Rocky Point - "Chubasco"

My family, 3 kids and ex-wife and her parents, Ann and O.H., "Memaw" and “Papaw”, Buck, drove down on a Friday to Rocky Point to camp in our tent for the weekend. Friday night we cooked on the beach and enjoyed a restful, caressed by a light breeze, sleep. Saturday was spent sight seeing, four wheeling and, when the tide went out, gathering shell fish from the numerous rocks.

We cooked the mussels and oysters on Saturday night and the gentle lapping of the surf provided a background for the magnificent star show overhead. As we were turning in, we noticed lightning flashes on the horizon, and thought, a nice exclamation point for a fun day.

Crack! Boom! Crack! Boom! The lightning was striking close by. Crack! Boom! Closer still. The wind picking up as I unzipped the tents front door, and was greeted by a mix of sand and rain and quickly zipping up, Crack! Boom! Right down the beach something was struck. Everyone was awake and a collective “What’s the noise? Is it a storm? What can we do?” My reply was, ”Nothing, were stuck here until it blows over.” And, it almost blew us over.

Everyone laid back down and waited. The lightning flashed, thunder roared, rain and sand slammed into the tent and the wind blew with a frightening velocity. Soon it passed and we went back to sleep.

Waking up early, we went outside and surveyed the area. Almost everything, except for our tent and cars, was blown off of the beach. A sign was shattered, probably, by the lightning and our tent was tilted at a funny angle. Closer inspection revealed that the tent poles were all bent in the same direction, I’m sure by the wind. Hopefully, the combined weight of 4 adults and 3 kids helped to anchor us to the ground?

I wonder how far we would have rolled?