5 P.M. position 26.0 N 76.3 W
Damn... I think Dennis likes Abaco about as much as we do, he seems in no hurry
to go anywhere. He is still around 52 miles from Marsh Harbour and moving very
slowly in our direction. Silbert's new prediction is that Dennis may move up the
Sea of Abaco between Marsh Harbour and the outer Cays. I don't know if I like
that scenario any better than him passing to the east of the Cays since the main
wind is on the northeast side of the storm.

I made an interesting observation this afternoon, Ants. Now everyone knows it
hard to make a living in the tropics and ants are no exception. If you leave any
food or water on the counter they will come. Sometime during the day I notice
something funny. No ants. I wonder how they know? We never saw another ant until
Sunday the day we left.

8 P.M. position 26.0 N 76.3 W.
Nope, no mistake. That is the same coordinates as before. A check of the barometer
showed no change so we guess its true. Dennis is here to stay. We did call the
airline sometime early evening and canceled our flight home on Saturday and
reschedule it for Sunday. The airline said we would have to pay a penalty for the
change since the flight on Saturday had not been canceled at that time. That was
good for a good chuckle, the first all day. Somewhere around this time the owners
of RockyBay called again and Harry said, it looked to him that the storm was
moving and was headed in our direction. Harry didn't sound any to happy but I
must say that was good news. At least its moving again and one way or the other
it would be over soon.

Around 9 P.M. the wind started to pickup quite a bit with short periods of very
heavy rain. Along about that time our good luck with the power company ran out
and so did the lights.. Now we were prepared, everyone was wearing their owned
flash light and the oil lamps were ready. We had been making ice for the last day
and a half. The cooler was full so we wouldn't have to get into the frig. There
was nothing to do but wait and wait .......Around 10 P.M. things were starting
to really pick up. The barometer was starting to fall.

Looking outside on the White Sound side of the house we could see that Sea Spray
had its generator fired up and could see people moving around on the dock. About
that time a car stopped in the road in front of the house and from the head lights
I could see water was over the road and at the foot of our driveway. They must
have decided the water was too deep or they couldn't see the road well enough
since they turned around in the driveway and went back toward Sea Spray. Since it
was about high tide I felt a little better that the water was no higher.

On a trip past the bedroom I happen to pick up the phone and it was Justin calling
to check on us, he owns a house south of RockyBay. He had called several times
earlier and talked with Chas. Although I didn't get it at the time, Justin said
the rain would be stopping soon and would pickup again in about an hour or so..
I wondered if he had a crystal ball or something but he said, he was looking at
a new satelite feed and asked me if I knew what a Pacman was? I thought sure
its a video game. Anyway he told me that the center of the storm looked like a
Pacman and we were in its mouth. He said there was an area in the center of the
storm with no rain which we were just about to enter and in about an hour it
should pick up again. I thanked him and promised to check his place for damage
in the morning and give him a call if the phones were still working. After hanging
up the phone I came out and asked Chas what a Pacman was..

Well, Justin was correct, in about an hour or so things seem to let up a bit and
sure enough about an hour later we knew Dennis had arrived. The rest of the night
Chas and I sat in the living room trying to dose. That was a complete waste of
effort, we were wired and only caught a few winks between the strong gust of
wind.

ToBe Continue;

Later
RJ

Follow Ups:

Re: Trip Report Part V "Tis Was A Dark And Stormy Night" Arrrrrrrr! Dee 09:56:55 9/07/99 (0)