Have you ever loaded a slingshot with an ice cube, drawn it back, and fired it at yourself at full speed? No? Well the storm gods decided to do this to us for 45 minutes solid yesterday. If you need to truly experience a similar sensation, wait until a good old fashioned t-storm/deulge comes along, get in your car and get on the highway, crank it up to 55mph and sick your head out the window. Now include nickel to quarter sized hail. Did I mention for 45 minutes straight? But I am ahead of myself here.
We had anchored back at Fernandina. We want to go up the Bell's River to Lanceford Creek and gunkhole a bit...no one around, surrounded by nowhere. But the entrance bar to Lanceford can be shallow and we want to sound it out first. SO we anchored near the mouth of the Bell's and decided to get the dink down and go exploring with the handheld depth sounder before taking HP in.
I turned on the radar to make sure we were ok to go for a few. Saw a small storm less then 1/2 mile in size, about a mile away. No worries. I look back at the radar about 5 minutes later. The storm is about 1 1/2 miles in size, moving our way. Time to stow anything loose. Lightning on the horizon gets our attention and we pick up the pace. Looking at the radar again, the storm has doubled in size again, now about 3 miles in size and about 1/2 mile away. So I tempt fate. I tell Heather "This storm just can't keep doubling in size every 5 minutes." - and so it showed me a thing or two. I notice the 3 mile view is black with the impending storm, so I zoom out to 6 miles. In case you're slow to the point - yes, the storm had grown yet again.
NOAA is forecasting hail and 35-45 mph winds. NOAA was a wee bit off. We clocked 58mph winds with one gust to 66. Nickel to quarter sized hail. Now I trust our ground tackle - full chain and 55lb Delta anchor but I'll be damned if I am going to sit below and have faith. I want to see if anyone is dragging...or more important yet, if we are dragging. So we busied ourselves in the cockpit for the duration of the storm. Full foul weather gear, PFD's, & such. However, we couldn't look around the dodger because nickel sized hail and rain blowing at you at 55mph just makes it impossible not to mention painful. This was the most violent storm we have encountered next to Hurricane Wilma. We were heeling at 10+ degrees with the force of the wind...and the sound of hail when it ricochets off of stainless or fiberglass is sickening. We stayed in the cockpit for the duration, collecting water, bailing ice out of the cockpit (in Florida in June), and watching Nature's fury in utter awe and amazement.
We had one cruiser tell us once that you'll never need anything more than a poncho in Florida because the rain is so warm. Alan, you're full of wahala. We were both in full foulies, shivering. maybe it was because the scuppers and drains don't drain cubed ice from the heavens. It has to melt - or be scooped out by hand.
The good news is many-fold. First of all, we collected 10+ gallons of water for showers, boat cleaning, etc. - and that was a half-assed effort amongst the storm. Secondly, we held perfectly, sustained no damage whatsoever. Third, we found the best thing for scrubbing dirt and grime off the boat is hail.
Pardon any spelling errors, I am in a hurry. 30 minute time limit and the librarian is giving me dirty looks. | 
