Saturday 7th September

There was the most amazing sunrise, what do they say red sky in the morning, shepherds warning once the sun was up the sky was still blue, the sun was out and there was just a slight breeze.

I couldn't choose which pic to use !!

We knew we had until about midday to get organised. There were another 20 fishing boats in the harbour all tied stern to the wall and one other smaller yacht next to us.  The fishermen were now starting to take things seriously and were at their boats putting on extra lines.
We removed the front two sails completely, brought them down and folded them up and stowed them below, we removed what halyards (ropes) we could and Craig tied down anything we couldn't remove. He even tied down the arms of folding centre table.

The solar panels were removed one by one that was a big time consuming task while Craig was doing that I walked over to the Art gallery we had visited on our last visit. I remembered that there was a basement where we had seen the special exhibition that was on display and that's where I wanted to shelter from the hurricane - in someone's basement !!! 

I don't know why but it was not hard to knock on Pierrette Molaison's door, I explained who I was and asked if we could seek shelter in her basement and she said without hesitation "Of course" I sat down and almost cried with relief and had to fight back the tears as I further explained our situation. Pierrette's  first language is French but she has good English but sometimes it was hard for her to find the right words and I wasn't always sure she fully understood us.

I thanked her profusely and ran back to the boat  Craig was almost done he had had to grind off a couple of the bolts  holding on the solar panels but we will deal with that later.  I threw our doona in a bag, I packed a suitcase In it threw in a change of clothes each, PJs toilet bag, bath towels, all our paperwork passports etc, medicines then anything that we would be upset if we lost. I packed my panda teddy that I've had since I was born.  I packed a bag with all the ipads and phone chargers, the binoculars and the drone, the Bose speaker and Craig's good headphones. I packed a Curry that we had made and some rice, and a few beers The bags went up on the dock ready to take to Pierrette's.

stripping everything off the decks 

This could have been all we were left with !!

Back inside Adriana we put everything into cupboards so there was nothing that could fly around and cause damage we pretty much have everything secured when we sail so it was just the odd thing that had to be put away.

We closed the seacocks and hatches switched off the power and water pumps. 

We grabbed the other two huge balloon fenders, Chislam told us they had come off an oil tanker.  We put out all our fenders, these were what was going to protect Adriana from bashing against the dock.

This is how the big balloons and our fenders sat 

There was not much more we could do

The dingy was tied to the dock behind the boat, Craig took out the plug so it filled to the waterline it sat low and heavy half full of water.

Every rope we owned was used to secure Adriana.

We had done everything we could think of to prepare her for a Hurricane.  

We removed the plug and let the dingy half fill with water

I felt the same feeling I feel when I'm going to a funeral a sort of sadness and dread, that's the only way I can describe it.  Sadness for everyone already affected and a dread for what was to come.

We half joked "oh no our trip might be over and we have not even left Canada" but that was the reality of it.

Craig helped the guy on the little yacht next to us to take down his front sail, he was a volunteer for the Red Cross, he offered for us to stay at his house but imagined he would be busy all night.
We were all done by 1.00 pm just as the winds picked up and the rain started. I had hitched a lift with our bags to Pierrette's with one of the fishermen he had kindly offered to drive me. Pierrettes place was 10 minutes walk away directly opposite the harbour where Adriana was so not too far. The gallery has a coffee shop, well a tea shop really with a comprehensive choice of teas, homemade cakes and biscuits and the most amazing array of china teacups. You get to choose your cup when you order your tea. Pierrette was busy serving tea so we piled our bags into the spare room she had very kindly given us and went for quick showers over at the restaurant, the guy from the small yacht had very kindly given us the key, we wanted to impose on Pierrette as little as possible.

The cutest teashop 

The wind was increasing and it was pouring rain, it was starting to get dark but it was still only about 3 o'clock.  Sitting in the tea shop we could clearly see Adriana the windows were double glazed so we were snug and the sound of the wind was dulled a bit.  

The sky around 3pm

There was a constant stream of trucks going back and forth to the dock it was all the fishermen checking on their boats.

