When Hurricane Matthew tore through Hilton Head, South Carolina, in 2016, it smashed Palmetto Bay Marina with such force that the water rose above the pilings. Winds were nearly 90 miles per hour. More than a foot of rain crashed down from the sky. The scene that a local Sea Tow owner described at the time seemed almost apocalyptic: “The entire marina lifted off of its anchor and then floated away.”
But just 5 miles away at Shelter Cove Marina, the 42-foot Grand Banks was fine. The owners received a text message from the dockmaster saying “all is good,” along with a video of their boat resting at the still-standing dock. “Feel so bad for folks in Palmetto Bay,” they wrote on a cruisers’ forum. “Total carnage.”
