Janice142: Glad your experience turned out right. Be aware though if you go to the same place for another storm it might not be the same case if the storm passes on the other side of you. On the gulf coast it is best to be west of the eye as far as winds are concerned.
Very true Dan. I'd been anchored in Bayou Chico and ended up taking her up a small cut to the west of the Pensacola Boatyard, following the course of small fishing boats.
Several boats dragged that remained or moved to the bayou. I suspect a few reasons:
#1) Setting an anchor the day before a storm doesn't get it dug in real well.
#2) Anchoring on top of others means when one boat has an issue, it can involve others easily (three boats did snarl together)
#3) There's a lot of fetch and 25' of water -- how many had sufficient scope?
Anyway, I was glad Seaweed was tucked up one of the branches of the bayou. And yes, I was concerned about surge (had to get back under that bridge) and boats cluttering up my escape route.
It wasn't the best place to be.
Still, the boatyard (Patti's Boat Services) was filled with their Paid-Ahead Hurricane Plan boats. And I wasn't real impressed with the idea of being in a domino field....
There is no one right answer (except possibly in the middle of the country where tornadoes occur. With weather forecasting and prediction, we are in a far better place this year than decades ago.
And it's not just Seaweed I have to be concerned about. The boats and things around her can impact us.
Back in 1992(?) when Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida one thing I took away was that folks in trailers were toast. That's a given. But what I had failed to understand is that the folks in houses next to trailer parks were also decimated. So now I look at me, but what could impact me as well.
Each storm has lessons.