MISTER 67

Mister 67 checking in. First of all thank you for caring, you are really super people. OK, we lost power Wednesday about 3PM when the northern wall of the eye came right on top of us, wind, noise and rain like I’ve never seen or heard before but we hung in there with no damage to the condo. We then had lighter winds and then the southern wall passed over us and there was no comparison to the northern wall, it was brutal with a complete white out of rain and wind. Again the condo came through, my next door neighbor had a window broken from flying shingles from a next door condo. We can’t live without power so we are 2 crazy people and were able to call Celebrity yesterday and we booked a cruise for Saturday. We drove over early this AM and are in a Marriott in Ft. Lauderdale, we had just enough gas to get us over here and filled up in Weston about 7 miles east of where Alligator Alley ends. Traffic going was very light but going west we saw convoy after convoy of National Guard, Police and Electric Company trucks heading over to Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties to help with the rebuild. We heard that the the whole electric grid in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte was destroyed and has to be rebuilt so we have no idea when we will see power again, we might stay on the ship an extra week or head up to Raleigh where we have relatives. Thanks again to all for your caring thoughts.

It’s unbelievable here right now on our golf course and condo, 125MPH winds with sideways rain and loud rumbles. We lost power at 3pm. Things should start improving around 6 pm at least I hope so. 29 years in Florida and never went through anything like this.

I saw that webcam, we have 2 lamps on in the condo and they have been flickering a lot in the last few minutes, will probably be losing power soon.

No landfall yet in Placida, I'm guessing a half hour from landfall.

Last I heard is the eye is 30 miles wide, I'm sure by the time it reaches your area the hurricane will be downgraded to a 1 or 2, it's very close to a 5 down here.

Getting a lot of info from WINK news out of Ft. Myers, some amazing videos and live shots of storm surge on the streets of Naples. Sanibel Island is under water as is most of Ft. Myers Beach, not looking good in Cape Coral either. In our 29 years in Florida, Ian is without a doubt the most powerful hurricane we have experienced.

Hurricane Ian report from SW Florida. Latest prediction is Ian making landfall near Placida Florida which is just north of Boca Grande. As the crow flies, we are about 15 miles from Placida which would probably put us on the eastern edge of the eye wall. Rain still coming down, as I look out to the 12th hole of our golf course I see a lot of pooling of water, nothing close to our condo. Winds are picking up, right now around 40MPH but expecting 100MPH in a couple of hours. We still have power but for how long, who knows.

Thanks Bob, stay safe.

While watching all the latest hurricane news on TV here in SW Florida I just noticed that the destination of the day is Nha Trang, Vietnam, I spent a year there in 1968 but not on vacation but as a participant in the Vietnam war. It was beautiful back then with a fabulous beach right across the street from the the main gate of our Air Force base. I've heard it's become quite a resort area for many in the region and Australians.

Good morning from stormy Southwest Florida. Ian is inching it's way closer to us, experts still not sure of the exact point of landfall, right now it looks like Englewood Beach which is where we usually head to for beach days, about 20 miles west of our condo. Winds are expected to be 140 maybe 150 MPH when it makes landfall which is a Cat 4. It rained most of the night and the wind is starting to pick up. Hurricanes also spawn tornadoes which is what I fear most. Right now they are predicting landfall around 2PM and with the strong winds we expect to lose power, Florida Power and Light is a pretty good company and I'm sure they will restore power as soon as possible after the storm passes by. Right now all emergency services have been suspended. That's it's for now, will post more later.

Those of you wondering who was the Dalyite from Punta Gorda, that would be me. I haven't been posting much lately but I do read the Report and Daily quite often. As far as Ian is concerned, it looks like landfall will be midday Wednesday in Venice which is about 25 miles northwest of our condo. We've have lived in Florida 29 years and have hunkered down for every hurricane since 1993 and am staying for this one, if we lived near the coast we would probably evacuate because of the storm surge. Ian is almost on the same track as Charlie back in 2004 which did quite a bit of damage to Charlotte County. We also had a close encounter with Irma in 2017 and lost power for a week and of course Charlie in 2004. Right now we have very light showers with a light breeze but we're going to get tons of rain depending how slow the storm passes by us with winds along the coast at 125 MPH and lower further inland. If we continue to have power, I'll give some more updates tomorrow.

Same machines as the airport so should fit.

If you feel uncomfortable about your checking your luggage at one pier and sailing from a different pier, take it aboard yourself providing you don't have a lot of bags. I can't remember the last time we checked our luggage at the pier. Since we refuse to fly anymore 95% of our cruises are out of Fort Lauderdale and usually 7 day cruises, we pack with what we absolutely need, we each take 1 large and a shoulder bag. I have a drawer at home that I keep just my cruising clothes except for dress slacks and shirts which are in my closet and of course shoes, we take 4 cruises a year and sort of have packing down to a science. We've been cruising for 40 years and have noticed more and more people bringing their bags aboard as you avoid long waits for your luggage to arrive a your stateroom and able to unpack right after lunch. There is also the possibility of lost luggage which has happened to us a few times.

We were 51 when we took our first HAL cruise in 1997, we are now 76 and made it to 4 stars last March. We will probably never get to 5 stars as we also like to sail on Celebrity and Princess taking 3 or 4 cruises a year.

IMHO the Vista and Signature class ships are the best that HAL has to offer. If I had one little beef is that I'd like to see a larger venue for Lincoln Center, taking half of the Explorers lounge hasn't worked unless you like watching and listening to classical music in a shoebox.

Yep, the Equinox was the only ship in port.

We were in Key West twice this summer on the Celebrity Equinox which is larger than the Rotterdam.

Stay away from the machines, play Blackjack at the tables.

Anyone see the latest fight among passengers on the Carnival Sunrise? Mature audiences only.

This.

Yep, got our Email this morning. No big deal with us as we are usually the first ones to board the ship.

Celebrity also has an additional gratuity line on the bar tabs. I guess the automatic 20% gratuity on the tab isn't enough besides the high prices of the drinks.

You said you have health issues but could you make the drive to Ft. Lauderdale from Nashville, you could make it in 2 days easy as we live in Florida and make it to Nashville in one day when we go back to visit relatives in Chicago.

Some people just can't help themselves from being snide.