.70 
inches.  This rain on top of already saturated ground caused more 
runoff.  Wednesday morning dawned still and calm, so not much 
drying going on today.


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- far away update

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 23:00:49 -0400

I am on a slow computer here, so just posting without reading and catching up on what I'm sure are very revealing and interesting reports. Hope all are as well as can be.

I'm in South Fla and very happy for anything / everything to come right here rather than home. We left NC days early, not wanting to drive through the exodus and/or outer bands of...uh...which one?
so of course, we're back here and the next one is coming here. I've never ever been a hurricane magnet, but this year seems to have changed that rather radically. I heard from home the other night during a rain/ wind event oh wow! and then the next sunny day; hoping all is well.
Here in South Fla, where I am deep inside condo world where I can't even hear the rain at all and full protection (unless it all blows away, you know what I mean) is only a click of roll down shutters away, it seems very unreal except for what I'm watching on televison and the dullish rain outside. Though right now the moon is shining brightly...

I'm homesick. Having had so much excellent family time, mountain time, city time, I realize again, as I always do, how much sense it makes to live where I live and love it even more, again. If I could just drag all those I adore back with me in my backpack...well, for a month or so...ok, maybe three weeks...or forever, take my pick.

Stay safe. More anon. I'm on the computer slo mo here with lots of fast television...watching Ike coming and so very glad for the north of home track. Freakin' crazy weather..

Women friends...it took most of my life to find out how cool women friends could be and oh how lucky I am (hey, I worked a lot of guy type jobs, how would I know?). Hoping the cat who isn't mine is doing well. I hear she's the best fed cat on Culebra, beside you all watching after my other stuff (ok, toss Gifford on the pile of dear ones - best amigo to the girls). God has taken care of the watering, apparently and thankfully. Thanks, as ever, mi amigas! I'm eating GREAT food, drinking GREAT cheap (oh you'll cry!) wine, browsing cool shops (yes, Virginia, there IS cheap wasabi along with...oh never mind, I'll bore you when I'm back). Raising my glass to you all...laughing and ready to come home soon.

To my fellow island reporters, best wishes for safety and well being. I think of you all daily.

--
Save What's Left!

- Good Morning

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 07:17:08 -0400

Good Morning,

Yesterday with a noon-time rainfall of 0.30 inches, Culebra 
finished the month of August with 6.80 total inches of rain.  That 
has made our yearly total 19.20 inches of rain to date.  We 
continue to watch to the east, as of now it appears Invest #97 will 
pass to our North sometime this weekend.  This will give us an 
increase possibility of rainfall, as "Hanna" did in her passage.

William


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- Wind Returning

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:26:35 -0400

Wind Returning

Though I expected at least some rain from Tropical Storm HANNA, thus far we have remained dry here in Culebra. This morning some wind finally returned. However, the direction is certainly not the norm. All the boats in the harbor are pointing to the southwest. Sunny skies and a gentle breeze add up to a beautiful day here in paradise.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

- Days of Calm

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:03:59 -0400

Days of Calm

In an unusual turn of weather events, winds have been calm in Culebra ever since Invest 94L left us and grew up to become GUSTAV. I mean, really calm. The attached photo shows the condition of waters in Ensenada Honda since Monday.

Satellite images this morning suggest that we may be poised to get some rain from Tropical Storm HANNA. At the moment, though, it is sunny with barely a cloud in the sky.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

Attachment: Calm_waters_in_Culebra.JPG
Description: JPEG image

Attachment: sat_image_8-29.jpg
Description: JPEG image

- p.s.

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:12:32 -0400

just to add (and part of why I needed a laugh so much), heart thoughts with those who have lost loved ones due to Fay & Gustav. It's not over yet :(

--
Save What's Left!

- Wiener Stress Relief

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:51:01 -0400

Weather wise, there are some pretty scary outlooks on the horizons (both here in Florida, where flooding from Fay is STILL on the rise, literally, and at there at home from those marching dots off Africa) making things feel a bit tense, even while on holiday. But I found some great comic relief today and hope it gives you all a bit of a grin. I was laughing. Ok, I'm still laughing.

