Last year (2011) we made the decision to head south from the Chesapeake Bay, after driving down in December to look for a liveaboard marina. We looked at a number of different areas, (Stuart, Ft Pierce, St Augustine) but decided on Lighthouse Point Marina just north of Fort Lauderdale.
For many reasons, we chose to make the trip on our motor yacht in April. Our friends told us we were crazy to move JJFlyGirl this time of year. They said, “it would be too hot and what about all the hurricanes?” Well, as for the heat, it has been better here than in the Bay with the heat waves they have had this summer…. also, last year,
we dodged Hurricane Irene in the Bay
we dodged Hurricane Irene in the Bay
Last week as we saw this tropical storm (TS) forming and the projected track, we decided to (with Jan's prompting) take precautions early .... I have been through several TS & hurricanes .... But, Jan was new to all this and was quite nervous .... even though I told her everything would be fine. She proceeded to find all the "checklists" ever written to prepare for hurricanes!
We began our preparations ... we filled the water tanks, made sure the genset was serviced, had extra batteries, flashlights, candles, battery powered radio, bottled water, food, and all our valuables were secured and we had a "ditch" bag. Yes, we were prepared to "bail out" if the storm progressed to a Cat 2 . . . We had the car stocked and one of Jan's new friends she met had her spare room in her condo ready for us. And I definitely had "my" checklist filled - P/B sandwich & Beer !
Also, be sure to tie down the dinghy, and remove the drain plug if it's on the boat. We tied the kayak up to the fence by the tennis court, and left the cockpit exposed so it would fill with rain water as a ballast ... Jan and I got out all the extra fenders and doubled dock lines and started to work on securing JJFlyGirl. On the back side of our slip, there is an unused piling .... I moved the boat back (by hand) to get to the other pilings in order to get the second dock line on. But, there was one we just could not reach with our boat hook .... and I just did not want to unplug the power cord ... I really thought we needed to keep the A/C's on! So, as Jan was stretching off the stern with the extra line on the end of the boat hook, a good Samaritan (Phil from Philadelphia) came by with his runabout and easily go the line around the piling .... (he said he saw our hailing port ~ Annapolis~ and just had to stop and help) ... as with most situations like this I have found people seem to come together and help one another. 
This old Hatters used motor yacht has 3 staterooms, and 3 heads with showers….all the wines were stowed in the middle shower stall on the floor….all the “stuff” came down from the fly bridge, and the bimini was removed. I was planning to remove all the vinyl curtains from the aft sun deck…however, as the storm never did get to hurricane strength, we decided to leave them up…if you are facing a hurricane and have to decide whether to remove the vinyl curtains ..... make sure there is NO bad stitching on the zippers. Once the wind finds a bad spot, they will just tear apart …. we experienced this on JJFlyGirl already .... we have been having the panels re-sewn as we find degraded stitching. Well we were all set .... most preparations on the checklist complete before any rains or winds .... what a relief to see the forecast show the storm moving west .... now to wait it out!!
Also, be sure to tie down the dinghy, and remove the drain plug if it's on the boat. We tied the kayak up to the fence by the tennis court, and left the cockpit exposed so it would fill with rain water as a ballast ... Jan and I got out all the extra fenders and doubled dock lines and started to work on securing JJFlyGirl. On the back side of our slip, there is an unused piling .... I moved the boat back (by hand) to get to the other pilings in order to get the second dock line on. But, there was one we just could not reach with our boat hook .... and I just did not want to unplug the power cord ... I really thought we needed to keep the A/C's on! So, as Jan was stretching off the stern with the extra line on the end of the boat hook, a good Samaritan (Phil from Philadelphia) came by with his runabout and easily go the line around the piling .... (he said he saw our hailing port ~ Annapolis~ and just had to stop and help) ... as with most situations like this I have found people seem to come together and help one another. 
