Our Anchorage Saga Continues or as Seabbatical say’s, "Sometimes you're the show, Sometimes you're watching it."

For the last week or so we have had some fairly heavy winds and our anchors dragged, causing some excitement, I guess we were not done.  A couple of days ago the winds were nothing major, but a steady 20-22 knots, our anchors were holding well.  I was a little anchor shy, and kept a sharp eye out on everything, us, our anchors and the boats anchored around us. The cruisers in Isla Mujeres, monitor 13 so this is where I had the VHF radio

dialled. Things seem to be going well so I had fallen into a calm zone. At about 17:30 we had just started to get ready to go and have supper with our friends on S/V Honeymoon Forever, when we heard on the radio "British vessel, British vessel, do you know you are dragging your anchor?" no response!,”British vessel, British vessel, do you know you are dragging your anchor?" no response! Like a field of gophers everyone on every vessel in the anchorage pop their heads out for a look.

As luck would have it, a 42’ boat is dragging and heading straight for us, luckily its at least 500’ away. The captain of the dragging sailboat should have time to take action.  HOLY CRAP, no dinghy, It looks like no one is on board. I start the engine on DevOcean and tell Linda to be prepared to move DevOcean if need be.  I jump in the Dinghy rush over and confirmed nobody is on board.  I rush back to DevOcean to let Linda know we just may have to move and race back to the dragging boat. As I go back, I meet up with the Canadian Captain of Gambit II.  We climb aboard to see what we can do as time is running short for this boat.  If this vessel passes and hopefully misses DevOcean she will then run aground. There are no keys in the ignition, the vessel is locked, so we check the windlass, it has power, we remove the snubber line, and let out as much chain as possible, It’s still dragging.  I tell the other Captain I have to get back to raise my anchors and move.  We managed to move DevOcean as this boat only missed us by 10’, going right over the spot we were anchored minutes before.  We move DevOcean, and re-anchor. Luckily for the other boat the anchor finally grabs, just before running aground. I again check my two anchors, and debate on leaving for supper.  So, confidently yet alert we keep a sharp eye on our baby and enjoy a great supper with our friends.  When we return we happily see the dragging boat has moved and is safely anchored, we hope for the night,  because, if he slips again, he has positioned himself to possibly hit us. 

Luckily The Boat Came To Rest Before Running Aground 

You know they say things happen in threes. In the morning we wake up after a choppy restless night and anchor watch.  I get to the top deck to check on my anchor rode and notice no dinghy, oh crap. The dinghy painter is still attached to my boat and the dinghy handle present. The wind and waves have ripped the handle off. I scan the area, hoping that the dinghy hasn't traveled beyond the bay where we would never see it again.  Luckily the winds were blowing toward the mangrove and our dinghy is sitting on the shore.  At this point I get in the kayak and paddle to shore to get our dinghy back. We have had enough excitement for a while.  

As one of our sailing friends Seabbatical say’s, "Sometimes you're the show, Sometimes you're watching it."