The first part of the hurricane brought winds that pushed Adriana against the dock, hard against the dock bashing her again and again and pushing her mast down on that side, later in the night the winds swung around and she was being hit straight on the nose which was the least damaging direction for her, then they came from the other side and she was pushed off the dock constantly, and we could see her mast leaning this way towards us and down towards the water.

Pierrettes customers were slow to leave but when they did we opened a bottle of wine and had a delicious lobster couscous salad and the beef curry that we had brought with us.  The winds were howling and rain was battering the windows.  The harbour is so well lit we could clearly see Adriana all night.  Around 9pm we had eaten and felt we could not watch anymore and we were exhausted so we all went off to bed. 

Pierrette is on her own and she said she was very happy to have us stay and keep her company in fact the next morning she said she felt so secure with us there, like when she was a little girl with her parents in the next room.

Craig's phone rang just as we were settling down it was Chislam once he realised where we were he called in to say hello. He reported that Adriana was fine he had released the tension on one of the lines so that all of the ropes had equal pull and did not cause any damage.  So we actually had Chislam down at the waterfront with all the other fishermen keeping an eye on her too.

 

Thats Adriana on the left

I sat up for a while watching and listening to the wind it had started to really whistle, that whistle has a high pitched scream, something I hope to never hear again.
Its a different sound to anything I've heard before and it was constant outside of the windows the rose bushes where laying flat on the ground and the rain was pelting down.

I tried to take video footage from inside but there was not much to see and I wasn't going outside to get blown away. 

It was comforting to receive lots of messages and FB messages wishing us luck and letting us know everyone was thinking of us, it was good as it gave us something to concentrate on.

The fishermen actually sat in their boats with the engines running in first gear -  forward for the last half of the night/ the morning.  There was a 20 mt swell surge that came over the concrete of the dock and they were working to keep their boats from coming back onto the concrete road. 

The fishermen had to work all night keeping their boats from mounting the road 

Chislam told us in the morning that a fibreglass dingy had been on the opposite shore and the wind had picked it up and carried it across the water where it got stuck between Adriana and the small yacht next to us. When they had gone down to haul it out and tie it up  the floating docks had risen so much that the walkway that normally goes

down was then a steep climb up, the water had risen so high.

We lost a seat and an oar off the dingy 

Those fishermen were out all night protecting their boats and watching out for ours too, we are so grateful to them.

Eventually I went back down stairs to the basement closed the bedroom door and the only sound was Craig snoring. It was lovely and cosy and the best thing to do was to sleep and try not to think about what was happening outside. The basement we were in was hand dug by Pierrette and her brother it took them a year to complete.

Craig chatting with  Pierrette and a friend in the foreground 

At first light we were up and dressed and straight up to the tea shop window and there she was still floating, we made a cup of tea and it was not long before Chislam came in for a coffee.
It had been a long night for him he said he had changed into dry clothes about 4 times.  These fishermen are used to big strong storms but he said this was a bad one.  All the boats were intact and there was no real damage in the harbour area -  we certainly had moved to the right location to weather this storm.

Other parts of the Madeline Islands were not so lucky  President Trudeau even re tweeted a tweet from the local mayor.

Havre Aubert had been hit hard the solid Warf we had been on was still standing but the floating dock that we had used to walk back to the club house had come loose and all the

boats mostly yachts had moved with it and were all now piled on top each other. 

Kitt and Belinda's boat had weathered the storm and only had minor surface hull damage. But the boat that was sitting next to them had sunk.... The road between the shops was destroyed and the force of the wind had moved houses and many were damaged.  The local school had lost its roof.

These boats were next to us at Havre Aubert 

The destruction of Havre Aubert

Throughout the whole night and next day Etang De Nord lost power a couple of times but never for very long it always came straight back on which was amazing considering the city of Halifax lost power for days.

Sitting again at the window the wind was still howling but it had lost its whistle.  We made some brunch for us all then we waited until around midday before we walked down to the harbour to inspect Adriana but even then the wind was still gale force and waves were still crashing over the break wall.