It's that time of year again...

[Bob Schroeck]

On Saturday we're heading off to our annual beach house vacation in LBI.

Yes, despite the pandemic.  The realtors have confirmed that the owners are using a cleaning service that follows full CDC guidelines for disinfection, and consequently the check-in time has been pushed back by several hours from what it usually is.  (And our check-out has been moved up by an hour.)

Also, we paid in full for the rental back in January, we're going to get our use out of it because we won't get a refund if we cancel.

As has usually been the case for the past ten years or more, the house does have wi-fi and we'll be bringing most of our devices, so I won't exactly be absent from the board or All The Tropes.  I'll just be doing my computing from a balcony overlooking the ocean and bathed in sea breezes.

We'll be back on the 11th.

[LynnInDenver]

Heh, yeah, I had the brief discussion with my husband about the overnight at Indian Hot Springs, and that we had to cancel with a rain check on that. We might wind up writing it off out of an abundance of caution, depending on how things continue to go here.

Good luck, stay safe, enjoy the ocean breeze.

[robkelk]

Speaking of... I will also be on vacation at the same time.

Mine's a staycation (grab the camera and play tourist in my home city), but I'll be deliberately avoiding using computers during "normal business hours", so my presence will likely be similar to Bob's.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well. It's been a good most of a week so far. We've got some good evidence we're the first renters in the house in at least several weeks (which would basically be all season), so we've been even less worried about anything lurking about than we were to start with.

However there's a tropical storm which may hit this area tomorrow afternoon, so we're discussing leaving a day early, tomorrow morning, to get off the island and out of the target zone. More on this as it develops.

[Star Ranger4]

... Might be a good Idea since I doubt you own a hovercraft or one of those aquamobiles?

[Bob Schroeck]

The leading edge of the storm hit middle of the night last night, and while the island is far from cut off, with the wind and all we've decided to just hunker down and spend the day doing laundry and packing for our departure tomorrow.

[Bob Schroeck]

And the rain has passed us, the sun is out -- and the wind is still above 40 MPH and gusting. The ocean is full of monstrous waves and going on the beach is akin to stepping into a sandblaster.

I'll have a photo of the surf for the forums when I get home tomorrow.

[Black Aeronaut]

Now that sounds like MY kinda beach weather.

My mom has this painting of Malaquite Beach (South Padre Island) that is very typical of what its like there in the Winter time.

It's not a sunny, tropical paradise (though it can be on some days - yes, even in Winter).

The sky is dim and moody, filled with rolling clouds as a storm front is moving in. The sea-grass waves in the foreground while the surf in the background tosses and churns. Black-tip gulls circle overhead - you can almost hear their signature, laughing-like call - as sand pipers dart around on the shore like tiny road runners.

I know I've complained about the weather in Washington State being the same way, but the difference here is that Washington's weather is static as all hell. Your cast-iron sky is like a solid sheet of gray, unwavering and unchanging for weeks at a time.

This sort of "gray" on the other hand, is turbulent, and promising of very fast changes to come. It is a moment you must pause to take in, because just like that it is gone.

[Labster]

Yeah, I saw your post about leaving a day early at about midnight my time, 3 AM yours... so I looked at the radar, and figured "well, if they leave at 6 AM, maybe?"

I still have fond memories of my fifth grade class camping trip on the beach, where we had a fresh gale most of the time. The hard part was getting the paper kites not to fly while we were still making them.

[Bob Schroeck]

And we got back about 11 hours ago.  The promised image, which was taken when the center of the storm was almost directly east of us:


  ocean.jpg (Size: 111.13 KB / Downloads: 25)

To give you a better idea of the scale here, those waves are a good quarter mile away. What you can't see is about 200 feet of sloping dunes and another 4 or 500 feet of beach between the water's edge and the wooden bench at the top of the beach entrance.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Even without the context, those are some seriously major breakers.