Angel on my Shoulder or someone looking out for us.
January 23, 2019
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon.
Well up to last night we were making out okay at the anchorage. When we came in 10 days ago we registered for a mooring ball. We were number 21 on the waiting list. As of today we are 13. The problem is that because the weather is so bad and the Atlantic kicking up 6' waves... no one is going anywhere. We know there are several groups waiting for the weather to change so they can make the jump to Cuba, the Islands or the Bahamas. Some of these boaters have been here a lot longer than they anticipated and making the most of this "usual" stop in paradise.Weather here has been fairly okay except for the high winds, in excess of 15 knots most days and night with gusts up to 25-30.
Because the harbour is so crowded, all 226 moorings taken and about another 100 in the anchorage, there is not a lot of space around to anchor and throw out adequate chain to be safe. Typically we like a minimum of 50-60 feet of chain for 6-9' deep water. We were only able to get 25' out in 6' of water without swinging into shallower water and/or swinging onto another boat anchored within 40-50 from us. As boats react differently to wind, waves, tides etc. if both boats swung opposite to each other, there is an opportunity that they may hit one another.
Well, we survived 8 days of anchoring on a short anchor/chain 'leash" in some pretty heavy storms and winds. In fact, we thought we had been hooked on something big that may have sunk during the hurricane and may have trouble unhooking from the bottom when we had to move.
I think you can tell where this is going...
Not that we were cocky, but we came to rely on the anchor holding. Last night we knew the winds were going to pick up with them being constant 20-25 out of the east ( Atlantic) with gusts to 35 plus.
All was going well and I slipped into bed at 11pm. Jo being the night person doesn't go to bed until 12 usually. At about 12 she yelled down to me that the boat's anchor had pulled up and we were drifting to the shore.
Immediately I was up, no time to get dressed ( no need to imagine what that looked like as it probably isn't pretty), I hopped on deck to see us about 15' from a seawall with what looked like a demolished dock and several pylons sticking up. Without a lie, the boat gently drifted onto 2 pylons ( one in the stern and one amidships) about 20'apart. We were able to tie up to them and the boat stopped about 10' from hitting the seawall and/or grounding as we had no idea of the water depth at the wall. The bad part was that we were broadside to the 1' waves and 20 knot winds and no place to go. We had somehow missed a 40' sailboat that was anchored out beside us and now was sitting about 15' from my stern. In front was a 15' motor vessel tied to a dock, presumably the owner of the house we had just come into. We tied up to the pylons as best we could under these adverse conditions and the late hour. We put out whatever fenders (bumpers) along the pylons as best we could. Problem was we couldn't push this 10 ton boat off the pylons because of the wind and waves to better fender off the boat.
We took depth readings and realized we were approachiing low tide in about 3 hours. We estimated that the water still had to fall another 6 or 8" and I was already close to the keel hitting bottom.
Winds and waves didn't subside all night. I stayed up until low tide and we were fortunate we weren't bouncing off the bottom, but we were pretty damn close. On a few heavy wind gusts you could feel the water under the boat and on occasion we did bounce a bit off the bottom. The owner of the property came out and asked if we wanted to call Sea Tow or Boat US for a tow. The conditions were bad, and in that we were already on ground or close, he allowed us to stay tied overnight.
At 3am, realizing we couldn't do much more, I resolved to awake every hour and record wind and depth of where we were. The low tide was 4.40am and the high tide at 10:50am. Being in an unknown place and tide conditions it was necessary to get up every hour to ensure the lines that were tied up on the pylons were loose enough to accommodate the water level change. Sun rose at 7am and I got a better picture of where and what we were up to. At 7am, I called BOAT TOW US , that I would need a tow off the pylons at high tide. The weather was nasty and the Captain of the local boat US, which was within 2 miles, said he would drive down to see my situation. I wasn't optimistic that we were going anywhere soon as winds weren't to fall until the next day 3am.
