"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
NOYB wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
...anyone heard from our boy NOYBby?

I hope he and his are out of harm's way.

Thank you. My family and I are fine. I was fishing off the Baja
Peninsula
of Mexico last week (didn't see Skippy or any Bayliners) when I caught a
little blurb on the bottom of the screen on the CNN International
channel
that Hurricane Charley was bearing down on the Keys and SW Florida. I
found
an internet cafe and read some reports about what was happening, but
there
was not a thing I could do though. Fortunately, I had put down the
hurricane shutters before I left. I also had lifted the boat about 6
feet
above the high tide mark, but they were calling for about a 10-12 foot
surge
by me. My neighbor took it upon himself to raise the boat to maximum
height, tie it down, and drop the canvas. My new best friend! The boat
didn't have a mark on it. The other boat that was sitting on a trailer
in
storage in Bonita Springs was also OK.


Charley passed close enough to Naples that we saw winds in the 75-100mph
range. It was moving so quickly and passed us during an outgoing tide,
so
the surge was fortunately only 6' or so. A couple of my roof tiles blew
off
and sliced my pool lanai screen, and we lost power until about 7 hours
ago.
Otherwise, we were very lucky.

The worst part was that I flew into Miami around 11:30pm the night it
hit,
and we drove to Naples, finally getting there about 1:30am. I couldn't
get
in my house, since the storm shutters and the garage door opener are all
electric. We drove around for 2 1/2 hours looking for a hotel, and
lucked
out by finding one which had only three rooms left. The only reason
they,
too, weren't sold out was because their power had only come on 15
minutes
before we got there. The icing on the cake is that it is owned by a
patient
of mine and he was working the front desk. He even gave me a break on
the
room rate. Somebody upstairs was definitely looking out for us.

The guys in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda got smacked the hardest.
That's
only 50-60 miles up I-75, but the difference in the level of devastation
between here and there is like night and day. Anybody who can
contribute
money, please find a reputable organization like the Red Cross and send
what
you can. I sent a few hundred dollars to a local group of friends who
are
renting a refrigeration truck, loading it with food, ice and drinks, and
driving it up there.

One thing I learned:
If the authorities ever recommend evacuation for my area when I *am* in
town, I'll never try to be a hero and tough it out. The pictures from
Punta
Gorda are beyond comprehension. Here's a link to see the horror:
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=241751



Glad you're ok, fella. It's important to have someone with a brain to
beat up upon, and suchlike.

I don't know if I'll be around here as much. Vacation with the family,
worrying about your home when your 2000 miles away, and seeing the
devastation in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte from Charley made me realize
that the internet isn't the most important thing in life. I didn't even
miss it while away.



Catch any feeesh?

I got a 125 lb. striped marlin, my dad got a 25-30 pound dorado, and my son
got to reel in a couple of bonita (which felt like 500 lb. Blue Marlin to
him).