Excitement in the Anchorage

That is probably overstating it.  Last night we were resting comfortably in the cabin, watching a movie, when we heard some knocking on the side of the boat.  After ascertaining it was not a criminal trying to get aboard, we recognized Jean-Pascal, the crewman on board one of our neighbors.  He showed us that this big powerboat, Princess Nicole, was about to run right into us.  He got aboard that boat (I got on the radio but the owner or captain or other responsible party could not be located) and managed to slow it down (it was dragging its anchor) by letting out some more of its anchor chain.  In the mean time, we decided we needed to pull up our anchor and move, just in case Her Highness Princess Nicole decided to keep moving around.

So I took the helm, but Mike was having problems with the anchor - actually with the clutch of the anchor windlass - and there was also a lot of wind.   The wind blows the boat around in a circle, and it is hard to keep a boat pointed the right direction when it is supposed to  be standing still.  You need movement to maintain steerage.  Plus of course we have no depth sounder, which means we don't know how deep it is. (Although this is not quite such a big deal in an anchorage like this - we can tell which boats have drafts similar to ours.)  Mike needed to have the spreader lights on to work on the clutch, which was a problem for me at the helm as I could not see past the light around the boat, like looking past a campfire.  I just had to hope there was no one in front of me, as I would not see them until I was right on them.  And of course to make matters worse, the anchor was sort of hanging down, but not set.  But we managed.  Mike fixed the problem, made some improvements so the situation would not happen like that again, and we finished watching the movie and went to bed.  Thank goodness for Mike's skills - he is good at keeping this vessel afloat.

Then this morning, I was sitting here at the computer when we were hit by a huge wave (at least it seemed that way).  Everything went flying, and I am careful to keep things well secured even at anchor because I know what can happen.  A jar of instant coffee flew off the counter and opened and instant coffee went everywhere.  Along with a big glass of water, so imagine the mess.  Even though I have vacuumed and washed the floor it still smells like Starbuck's in here!  I suppose that could certainly be worse.  Today we plan to ride around in the dinghy, see the local sights along the waterway, and then go to the grocery store.

We are more and more certain we are winning the war of attrition against these roaches.  And the geckos are still alive, at least two of them. 

So that will do it for today.  Tonight there is a ceviche party at a local restaurant, we may go or we may not.   We'll see what our mood is when the time comes. 

"Next to music beer was best." (Carson McCullers)