Sunday 5^th June 2016

This morning the wind had dropped, but the waves and swell continued unabated.  Every few seconds another wave hit the breakwater, sending thousands of gallons of water cascading into the marina. These are actually colour photos, not black and white.  This is how grey it was.  

Waves continue to overtop the breakwater, sending gallons of water cascading down the inside.

Clayton from the Yacht Club was ferrying people out by RIB to check on their boats, and Marine Rescue had started to move boats that were adrift from their moorings or on broken pontoons to the fishing and fuel docks.

We got a ride with Clayton to check on Scott-Free.  As we rounded the end of ‘C’ dock the extent of the damage became more obvious.  There was little of the boardwalk left between ‘C’ and ‘B’.

We were so glad to find Scott-Free still in her berth and attached to the finger pontoon which was damaged but still in place.  Each end of ‘C’ dock had been damaged, with finger pontoons and part of the main dock broken away.

The damage at the beginning of ‘C’ dock, missing railings on the breakwater walkway, concrete blocks and rocks strewn everywhere.

Lines tied to piles as a finger pontoon lays on its side in the water.            The hammerhead on ‘C’ dock broken away, the pontoons turned over.

This yacht was still attached to its broken and upturned finger pontoon.               An hour later it had been moved to the fishing dock.                     

Thankfully Scott-Free was ok.                                                                                    The broken end of our finger pontoon.

We went aboard and made sure all was well below, then checked and tightened up the lines and put an extra stern line over the pile.  We did not know how long the pontoon we were tied to would hold out.  The enormous seas were not expected to die down for at least another 24 hours, and there were fears that more damage would follow at high water later that evening.  Having done what we could, we flagged Clayton down and got a ride back to the shore. 

We had decided to find a motel room for tonight, so after breakfast at a cafe, we collected our bags from the Police station, thanked John and his colleagues for their kindness and hospitality, and were about to call a taxi when he very kindly asked if he could give us a lift somewhere.  What a lovely chap.  We piled into his Police car and were soon checked in and settled into a warm and comfortable motel room in town.  We turned up the heating, draped all our wet stuff around the room to dry and took long, hot showers before snuggling down in the comfy bed to catch up on some sleep.