"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