More Anchoring Fun

All chain helps but is not guarantee

April 29th
We were in Prince Rupert Bay Dominica.  After relocating, Tom dove on the anchor to be sure we were set.  That night I was really tired and went to bed early.  I slept like the dead.  Suddenly for some unknown reason I woke up aburtly.  I have no idea what time it was other than o'dark thirty and very late.  Checking our position, I found we were very, VERY close to another boat.  Dangerously close.  I woke up Tom.  At first he thought that boat moved up on a mooring right behind us and then realized NO, we had drug down towards this boat.  I scrambled to fire up the engine and Tom scrambled forward to the anchor locker.  Now we were even closer to hitting them!  AND - this is a boat we know!  Super nice people.  It would be like hitting your favorite uncle's fancy, top of the line Mercedes.  It's terrible to drag down on anyone!  But absolutely horrible to drag down on a seasoned cruisers you know who has been helpful with advice and guidance.

I couldn't wait any longer, I slowly powered us forward to avoid hitting them.  Tom brought the anchor in.  I suggested we just take a mooring and Tom agreed.  Great..... But.....moorings here are not like the big, shiny balls with long, floating pendants you find in the BVI's.  Oh no!  More often than not, they are a gallon oil jug (sometimes yellow, sometimes black....because that's easy to spot half submerged) 1/2 floating in the water with a pendant that may or may not be good.  However, first we had to find a mooring in the dark.  Not an easy task.  Tom spotted one and started me towards it.  I landed the approach on the first try and he was able to snag it and get us secured.  The pendant seemed beefy and we watched for a while to be sure it was holding us.  Then we went below...dumbstruck about what had just happened and fitfully fell asleep.  

The next morning, as we laid in bed, we tried to figure out what happened - how we could have come lose and drug.  Our answer came when we got up in the cockpit for morning coffee.  Just before sunset the night before, a yacht came in and anchored between us and the yacht ahead of us.  The next morning they were in our exact anchor location - not where they were before!  We think they drug down across our anchor, popping us free.  That was more than likely the motion that woke me up.  Now....this might be us making excuses for dragging anchor but it seems logical.  We were set and Tom dove on the anchor to be sure, then suddenly we were dragging freely and the next morning another boat has drug down into our exact anchor location.  Hum?  
NOTE - No, I did not set an anchor alarm.  Yes, I should have.  To my knowledge, the "favorite uncle" boat never woke up.  Whew!  No, I am NOT saying who it was.