Busy, busy

There has been lots to watch over the last few days here in Pelican Bay.  The anchorage pretty much cleared out over Sunday as people either went home, or traveled on to their next stop.  There was one other trawler left and a couple of sailboats by the time we went to bed Sunday night.  We were woken in a hurry Monday morning to the strange sound of what seemed to be a single wave slamming into the dinghy at the rear of the boat.  We rushed onto the deck, and could see one wave slowly moving away from us across the bay.  It was like a teeny tiny little tsunami, maybe 2 feet high, and all alone.  Not at all like wake from a passing boat, and very strange, indeed.

As we stood and wondered what had happened, we noticed that the trawler across from us seemed to be pushed up very close to the mangrove shore.  We could clearly see the anchor line stretched out to the right, and could only wonder what exactly had happened.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, the little red TOWBOAT US tug arrived, spent a little time with them, then left without actually doing anything that we could see.  So the poor guy was still stranded.

A while later, a sailboat entered the bay.  As we watched, they overshot the route into the easternmost part of the bay, and ran aground.  I should mention here that the whole bay is no deeper than 10 feet, and most is considerably less than that, so it is easy to find the bottom if you are not very careful.  You can see from the photo that the bow is sitting several inches higher than the stern.

At this point, the TOWBOAT US guy came back, spoke to folks on the sailboat,  then turned and headed back to the trawler.  First order of business was to pick up the anchor, then a towing line was attached and he began to pull her off the sand.

Well, he huffed and he puffed, and he pulled and he pulled, and ever so slowly, we began to see movement. Inch by inch, the boat pivoted and turned, then began to move freely, still under tow.  Those poor people had been up against shore for several hours by now.  He towed them to the middle of the bay, where they dropped anchor again, and I'm sure had a good stiff drink!

Meanwhile, the sailboat had launched their dinghy, and with a little help from another sailboat, managed to free themselves as the tide came up.

Yesterday, we took a little trip up to Burnt Store Marina for fuel and water.  It was a beautiful day for a run, and conditions were great.

We decided that we would return to Pelican Bay for the night, and determine our next destination.  As we sat on the aft deck having a cocktail, we saw a large boat approaching the southern end of the bay - not the normal entrance for most folks, but the only way to get into a very protected little 'hurricane hole'.  With strong winds forecast for overnight, we weren't surprised. But suddenly, he stopped moving.  Sure enough, he was too close to shore, and had run aground.  We could see people on the decks, trying to gauge the depth with boat hooks and weighted lines.  The sun was going down, and it would be dark soon.  Not a good time to be stuck.  They launched their dinghy after a few minutes, took a few soundings, and managed to eventually back off in fairly short order.  Their second attempt to enter was much more successful.

Throughout the entire exercise, we were surrounded by dolphins.  You can hear them exhaling as they surface often before you see them, and they were all around us.  But they don't stay in one place, and I only managed a couple of photos of fins!

I also managed to spot a manatee, and a small flight of little rays, but had no time to take any pictures.

The wind did pick up overnight, and we were up several times checking our position.  Our anchor held throughout, and we didn't drift at all, but neither of us had a particularly good sleep.  If the wind continues to settle, we may move on today - or not.  We'll see what happens today, and what we feel like doing.  And that's the beauty of having no firm plan.