This little place is set up in the corner of a gas station parking lot. I thought it was closed and wanted to get a photo of it before I left Orlando. It wasn't closed, it was closing for the day. So I talked to the guy and got maybe more information than I wan...expected. He told me it was not "this thing" it was the wiener. "The wiener, okay," I said. "Now we're on the same page!" he responded. I asked if I could take his picture and he told me he didn't have any pants on and would be happy to take off his tee shirt. I said the tee shirt was an important part of the photo and that I wouldn't verify the no pants part...no nessicito. He is the Wiener Guy. Don't forget it. I never will.

I'm going back tomorrow to see if I can get a couple of tee shirts...I was laughing too much to speak at the time. He, obviously, wasn't. He was QUITE serious, in a Steven Wright sort of way.

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Save What's Left!

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- Pre-Gustaf Rain

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:06:13 -0400

Good Morning,

Yesterday Culebra received the Northern fringe of what became "Gustaf".  Mostly 
it was overcast skies with "drizzly" rain, except between 10:30 - 11:30 AM.  
Wow did it come down and with the light show included.  It has been sometime 
since we saw "crackling" lightning like that here.  It also rained and drizzled 
some during Monday night, for a total from this system of 1.30 inches.  Sorry 
St Martin did not get their share of this rain, maybe next time.

Bill's Daily Notes & Photos:
http://islandculebra.livejournal.com/

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- Good bye Fay, hello sun (hopefully)

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:34:22 -0400

Two good new'es! The sun is shining, under a cloudless sky. Last night we had lots of thunder and lightning but unlike home, that's not so unusual here, especially in the summer. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Another difference...I was sitting outside watching the lightning around 10:30 p.m. when a helicopter flew over. My first thought was, oh no, who's being medivaced out (other choice is DEA, but I ask no questions in that case)? Of course, that was not the situation at all in a city where things are flying around at all times, restaurants & clubs & grocery stores are open 'til the wee hours or 24/7 and more cars drive by on the next road than I see in five years (unless you count seeing the same ones over and over again).

The other good news is that The Cat Who Isn't Mine has been seen, played with and is eating well. She'd either gone missing or was being missed. A hardy, once feral cat, I wasn't too worried, but it's nice to know she's still there taking care of things and being taken care of as well. Thanks, Lorraine and Susie (and Linda next!).

Looks like 94 is going to become a TD anytime now. Good post from Jamaica, hope that advice is well heeded. Also hope I don't see Gus here. New seedlings that didn't drown are looking happy to see the sun. I temper my hope for rain on Culebra with the knowledge that rain + trench digging = scary, dangerous mud hell.

Go safe.

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- No Sunshine this Morning

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:36:20 -0400

No Sunshine this Morning

I believe that the weather we are seeing this morning is the northeastern most effects of Invest 94L. These effects are mild, with no winds to speak of and only light rains. The cloud cover, though, is fairly complete (unusual to experience here in Culebra at 8:30am). In fact, the solar panels are not keeping up with the power needed to run the computer, so I really need to keep it short.

Again, we wave at a passing invest and assume that it will soon earn a name for itself. Best of luck to those north and west.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

- :(

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:43:18 -0400

When I'm wrong...I do it all the way. We are now in a flood watch, having the worst rain so far. Fay is never leaving Florida, I don't care what they say.

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- Big Yellow Ball!

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:37:08 -0400

We woke here in Orlando to blue skies and the sun shining brightly (yes, I sleep a LOT later on holiday here). Fay moves on in her slow way, hopefully bringing rain and not flooding to the rest in her path.

From far away...I'm watching 94 and 95, both seeming to take a path quite a bit south and north of the original models. Again, hoping for the best, be prepared for the worst.

From SUNNY Florida (at least this part), I'm missing home, in the good way.

