I didn't read the whole thread. I rode this out in Plantation Key, Florida, which is about 65 miles up the keys from the eye. I have business locations in Tavernier, Islamorada, Marathon and Key West. From Lower Matecumbe to Sugar Loaf, it looks like a war zone. All of my stuff is okay but it has been a grueling week, since preparations began last week. And, there is a lot to do, still. Whenever I see a television news crew, they are standing in front of a boat and debris that washed onto the road. For every one of those, there are 1,000 boats that suffered no damage. I never see a crew in front of the house next door to that that suffered no damage. Can only image their stories. New construction buildings, built to code, did very well, even on the terrible right-hand dirty side of the eye. That's where most of my stuff was located.
People say hurrcanes sound like a train. For me, it was like a jet engine at full throttle outside the window for hour after hour after hour.
I know several people who rode out the Hurricane onboard boats and they did it on the dirty wind side within the core of the storm. C-R-A-Z-Y. But they all survived.