What Do You Do When a Hurricane Comes?

By Ken Mitchell

We originally planned to run a piece on how the crazy kids of SV The Crooked Anchor ended up with a 5 foot Burmese python as a stowaway, however, being on the cusp of the 2025 hurricane season, we also received a nice article from the same folks on what they do when a hurricane comes. And we felt it was our duty to offer tips on responsibility and planning over shock value. We’re sure you understand. PS: Look for the python story in the next issue!

This is a question we get asked a lot, from family, friends and people who learn about  our lifestyle.  

We’re from Florida, we are Floridians, born and raised. Being from Florida we are  tempered differently when it comes to Hurricanes. Hurricanes were a part of everyday life, always has been, always will be. Floridians are resilient when it comes to hurricanes.  

We live on our boat full time. It is our home; we love it and we want to protect it as  best we can. We named it “The Crooked Anchor” partly because a crooked anchor  won’t keep you in one place very long. We have been living and cruising Florida and the  Bahamas for the last five years and weather is something we deal with on a daily basis.   So, what do we do when a hurricane comes?  

We run and we hide. The best way to deal with a hurricane is to not be there. With the  modern technology we have these days, we get plenty of warning time to move our boat  to a safer location. We can get real time forecasts on location, speed, strength and  direction of hurricanes, sometimes weeks in advance. So, we run. We get out of the  path of hurricanes.  

The first hurricane we encountered while living on our boat was Hurricane Laura. It  started out like most as a tropical storm far out in the Eastern Atlantic. We were  watching it develop in the southern Caribbean moving north towards the Florida Keys.   We were fortunate enough to be hanging out in the back country with Diesel Don (a  seasoned sailor and diesel mechanic known throughout the cruising community) and his  wife Deana. Everybody knows Diesel Don. Chances are if your boat has a diesel engine  Don has worked on it at one time or another. 

Don was the first person we met when we  got to the Keys. We met him on the dock at the city marina in Marathon. His first words  were,” You must be new. I haven’t seen you here before.” Don has a deep, rich,  gravelly voice that resonates with authority. He’s a robust man and you can see the years of  experience in his face and on his hands. He’s often seen wearing his signature welding  type hats, long sleeve shirts rolled up at the cuffs, long pants and deck shoes. He’s a  kind man who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. We feel blessed to call him and Deana our friends. That being said, when he said we should leave. We did.  

We were anchored out at Tarpon Belly Key, a small uninhabited island a few miles  north of US 1 where the locals hang out on the weekends. Don asked if I was watching the weather? I said “yes, should we take down our sails?” He said “No, we should put  them up. We should leave.” Tropical storm Laura was predicted to become a hurricane within a few days and was headed straight for the Florida Keys and us. Don said his wife was getting nervous and wanted to head for shelter. I asked if we should leave in the morning? He said “No, we should leave now.” Laura was still four or five days away.  If we leave now, we can take our time and head north to Ft Myers. If we wait, we’ll have to run for it. Since he has the experience, we listened to him and we ran.

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