Staff writer Bob Keyes is at Phippsburg for a second day, where he observed the storm from a perch high above the water at Carrying Place Head Island.

Tuesday, Oct. 30

At least in this part of Maine, Sandy is far more impressive on Day Two than Day One. Today’s seas are raging. The rain is coming down hard, and thunder echoes.

The weather last night was similar, but in darkness it’s hard to fully appreciate it. Today, the sea is pounding on the rocks with much greater intensity. The waves are larger and the surge more destructive.

The West Side is littered with buoys and lobster traps. Trees are down everywhere, some big ones and some little ones. I wonder why some trees go and others survive. The randomness of Mother Nature may be her most wondrous characteristic.

If the weather clears, today will be about cleaning up. The house was surrounded by water last night on three sides, and the yard is littered with debris. But mostly, today is about watching the better part of this storm. High tide is noon. It’s going to be a spectacle.

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Monday, Oct. 29

4:39 p.m.

PHIPPSBURG — With a coming low tide, the winds have picked up considerably in the last 30 minutes. After a long afternoon of little activity, we seem to have finally found a storm.

This island is just offshore of the village of West Point, in Phippsburg. We are south of Sebasco Harbor Resort, and a few miles north of Small Point.

We are subject to fierce weather here all the time, of a great variety. But until these last few minutes, Sandy seemed something of a dud. We are protected from northeast winds, generally.

That may change tonight. Fortunately, the tide is going out and the danger seems minimal. The midnight high will be less dramatic than at noon. Whatever damage we suffer, if any, will be revealed by the light of day.

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1:52 p.m.

Now it’s just about the wait. High tide has passed, dramatically but uneventfully. The wind has picked up considerably, but wind down here is the norm.

Nothing much to report, except that one of two fishermen with boats still in the water just motored his to safer water. Perhaps he know what’s coming.

12:48 p.m.

Most interesting about the early elements of Sandy are the many lulls. The water is constantly moving, but the wind comes and goes.

There are many long moments of quiet and stillness, followed by howling, searing gusts of wind that whip the leaves and cause the trees to swing and crackle.

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Back in the house, the wood stove offers a drying, comfortable heat. The power is still on, bringing radio news from Boston on AM powerhouse WBZ and a marine weather radio.

A game of cribbage beckons.

12:09 p.m.

High water on the West Side of Carrying Place Head is impressive. Here, with the churning seas, incessant surf and howling wind, one gets the real sense of Sandy.

The remarkable aspect of these waves is their consistency. We get big water out here routinely, and many storms have brought much more ferocious conditions. But today, at high tide, wave after wave just piles on top of the other, each one building.

The sun just popped through the clouds. In the distance, just beyond the ledges where the waves are crashing, a family of ducks swims among the surf, seemingly unphased.

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11:20 a.m.

We’re less than an hour from the midday high tide, and Sandy is starting to make an impact in Phippsburg.

Winds have picked up considerably in the past 30 minutes, and the surges are beginning to spill over traditional high-water marks.

Most of the lobstermen in the village of West Point moved their boats to safer moorings on Sunday, which is a pretty good indication of their expectations of this storm.

But aside from swirling winds, spillover and sheets of rain, the weather this morning at Carrying Place Head Island has been remarkably unremarkable.

But that will change in the next few hours, no doubt.


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