Puerto Mogan
During the night the wind changed direction and as a result we were nestling against the mooring buoys and Mark had to tighten up the stern anchor rope to pull us off. Anchoring can be like this in narrow positions or in strong winds when you hope that the anchor will hold and you will not drift. We often set anchor alarm which tells us if we move beyond what we set. So perhaps a few times in the night we get up to check all is well.
The day started well with a ferry in front of us which left at 8.00am and we were left in this stunning position. We had breakfast and then needed to work out how we were to recover the secondary anchor. We decided to do things in reverse as we had laid it. In other words, we reversed up to the rear anchor (paying out the front anchor at the same time) to which we had attached a rope to a fender and then retrieved the fender and attached the rope to the crane through a block so we could raise the anchor off the seabed. We retrieved the blue rope as we were doing this so it did not get into the propeller. We then retrieved the chain and finally the anchor. We then put everything back as had originally been stored and retrieved the dinghy. It had been a good team effort and it must have taken us an hour but at least we know how to do it and I am sure we will be faster next time.
We were sad to leave but wanted to move on to Puerto Mogan where we had emailed for a mooring for 2 nights. Ben had also rung the office and we were to wait for an email. There was little wind initially and we motored admiring the shear rock formations of the shoreline. The wind did pick up a bit, so we decided to sail even though we were only making about 4 kts. We were not in a hurry and it would be good for fishing. We therefore quietly slipped along enjoying the peace and beauty of the blue sea and black/brown cliffs.
We received an email that we had a berth which was good and we had some nice wraps for lunch. The wind gradually died and then changed direction, so we had to motor again. Unfortunately, we never caught any fish and we continued toward Puerto Mogan which became more evident in the distance as we approached. We could see ahead the parachute gliding boats and jet skis and then as we approached a tourist yellow submarine.
We called on the radio to the Port about our mooring and were told to call again as we entered. This was not long and a man pointed down a narrow alley of boats with their bows and anchors on their bows on the front to an inner mooring against the wall. They looked a bit like swords held above creating the alley. The boats also had ropes coming from their bows down into the water which narrowed the alley further. Stormbird was bigger than any of these boats and whilst we could just about have got in there it was fraught with risk and whilst there was no wind now, what if the wind got up when we needed to get out. We remonstrated with the man that it was too small for us but all he said was that was the only one even though we could see some others free on the west wall. I was not prepared to take the risk so we decided to go to the anchorage outside where there were no other boats. I did not think it worth risking damaging the boat so early in my trip.
We found a nice spot and anchored without issue. It was not too rolly and in fact more private as at that mooring, we would have been overlooked by the restaurants and people walking by. Mark cooked a delicious one pot chicken dish which we enjoyed in the cockpit whilst the sun went down. We were here and ready to explore the next day when there was to be a market.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com