Mahalos Michael. Amazing the satellite can pick that up from 22,500 miles in space.

About how many days does it take for all that sand to settle out? Did it cause significant beach erosion in the Keys?

As a 3 year resident of Coconut Grove (South of Miami, for those who don't know), from '78 - '80, I never experience anything like that, with the exception of Hurricane Allen in '80. We were in Key West and told to evacuate.

It was a VERY windy drive back to Miami on the overseas highway, but we were already home by the time Allen made his closest approach, passing well south of Florida (and Cuba) on his way to Southern Texas. (Fortunately, I was long gone before Andrew's devastation in '92.)

As a true weather buff, I MISS my days in Florida, with it's afternoon thunderstorms and the occasional threat of a tropical storm or hurricane. I'm sure many who went through the Stormy Seasons of '04 and '05 will think I'm crazy, but I would have liked to have been there for the action, (safe and sound in Coconut Grove!)

Hawaii is nice and beautiful, to be sure, but *pretty boring*, weather-wise, for most of the year.

Hey! They don't call me Stormin' Norman for nothing! lol

PS: In case you missed the humor in my post's title, Isaac Hayes had a smash hit in the 70's titled "Shaft".