No such luck … the connection sucked. We were able to stay connected for the most
part but it was extremely slow. It made
the process of work NOT enjoyable (as if work is ever enjoyable … right?). So stop my whining you’re saying … RIGHT? …
at least I’m in paradise.
We spent about 6 hours working on “stuff”. Between blog chores, we made water and did 3
loads of laundry. Okay, so it was more
like the volume of one load for a “normal” machine but took us three loads to
complete in our tiny little unit. While
we were doing these tasks, we heard a loud BANG! It sounded like something massive hit the boat. We investigated but have no idea where this
sound came from. We searched and we
searched for a possible cause but everything seemed fine. We had to do the unthinkable and ignore the
fact that we couldn’t resolve it and put it aside. Wow … I hope it was nothing too serious!!! If I get up to go pee in the middle of the
night and get soggy toes … I’ll know we should have pursued further!
During the day, the bay went from very calm (when we first
arrived) to quite choppy now. We
decided it was best to head back to town in hopes of more protection from the
high hills. I dread them when I’m
hiking but I love them for protection from the winds!
Talk about right decision …boy, are we glad we moved back to
town. About 9pm, we got the worst
thunderstorm we have had in years. The
winds howled over 40 knots and the rain was so heavy, we could barely see the
boats around us. The lightning
illuminated the skies in a brilliant array of colors and provided a bit of
relief from the poor visibility but then it was gone in a flash. It was a massive storm. Luckily, we were sheltered by the hills. Don’t know how it would have been just a
couple miles away in the unprotected harbor of Lindbergh Bay?
When we anchored, we had set an anchor point on our GPS (as
we always do). This helps us determine
if we are dragging or not. During the
peak of the storm, our distance to our anchor point hit just under 200
feet. Damn … that’s not good … were we
dragging??? God, I hope not. The last thing we want to do is up the
anchor in the middle of a storm and try to reset it in the dark, in poor
visibility, in almost gale force winds!
Our eyes were peeled to the GPS as we watched our track (a visual
display of where the boat has been). A
pleasant “smile” had formed at our anchor point … back and forth as we would
swing on the anchor. Then there was a
dramatic line out almost 200 feet straight out from where we were!!! Relief settled in as we gradually saw that
“smile” form at the end of that straight line.
What happened was … when we set our anchor originally; the winds had us
facing one way. When the super strong
gusts from the storm caught our boat, it spun us around and pulled the anchor
tightly in the exact opposite direction … thus the 200 foot swing. Wow we were lucky! Our anchor held strong!
But it was scarey …we’ve never had a variance like that before … 200
feet was a lot!
Others did not have our luck. We had the VHF radio on and wow, what a night! The Coast Guard was really kept on their
toes. There were 5-6 distress calls
from boaters in dire need of help. One
was a 67-foot boat that had gone up on the rocks at the Baths, in Virgin
Gorda. They were taking on water and
needed to be rescued. The Virgin Island
Search and Rescue team was deployed and was able to get them safely off the
boat several hours after the original call.
That must have been hours of ordeal for the crew … I can’t even
imagine! I don’t know what happens to
the boat in that case. Did they recover
the boat or is it merely a navigational hazard we now need to watch out
for? Wow … that’s all I can say!!!
In town here, we watched as a very large catamaran freely
sailed thru the anchorage, not far from us.
It turns out, the anchor had pulled loose and the boat was drifting
freely towards another boat! No one was
on-board the catamaran. BoatUS arrived
onsite and monitored the situation. I’m
sure people on the boat in the path of destruction said a little prayer because
within about 10 feet of impact, the anchor for the catamaran grabbed hold again
and stopped the disaster!
Unbelievable! Wow, what luck!
When the winds calmed, the skies cleared, and the waters
settled, our GPS showed that we were within 11 feet of where we originally
marked it. Perfectly secure and zero
dragging. Now that’s the way to set an
anchor!
Do you know … during that damn storm, I lost my reading
glasses. After the wind and seas
settled, we looked everywhere for them. We couldn’t find them anywhere.
I know what happened. I’d been
working on my computer when the storm hit.
We rushed around to get the boat closed up from the rain. I hooked my glasses on my shirt like I
always do. When I was trying to close
the one panel for our enclosure, it was whipping and flailing in the wind. It must have caught my glasses and knocked
them off without me noticing. Shit, how
many pairs of glasses did I bring? I
know I have a spare pare but now that “spare” pair isn’t spare anymore.
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