Stranded on Nantucket - Day Two

So what exactly does one do on Nantucket during a hurricane? Actually, I surmised that things probably wouldn't be too bad. 60 to 70 mile per hour wind gusts were not going to cause any serious structural damage and the trees weren't tall enough to even come close to the power lines. I gave a little thought to our house, as technically we were supposed to leave today. What if other renters arrived and we were still in the house? But unless they could beam themselves over to the island there was probably nothing to worry about. In addition, the likelihood of the house being rented during the week in late October was slim.

After breakfast we decided to venture out. We piled our kids and some snacks into the car and headed to, where else, the beach. First stop was Surfside, a popular tourist beach on the south shore of the island. The wind had picked up a bit, it seemed, and was blowing from east to west. The beach parking lot is about 20 feet above the water level affording an unobstructed panoramic view of the ocean. The water was a wild churning mixture of dark gray and white foam. Instead of waves breaking onto the beach in a familiar repetitive sequence, the ocean looked like a kettle of boiling liquid. Waves were moving sideways and backwards, wind would gust one way then another. It wasn't raining but the spray blown up from the surf forced us to turn on our windshield wipers. I didn't see anyone crazy enough to be out in a boat and the beach was uncharacteristically empty of human life.

We decided to head toward the ocean, how often does one get a chance to walk on the beach during a hurricane? Our youngest daughter was not sure she should get out of the car, afraid she'd be blown into the sea. After promising to hold on to her very tightly, we convinced her it would be quite the adventure. It proved to be difficult, but not impossible to walk. The wind was almost continuous now, pushing against us and forcing us to lean forward as we walked. We had to shield our eyes in order to look straight ahead and as we continued down the sandy path toward the water, we noticed the sea grass being blown around in complete circles marking an elliptical pattern in the sand. We knew that in the days ahead, tourists would walk along this same path and wonder what caused those perfect images beneath each small clump of blades.

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