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- Fey Fay

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:32:27 -0400

I'm getting the feeling that the garage sale I was planning on for the weekend (Replace Your Stuff With My Daughter's Stuff!) might not be on. This is the third or fourth day of rain, I don't remember anymore. But nothing here like the coastal area. But I am feeling somewhat like this bird (the photo isn't done in B & W, our world is black and white, and that branch is gone, broken off in the wind) , though it is nice to be having soups and not sweating in August! Strange, as I read the other reports and know how hot I was at home. Strange, but nice.

94L still in yellow, but I don't like the models...hopefully it will fall apart before too much longer.

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Save What's Left!

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- Lucky for me...

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:08:35 -0400

I always appreciate where I live, with its flagrant beauty and encompassing serenity, but so far on this trip, I've got great cause to appreciate it even more. First, how lucky am I that I'm here to see people I love, not sights...since the sights there might be (planned to go to my East coast Fla growing up stomping grounds) have been drenched and flooded in rain and covered with grey skies, courtesy of Weird Fay (whom, it appears, is planning to make another show on the way back through Florida - but Fay is fickle - who knows?). I'm just waiting for sun here...they say it will be back some day. (yikes...the news folk just said there is a mandatory curfew for Satellite Beach tonight...)
I'll be glad to get up to the mountains of NC, with family along. Of course, if the current trend continues, expect to see Fay hanging around somewhere another week before heading up there to make me feel special.
I'm keeping an eye on 94L. Even aware of its nebulous ways, my confidence in the rules of Nature is a little shaken. Freakin' Weird Fay...

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- How Silly Is This?

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:29:55 -0400

Results for 28.55N, 81.33W:
The approximate Closest Point of Approach (CPA) is located near 28.4N, 80.7W or about 36.8 miles (59.2 km) from your location. The estimated time of when the center of the storm will be at that location is in about 18.1 hours (Wednesday, August 20 at 5:06AM EDT).

I couldn't get the map to show up right, but this is the How close can it get? result plugging in Orlando...where the latest TWO says we could get 5 to 10 inches of rain.

Where AM I???? I know I am NOT where I feel knotted when weather is being potentially weird. Very odd, the difference.

This has nothing to do with weather, but it was so strange, I'm sending it anyway. I saw this from the train between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. I wanna go back there (and by the way, train travel is NICE again!).

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- It Calmed Down this Morning

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:15:32 -0400

It Calmed Down this Morning

Things eventually settled down around 3AM here in Culebra. I think I finally found sleep sometime near 4AM. Morning light revealed that one sailboat had dragged into the shallows, and a team of boaters is currently at work trying to help him get off the mud and back to deeper water.

The rains have stopped and the sun is trying to burn through the clouds as we wave goodbye to 92L. According to radar, a few more showers may pop up through the day today, but the worst is past. For those yet to experience this system, we send our best wishes.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

- Tropical Wave; Invest #92

From: "William Kunke" <wkunke at verizonmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:49:21 -0400

Good Morning,

After an extremly hot and humid Thursday, this tropical wave 
meandered across Culebra during the night, further South than I 
thought it would.  It came directly East with no Northern movement. 
  I am sure this will be declared a depression once it clears PR, 
just one of those things NHC seems to do every-now-and-then.  
Anyhow, It started raining at 11:30 PM and continued through 2:30 
AM at a good clip.  I figure the wind at 25 mph during the worse of 
it and we received 3.10 inches of rain as of 6:00 AM this morning.  
The lightning displays were tremendous, but of no damage that I 
know of, the electric and telephone utilities remained on 
throughout!  It continues to rain and be heavily overcast.  The 
current radar shows more to come of this system as it slowly moves 
West.


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- Spoke Too Soon

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:31:35 -0400

Spoke Too Soon

The moment I hit [SEND] on the previous posting, the winds kicked in. We have been seeing 25-35 knots from the SSE pretty constant over the last hour. And the rain just keeps coming down.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

- Lotsa Rain, But No Wind

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:36:50 -0400

Lotsa Rain, But No Wind

The most recent satellite image shows that the big orange and blue snowball has developed a pink center (see attached). As I currently sit in the midst of the pink filling, we've got lotsa rain, lotsa thunder & lightning, but no wind. In fact, we have yet to see any wind despite the rainbow of fruity colors we have experienced tonight.

