Evacuted at Seabase - TS Fay

[mmhardy]

Our Sea Exploring Adventure on the Jolly Rover II was cut short by Tropical Storm Fay. Seabase policy is to order all of its crews in if Monroe County issues an evacuation order for visitors.

 

Our ship was 14 miles west off Key West anchored at Boca Grande Key. We had just had an excellent day of snorkeling and were just getting into the rhythm of the ways of ship life when we were ordered to port.

 

We were met at the docks in Key West by FSB staff. They had brought down vans, trailers and one bus. Our crew raided our ships stores upon leaving clearing out all the cold-cuts, several loafs of bread and treats for the drive back to the main seabase facility in Islamorada. We went back up US 1 with another ship crew, sharing the food, playing cards and watching the first rain bands of Fay come in.

 

Our crew spent about an hour at the base. We got our patches and checked out. At this point our crew split up. The main group traveled to the mainland to catch flights out. Others, including my sons and me are staying with family in the Keys riding out the storm.

 

A huge disappointment but everyone is safe. The FSB response was excellent and they bent over backwards in a tough situation.

 

[croushorn]

Wow, great to hear all is ok. My crew just departed from a week of diving on the 13th. They were already in the last weeks of program for the summer, they may just shut it down now? As it was they were on a skeleton crew as most staffers were departing for school.

[scottteng]

Hope they are re-booking your trip for you as well. Fay is a nothing storm but the Gulf waters are very warm and better safe than sorry when you have someone else's kids in your charge. Our leadership just returned from their annual bug hunting trip to the Keys late last week. We have been chased out of several places due to fowl weather the boys seem to relish those experiences even more than the ones that go smoothly. We did cancel our meeting tonight and the county officials have canceled school for tomorrow. Second day of school and already a day off but most of the schools are shelters and the red cross does need some prep time if they have to open.