The owner of the property came out at 9am and advised that I could stay until it was safe to leave. The damaged docks and pylons we were tied to were the result of Hurricane Irma 18 months ago. BoatUS could not do anything until the winds laid down and the boat in front of me moved. At least we were able to better tie up the boat to the pylons and get some fenders behind them. Up to this point , all you could hear was the rub rail of the boat, rubbing up and down the wooden pylon, making that "eerie" screeching sound that you know is "just not good"
In talking with the owner of the docks, ( 80 yrs. old Doctor) he told us he worked for 10 years in Saskatchewan as an intern in a hospital in Estevan. ( small world) The wind was so loud it was hard to talk with him, so we exchanged phone #'s, if we needed to chat we could.
Well, we've been her all day and will be all night. Winds did drop a bit , down to 15-18 knots with 22 knot gusts. It is starting to pick up again as I write but this time we are at least more comfortable than we were last night. Once my neighbor moves his boat tomorrow, and the winds drop as expected to under 10 knots, I'll be able to get out of here.
I've rented a slip for 3 days at a Marina about a half mile down the harbor. Rate is $2.50/ft ($100 US/night).
Once the weather changes it will take no time at all to get a mooring as there are over 20 boats looking to move out.
As for my ANGEL...
We drifted 150'-200' without grounding or hitting a boat ( 4 boats within proximity)
What luck to have the boat drift down and land on 2 pylons ( not 1 but 2) so we could safely tie off
What luck to have 5' of water within 10' of shore
What luck to have no physical damage to the boat or us
Other than being tired and a bit sore and stiff from the stress, we are fine.
To make a nice end to this section, we pulled out of from the seawall with no problem and were at our slip a half an hour. Looking forward to the next few days , not worrying about weather, tides, and other boats around us. Now have access to showers, restaurants, unlimited power, some comfort and HAPPY HOURS... I think we deserve the break.
Ciao
Tom and Jo
Some more picks from Marathon
Boot Key Harbor, Marathon.
Well up to last night we were making out okay at the anchorage. When we came in 10 days ago we registered for a mooring ball. We were number 21 on the waiting list. As of today we are 13. The problem is that because the weather is so bad and the Atlantic kicking up 6' waves... no one is going anywhere. We know there are several groups waiting for the weather to change so they can make the jump to Cuba, the Islands or the Bahamas. Some of these boaters have been here a lot longer than they anticipated and making the most of this "usual" stop in paradise.Weather here has been fairly okay except for the high winds, in excess of 15 knots most days and night with gusts up to 25-30.
Because the harbour is so crowded, all 226 moorings taken and about another 100 in the anchorage, there is not a lot of space around to anchor and throw out adequate chain to be safe. Typically we like a minimum of 50-60 feet of chain for 6-9' deep water. We were only able to get 25' out in 6' of water without swinging into shallower water and/or swinging onto another boat anchored within 40-50 from us. As boats react differently to wind, waves, tides etc. if both boats swung opposite to each other, there is an opportunity that they may hit one another.
Well, we survived 8 days of anchoring on a short anchor/chain 'leash" in some pretty heavy storms and winds. In fact, we thought we had been hooked on something big that may have sunk during the hurricane and may have trouble unhooking from the bottom when we had to move.
I think you can tell where this is going...
Not that we were cocky, but we came to rely on the anchor holding. Last night we knew the winds were going to pick up with them being constant 20-25 out of the east ( Atlantic) with gusts to 35 plus.
All was going well and I slipped into bed at 11pm. Jo being the night person doesn't go to bed until 12 usually. At about 12 she yelled down to me that the boat's anchor had pulled up and we were drifting to the shore.