Mind you, I am not complaining. It is much too late to have to worry about a dragging anchor, especially when visibility is limited in this downpour. If this keeps up through the night, all I'll have to do is bail out the dinghy every few hours. That, and pray none of those lightning strikes hit our mast.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

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- Flat Calm in Culebra

From: "SV Prudence" <sv.prudence at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:13:18 -0400

Flat Calm in Culebra

With 92L knocking on our door, I would have expected something more. As of this posting, however, it is flat calm in Ensenada Honda. I am not sure if I have ever seen the lights reflected off of such a mirror-flat surface in these tradewind latitudes (see photographic evidence).

A few drops fell earlier, but at the moment it is simply very humid. NEXRAD radar suggests that some precip is building to the east of our location. Since satellite images show a big orange and blue snowball rolling our way, I suppose I should enjoy the little air I can get before I have to seal the boat to keep out the rain.

Doug
-aboard the sailing vessel Prudence
Personal blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ashiya/

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- Weather & Terror Baby

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:06:48 -0400

It looks like 92L is going to bring us some rain, rather than someserious trouble, and I am grateful. As long as any thunderstorms waituntil I am aloft from Culebra! Wishing all safety and calm while I'maway! Prepare(d) for the worst, hoping for the best, see you all inmid-September, unless I get a chance to post from the land of lots 'ostuff.

I was finishing up prepping the yard this morning and saw what lookedlike the greenest lizard I'd ever seen. A friend had stopped by and wason her way out, so I asked her to come back and check this out. I said,I've never seen a lizard so green...a baby iguana, yes, a lizard...ohNO! It's the babiest of baby iguanas! Maybe they are now geneticallyinbred with checking out my plants upon first venture off the mangroveisland...

It had absolutely no fear unless I was right on it shoo'ing it away,which, after we got some photo ops, I did. But I have a feeling it willbe back. With Mom. They are going to have WAY too much fun while I'mgone!

Way too much camo! If you know how big the spiky blossom of racao(shadow benny, PR cilantro) is, you get the idea of his size)

- The models

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:16:50 -0400

Some light in our stormy tunnel, if the models are on the righttra....um. Yeah. The GFS on 93 is right where I want it for Culebra;that far out it should be headed to Nova Scotia by the time it's closeto us (this will be short as I'll be out in the yard appeasing the GFSgod with an offering for the rest of the morning).

- Evening update

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:57:56 -0400

Just an early evening update. Seems to be mass confusion about thesesystems. Some say 92 will go north and miss us. Some say it willfizzle. Some say 93 will become a cat 2 while others say it too will gonorth. So...we'll wait and see what happens. Sometimes it's a tempestin a teacup, and sometimes...it's really a tempest. Well, it's good toget the blood and body moving during these oh so hot days! If it DOESlook too close, there will be a migration of sailors heading for bothSalinas on the big island (great hurricane hole) or the mangrove canalsaround here. I'll be on or close to on my way to the states and hopingfor the best, as ever. The windguru report (that I saw on the Antiguapost) is encouraging!

Speaking of reports, thanks for the reminder of the Perseids, Ann ofBonaire! I've got a camp cot set up out in the yard, but we've had lotsof clouds for the early looking. Hopefully it will go clear at leastone of the nights.

And now...here is what walking does for you (no, no pic of Olympianmuscles, I don't walk THAT much!). I was heading into town and heard aflapping in the mangroves and saw one BIG wing fluttering about. Offroad I went in my sturdy hiking Tevas (which is the only thing to wearwalking around here these days - unless one favors construction bootsto protect the tootsies - trench guys, take a note...do it right, thebay looks like crap!)...oops, I digress...ok, there in the mangroves, hunched over like Kokopelli, I found thebird of flapping wing, a night heron. I only know it's a yellow crownednight heron because I saw two in my yard last year and Teresa (formallyof Fish & Wildlife, presently of mainly being an on demand educator &protector of same, plus just an awesome person) figured it out,stopping my *gotta know* flow. Of course, Teresa may see this and say,That's not a y.c.n.h., MJ! If so, she's got to tell me. Soon!

