Where We Are
On Shifting Sand
Our Wonderful Island ...
Take a look at the map of our
island.
This is called a "
Most times the waves are nice! Surfers come
here, because the bay doesn't have our nice waves. We also have water on both
sides...the active Gulf waters to the south, and the calmer waters of the Pine Island Sound on the other side.
When hurricanes hit, however, the waves turn
terrible.
When a hurricane comes to the southwest coast, our island gets hit harder than
Our tiny strip of sand actually moves around
under the pounding of the huge hurricane waves and storm surge. It doesn't move
a lot, but 
the sand dunes break down and the island slowly tries
to move closer to shore.
During a hurricane, we also have to think
about how we might get off the island. Once a hurricane hits, it's always tough
to move; the wind, rain and tornadoes make it very dangerous. It's even worse
here, however, for two reasons:
· The whole island may be under water. The winds of a
hurricane push the sea waters right over the top of us. If we are hit directly,
the sea could rise 10-17 feet above it's normal level.
· Our island is connected to the rest of
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