.
we got up at 4am and left at 5:15 am in the dark, never again night time travelling,
we had the radar on and back tracked on our incoming track, (and everyone knows that is not
that accurate), but with the radar we missed all the land. Once Joe got the anchor up and
secure, I had to give him the helm, cause I was over correcting on every turn. Once we got further out in the ocean I managed to take over again. Yes we have an auto helm, but it has a mind of its own and
we can't rely on it.
Finally at about 6:30 am we could see, but no land to focus on.
We are heading south, for 50 miles .. or 9 1/2 hours. The ocean swells of 6-8 ft on our aft beam, wind E NE at 10-12 knots .. and now we are in 13,000 ft and the Northeast Providence Channel
it started to drizzle rain at 10am … We had to radio one freighter, AIS is great, so we got to call them by name, we wanted to make sure he saw us as we where on a collision course .. the captain spoke little
English, but we finally got our message to him and he told us to keep our course and he would change his course and come in behind us … we saw 2 other freighters, one passed behind and one in front, and one sailboat going in the opposite direction.
finally with the anchor down with Snowbird, Moonlight Maid, Lagom, .. then Te Amore and 5 other boats, mostly Canadian
Lagom and Moonlight Maid coming to welcome us to the anchorage
drying our salt soaked clothes
dinghy still looking sad, but we will pump it up tomorrow
with all of this rainy weather , we are finding mold on a lot of the wood work .. under the table
is now getting a good vinegar rinse
pizza for supper
Joe is continuing to varnish the inside of the boat .. this is only done on storm stayed days
Royal Island, it's name was originally Real Island, for the Spanish silver coin used by pirates who frequented the harbour … here is the dock of a private estate built in the 1950's .. not much left now, even a sunken boat at the dock
the estate , see top of the page is in ruins .. flag pole at bottom
this was the work shop … developers have tried but failed to change the
island into a resort
Modaki's mast behind the stone shore line
property markers all around this harbour
another sunken boat
vehicles left where ever they stopped running
at anchor, before the storm hits
we had a change to walk this resort, it looks like it only has ground keepers, no visitors
their fire pit on the beach
I found another sea bean here
a swimming pool with no one to use it
even a hot tub … our dinghy is in the back ground
a garden of coconuts sprouting
we had happy hour on Moonlight Maid, with Snowbird, Te Amor, Lagom, and another boat
the day before the storm
this cat came in and anchored beside us and Joe told him that he was too close and when the wind shifted in the night we would be right at his bow .. this sailor refused to listen, so in the morning, we woke to him about 15 ft from us .. let me just say there was a whole lot of yelling going on … he finally moved to another part of the harbour
we moved Modaki into a more sheltered spot for the winds that are to come tomorrow .. this is the entrance to Royal Island
this is the storm and high winds that hit us all day Sunday, thank goodness it was in the day time
winds for about 3 hours where 35 knots gusting to 40+ … the rest of the day it was 25 - 30 knots
I was on watch at about 2pm, when I noticed Moonlight Maid swinging sideways and not returning into the wind … I called Joe up from a rest and said something is wrong … and it was Moonlight Maid broke anchor and was dragging and with this same 40+knot wind, Modaki also broke anchor and dragged down close to 2 other boats … we had an awful time getting the anchor up with all the gusts, nearly hitting a boat beside us … (now this other boat had dragged earlier and he re anchored too close to us, and he put out two anchors, so he was not swinging the same way as everyone else, and he only put out 75 ft, where the rest of us did 125 ft.)
when we got the anchor up, it took the whole ground with it, so we didn't initially drag, but when it broke ground the anchor could not reset it self .. it took about 5 minutes of motoring to remove all the mud and sand from the anchor
finally we got organized and re-anchored, as did Moonlight Maid
both of us where so shaken by this incident
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