Saturday, June 27, 2020

Quarantine Anchorage (Sailor/Wuflu Jail), Grenada – Day 10/11
12.02.484N
61.45.411W

Another Saturday night and I just realized that even the garbage goes out more than I do.

Well, today started off pretty exciting.  Everyone in the anchorage was sitting around minding their own business, when a voice came over the radio saying that a 36 knot wind had just passed through a different anchorage.  As the skies were just starting to darken, I turned on our wind instruments and we went outside to watch.  Within minutes, the skies turned dark, the wind picked up and the rain started.  For the first part, we didn’t see anything over 20 knots but then it really started cranking up.  Sure enough we saw 35+ kts come though.  You couldn’t see the hand in front of your face for all of the rain.  We kept an eye on our neighbors and our markers to discern whether we were going to drag or not.  Finally, it started to let up.  We saw several boats around us dragging and/or moving to another location.  As I’ve mentioned (probably too many times) this is lousy holding!  Thankfully, we stayed put.  I grabbed a brush and starting using the free fresh water to wash off the red Saharan dust that’s been accumulating on our decks.  It was a cold rain but the boat was a lot dirtier than I had first thought.  Glad that I used the opportunity to give it a good brush. 

When we looked out the window to check on Opal, it appeared to be mating with another smaller boat.  We waited for a bit to give them time before checking to see if they were alright.  Turns out that the smaller boat had dragged within a couple feet of them.  They had already turned on the engine and reinstalled the wheel (they keep it stored off the pedestal to give themselves more room in the cockpit) ready to move if it came to it.  Luckily, the other boat was able to keep theirs from hitting Opal and no further drama was incurred. 

Amazing isn’t it?  Nothing for days and then bam!!  Crap happens and its (to use an old Navy term) all asses and elbows!  Gerry relayed that they saw 50 kts on their instruments.  They are located away from us and in direct line with two hillsides that funnel the wind though them, so that 36 kts gets amped up a smidge. 

Another bit of exciting news is that we might get out of WuFlu jail early!  Apparently, there are 30 boats arriving this coming Wednesday and they want to start clearing the anchorage for the new arrivals.  Gerry thought perhaps it was because I had sent in a pleading letter to the Ministry of Health requesting consideration of time served in the transit.  Dale thought it was for good behavior.  In any event, we’re hoping to leave on Monday barring any unforeseen positive test results. 

Throughout the remainder of the day we had off and on showers but around 3pm Dale and Savannah took a swim out to the anchor to check on it.  According to them, it hadn’t budged.  I took a couple of videos of Savannah doing cannon balls off the back end to send to her mom showing that she was still alive and well. 

Other than that, a quiet day. 

Finally:  I wish the corona virus had started in Las Vegas; because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.