During Tropical Storm Debby last month, several boats that were moored in Boca Ciega Bay came loose and smashed onto the shore.
Some of the boats still litter the shoreline in Gulfport.
On Thursday, as Hurricane Helene approached, some boaters were still moored in the Bay.
But some others, like Ben Monaghan and Valerie Cristo, have decided to take a safer path instead and dock at the Gulfport Municipal Marina.
Valerie rode out Debby in her boat. Ben tried to in his, but it was destroyed.
On Thursday on a flooded dock of the Gulfport Municipal Marina, WMNF spoke with them next to Valerie’s sailboat. That’s where they both now live.
“[In Tropical Storm] Debby, I had come down to anchor over here [Boca Ciega Bay] for there was some trouble I had with the engine, so I anchored here. And from there was anchored well. Was totally fine. And through the storm, it was fine. Then another boat dragged anchor, ended up being beach, but in the course of being beached, hit my boat to the point where my the front of the boat was hit in such a way that all of my masts came down and created a bunch of damage on my bow and the electrical system. And then from there I was demasted and lost my dinghy, etc. And then rode it out and was saved by the fire department. When we finally were able to get back when everything was done. And then from there, I was kind of homeless for a minute, and as the storm was still going, and then we ended up staying with my girlfriend there.
“Because of the fact that we’ve had situations with regards to what we went through with Debby, I claimed Safe Harbor here, and because of the obvious effects that Debbie had on the community, I noticed the Marina was very amenable to giving us Safe Harbor, which was fantastic. Really, really appreciate it.”
Q: So what are your plans then for today, for the storm?
“We’re going to ride out the storm here. We want to keep the lines loose, because of the surge that could potentially happen up to eight or nine feet. So because of that, we want to stay on board to take care of our property, and after what I went through with the last storm. What we want to do is be responsible about it, keep everything okay, and make sure that Valerie, my girlfriend, her boat, is kept safe no matter what we’re going here. But it’s much better here than we were out there. Because of it out there we’d be.”
Q: The water right now is at or above the dock level, about how much further than would you expect if it’s going to be?
“Well, if it’s worse comes to worse, the top of the pole (about five feet above the dock) will be more slightly submerged. That’s why you have everything tied off. Loosen or tighten lines. Otherwise it just creates an issue, because you you know water in the boat results in the sinking, so damage and water damage and so on. So we just make sure that we’re everything, everything’s okay. And then we l loosen the lines, you tighten the lines based off of the water levels. And you keep a watch, just like you do in any other type of marine activities.
“This is, you know, strategically, the best place to be. You’ve got a bunch of land in between us and the bay, and you’re something. That’s really all you can do, is you get yourself tied to something so that way you don’t have it where you’re bashing into things, you get beached or what have you.”
Reaction on the Downtown Gulfport waterfront
Karen Vanderbeek is a Gulfport resident, who lives about 8 blocks from the water. She is not under an evacuation order but was checking out the flooded shoreline Thursday morning.
She was concerned that there were several live-aboard boats still moored off Gulfport in Boca Ciega Bay.
Richard Fried is a Gulfport resident who lives above the flood zone. When the streets of downtown Gulfport started to flood Thursday morning, he said he’s concerned about the homes and businesses that get flooded during nearly every bad storm.
St. Pete Beach flooding
There was also street flooding on St. Pete Beach Thursday morning
Roxene Riles owns Woody’s Waterfront on St. Pete Beach, which is in Zone A and under mandatory evacuation orders. On Thursday morning she told WMNF she was closing and securing her bar, which is just a few feet from where the Gulf of Mexico was smashing at their seawall.
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