Around 7 p.m. on Friday night, as wave action along the South Shore noticeably increased, former Premier of Bermuda David Saul watched the shoreline outside his Devonshire Bay home with a rueful smile.

Dr. Saul’s jerry-rigged diving platform, moored all summer in the middle of the bay, had just been pulled from its anchor and was now smashing against the rocks in heavy surf.

"Well," Dr. Saul said, "at least I won’t have to worry about it any more."

The raft, he predicted, would not be there by morning.

True to expectations, by Saturday morning - a full day and a half before Hurricane Igor’s impact with Bermuda - Dr. Saul’s raft had indeed been smashed apart. The bay’s last remaining motor boat, also unmoored, was being driven by waves against the rocks at the back of the beach. Another sign of the impending hurricane was also in evidence: large numbers of spectators carrying cameras and phones, entranced by the pounding surf at bay’s mouth.

With impressive plumes of spray rising from the rocks and a bass roar of surf audible well inland, the cascade along South Shore on Saturday delivered on several days of hurricane warnings: Hurricane Igor packs a tremendous force, in the league of Hurricane Fabian.

At Hungry Bay in Paget, where the reef is thin and close to shore, 15 to 20 foot breakers could be seen from alarmingly close offshore. A strong easterly wind gradually increased to gale force gusts toward the 6:17 high tide. Visibility along the shore appeared to be down to about half a mile, with dense quantities of spray driving inland.

At the more sheltered Devonshire Bay in the neighbouring parish, as the last of Dr. Saul’s raft went out with the surf, a traffic jam of curious Bermudians gathered along roads and throughout the park. With one more day to go before the forecasted direct hit, a diverse collection of people had come together simply to watch the waves.

Comparisons with Hurricane Fabian were common. Spectators were divided as to whether Igor, so far, lived up to 2007’s storm.

Perhaps the biggest difference between now and then could be found onshore, with the prevalence of mobile recording devices: out of the roughly fifty onlookers gathered for the high tide, something in the region of one in five seemed to be filming the event. Regardless of its impact, Hurricane Igor could be the most documented yet.

A procession of cars occasionally blocked roads leading to the park. With the detached camaraderie of a crowd watching fireworks, families and residents watched and occasionally drew back as waves piled upon waves into the bay’s mouth.

Toward sunset, the first onset of rain drove most of the onlookers away. Hurricane Igor’s closest impact with Bermuda was projected for midnight on Sunday by the Bermuda Weather Service. From the windows of their cars, people continued to film and photograph the surf.