Immediately I was up, no time to get dressed ( no need to imagine what that looked like as it probably isn't pretty), I hopped on deck to see us about 15' from a seawall with what looked like a demolished dock and several pylons sticking up. Without a lie, the boat gently drifted onto 2 pylons ( one in the stern and one amidships) about 20'apart. We were able to tie up to them and the boat stopped about 10' from hitting the seawall and/or grounding as we had no idea of the water depth at the wall. The bad part was that we were broadside to the 1' waves and 20 knot winds and no place to go. We had somehow missed a 40' sailboat that was anchored out beside us and now was sitting about 15' from my stern. In front was a 15' motor vessel tied to a dock, presumably the owner of the house we had just come into. We tied up to the pylons as best we could under these adverse conditions and the late hour. We put out whatever fenders (bumpers) along the pylons as best we could. Problem was we couldn't push this 10 ton boat off the pylons because of the wind and waves to better fender off the boat.
This is where we tied up to, note winds in trees
Seawall
Boat we missed but too close to back out from wall
We took depth readings and realized we were approachiing low tide in about 3 hours. We estimated that the water still had to fall another 6 or 8" and I was already close to the keel hitting bottom.
Winds and waves didn't subside all night. I stayed up until low tide and we were fortunate we weren't bouncing off the bottom, but we were pretty damn close. On a few heavy wind gusts you could feel the water under the boat and on occasion we did bounce a bit off the bottom. The owner of the property came out and asked if we wanted to call Sea Tow or Boat US for a tow. The conditions were bad, and in that we were already on ground or close, he allowed us to stay tied overnight.
At 3am, realizing we couldn't do much more, I resolved to awake every hour and record wind and depth of where we were. The low tide was 4.40am and the high tide at 10:50am. Being in an unknown place and tide conditions it was necessary to get up every hour to ensure the lines that were tied up on the pylons were loose enough to accommodate the water level change. Sun rose at 7am and I got a better picture of where and what we were up to. At 7am, I called BOAT TOW US , that I would need a tow off the pylons at high tide. The weather was nasty and the Captain of the local boat US, which was within 2 miles, said he would drive down to see my situation. I wasn't optimistic that we were going anywhere soon as winds weren't to fall until the next day 3am.
The owner of the property came out at 9am and advised that I could stay until it was safe to leave. The damaged docks and pylons we were tied to were the result of Hurricane Irma 18 months ago. BoatUS could not do anything until the winds laid down and the boat in front of me moved. At least we were able to better tie up the boat to the pylons and get some fenders behind them. Up to this point , all you could hear was the rub rail of the boat, rubbing up and down the wooden pylon, making that "eerie" screeching sound that you know is "just not good"
In talking with the owner of the docks, ( 80 yrs. old Doctor) he told us he worked for 10 years in Saskatchewan as an intern in a hospital in Estevan. ( small world) The wind was so loud it was hard to talk with him, so we exchanged phone #'s, if we needed to chat we could.
Well, we've been her all day and will be all night. Winds did drop a bit , down to 15-18 knots with 22 knot gusts. It is starting to pick up again as I write but this time we are at least more comfortable than we were last night. Once my neighbor moves his boat tomorrow, and the winds drop as expected to under 10 knots, I'll be able to get out of here.
I've rented a slip for 3 days at a Marina about a half mile down the harbor. Rate is $2.50/ft ($100 US/night).
Once the weather changes it will take no time at all to get a mooring as there are over 20 boats looking to move out.
As for my ANGEL...
We drifted 150'-200' without grounding or hitting a boat ( 4 boats within proximity)
What luck to have the boat drift down and land on 2 pylons ( not 1 but 2) so we could safely tie off
What luck to have 5' of water within 10' of shore
What luck to have no physical damage to the boat or us
Other than being tired and a bit sore and stiff from the stress, we are fine.
To make a nice end to this section, we pulled out of from the seawall with no problem and were at our slip a half an hour. Looking forward to the next few days , not worrying about weather, tides, and other boats around us. Now have access to showers, restaurants, unlimited power, some comfort and HAPPY HOURS... I think we deserve the break.
Ciao
Tom and Jo
Some more picks from Marathon
Iguana in tree (orange) may need to enlarge
Dingy Parking lot
Mooring Field at dusk, tide racing out
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