September 11-14, 2001 -- Shock, Outrage, Horror, Concern

We headed out this morning with our list in hand, anxious to finish up the last bits of our electrical panel. We left early from the boat, around 8:45 or so. We stopped by Serendipity to drop something off, and headed on to the marina. Myrna, the owner of the Boat Yard Restaurant told us that someone had just attacked the US, hitting both the Pentagon and one of the World Trade Center Towers. At first we thought she was crazy. She said to go look at the television. We walked up to the bar just as CNN was showing a large airplane flying into one of the World Trade Center towers. I remember flopping on to a bar stool and staring at the TV. We watched as they ran down what happened. A few minutes later, we got on the VHF and announced to the anchorage what had happened. From there, several boats who had TVs aboard, and those who had SSBs aboard were watching and listening to CNN, and they were giving a running commentary for those who could not get to a television. One of our friend's husband was home, visiting New York during this. We corralled her and brought her back to the boat with us. She had been trying to contact him without success. We offered the use of our satellite phone so she could continue trying, Cable and Wireless charges for even an unsuccessful call attempt. We spent the day going between the boat and the Boatyard Restaurant watching and listening. As the day wore on, we started thinking about friends and family. We tried calling with our satellite phone, but as with our friend, we could not get through to anywhere in the US. The rest of the day was a blur. For the rest of the week, we were glued to CNN and the Fox News Channel. The Grenada TV stations preempted their normal broadcast schedule to carry both news channels. By Friday, we were almost burned out on news, or lack there of, and needed a diversion. Friday night the Boatyard Restaurant, as usual, had their steel band playing, so we, along with a bunch of other boaters went to listen