It blew like crazy, but we're still here

It's daylight, the anchor is still holding, and there's no apparent damage. But it was a wild night.

Early in the evening, after my "storm" post yesterday afternoon, we had some wind and rain for an hour or so, then it calmed down. We had dinner and went to bed early. Just as we were getting to sleep, the wind began to howl and the boat started to pitch back and forth.

We began hearing noises we hadn't heard before. Some sounded like metal scraping on metal, causing me to get up more than once to make sure that we hadn't drifted into another boat.

The wind noises increased, as did the pitching and rolling of the boat. Soon there were waves slapping loudly against the hulls, making it impossible to sleep.

I got out of bed and relocated to the settee, where I could see out the back. My view changed as the boat swung on the anchor, back and forth. With each swing, I could see that we were in the same position relative to other boats, which was comforting.

Although the movement of the boat was uncomfortable, the strange noises were the most unnerving. The "thwap" of the waves hitting the boat, the sounds of metal on metal, the howling of the wind and the creaks and groans from within the boat all combined to keep me wide awake.

The worst part of the storm lasted until around midnight. As the wind settled down and the noises began to subside, I went back to bed. That's when the hard rain began. It seemed as if the sky had opened up and was pouring tons and tons of water directly on us. I kept thinking, "It can't rain any harder than this," and then it would rain harder.

Sometime around 1:00 a.m., the rain let up and all was quiet. We slept well until about 7:00.

More storms are forecast for this afternoon as a cold front comes through. I'm not too concerned. Last night was a "confidence-builder," as Phil likes to say.