I couldn't believe it kept still, as I wasn't coming on exactly

Native American style...but it did!

- Yesterday's squall, today's invests

From: MJ <caribemj at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 07:49:25 -0400

Yesterday a bank of grey clouds circled the entire island for awhile with nothing coming from it. Then as soon as the sky went blue, it went almost black. The wind picked up enough to start every wind chime rattling hard and things to start falling over in the cart. I shut the umbrella because it seemed a sure bet it was going to fly away. Just then a couple came up and as they are happily perusing hot sauces etc. I'm doing the *I've got to close fast!* dance (sort of like a little kid needing the bathroom). Friends walking by are making gestures to the imminent weather. So I say to the couple, I'm sorry but I really need to close the cart now...and they say, "Oh, we're from Kansas, this feels GOOD!" Yikes!! At that point I'm grabbing all the hanging stuff and saying well, if you want something pick it now! Over goes the CLOSED umbrella (set in a five gallon bucket of cement) flying across the bridge, bottles falling, I just started jamming everything everywhere as the couple strolled away. The doors were banging, rain was starting, it was wild! But I got it closed and went to Dinghy Dock to get out of the rain and watched the water frothing. In ten minutes it was calm as a lake...but we had rain on and off for the rest of the day. Cart closed!

Today we have two new invests, I'm sure there is a lot of talk about them already, but it is head's up time for sure!

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- Saturday Hide & Seek

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 07:51:43 -0400

At dawn, the air could only be described as delicious. Imagine beingcompletely surrounded (somehow) by dry water that is a few degreeslower than body temperature and it was something like that. There is atree in my yard that is covered with tiny blossoms right now emitting amusky sweet fragrance (I'm not a fragrance kind of person but thiscould be bottled and sold, hmmm), filling the wonderful air to just theright degree.

The island surrounding clouds were lit with every hue of yellow, frombuttercup to gold, drifting on a fairly strong breeze, with thenot-yet-over-the-

hill sun giving back up for the light show.

With the sun finally above the hill, it began to rain, a rain as softas the air, it couldn't even be heard on the roof. That has stopped nowand the sky is overcast, keeping the heat away for now. Glory!

Of course, all of this (well, minus the dry water air quality) WASforecast, amazingly enough, as a tropical wave passes over us,hopefully bringing some more rain with it.


Happy Saturday!

- Did I mention it's hot here?

From: M J <mjstark at coqui.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 17:41:25 -0400

Looking at the St. Croix report, I thought about earlier today. I wasat the cart and a friend came by. She has an outside temp gauge in herJeep and she told me it was reading 99 degrees. Maybe it was the sweatdripping off my chin that brought her to mention that, who knows? All Iknow is that it is very, very hot and humid here. When I first moved tothe islands (St. Croix) I was told it had NEVER broken 100 degreesbefore. I think that might be history sooner than later....

The Haiti report...so sad, and so very close to us. What anoverwhelming situation there. Many trying to help and the odds aren'tgood. It's easier to be *green* when it doesn't mean life or death.We're so very lucky and need to remember that.

On the plus side of life here, the sky is postcard blue, as is thewater. And mid-afternoon, we got a breeze going on, another good thing.Right now my weather radio temp says 89 - it feels cooler than that andI'm not sweating (maybe the fan on high is helping?). Afternoon cooldown, wonderful!The last sand screw is being put down for my houseboat, I'm sorting andsifting, making things *just in case* big storm ready while I'm awayfrom mid-August to mid-September in the states, and all is well. I lovewhen I get the Tropical Weather Outlook and it's only 3 lineslong...nothing happening for the next 48 hours (sorry, I shouldn'tactually write that but...). May it continue!

The wind must be a bit stronger out at the mouth of the bay...and maybethat high cloud will give us some rain. Hope springs eternal.

Older reports from Culebra have been moved to another page.