Mayreau

Mayreau
October 12th
After about 2000 miles, we finally run into a boat from Naples Fl.

We were waiting for a break in the weather when we left Canouan about 3:00pm.
It looked like the local squalls had passed so we decided to head down island to Mayreau.
We'd get there before dark I figured.
But the sky's darkened and the wind picked up. Wasn't long before the rain hit us and visibility was reduced to zero. We lit our running lights and masthead light so we could be seen by other boats, and kept our eyes pealed into the mist.

Just as we were about to enter the anchorage, the sky's cleared a bit and the rain stopped. There were 3 other boats, one anchored and 2 on mooring balls. It was too dim to see the bottom. You want to drop anchor in sand, not grass. So we dropped, set the anchor and hoped for the best.

I had left the GPS on so I could check our position, to see if we were dragging and was checking it every hour. It was still overcast and pitch black out.

About 11pm I went to check our position.
I was at the helm when I heard an awful screeching sound on the port side, turned, and saw the side of another boat. We had dragged anchor into him and were gouging the sides of our boats together.

I had already started the engine when Penny and the other boat owner showed up. I pushed as hard as I could to separate the boats and she got on the wheel and drove us off. Then had to get on the windlass to get the dragging anchor and chain up. It was pitch black and I couldn't see where I was going so had to rely on the GPS. Except that it wasn't coming up. It wasn't reading the satellites and giving me position so I couldn't tell which way was which. Had to stick my head out and look for the other boats.
Penny realized the the GPS wasn't working because the house batteries were low. She went down and started the generator which charged the batteries and got the GPS up. All this in 10–15 knot winds in a small bay.

We finally got our bearings and motored over to anchor again. But after about an hour of close watch, we were dragging again into a reef and shallow water. I said, “We've GOT to move again.” Wasn't a minute too late either because while retrieving the anchor we actually hit bottom a couple of times. I was afraid we were going to get stuck. And with the wind we could have gotten pushed onto the reef and that would have been really bad. I stayed on the power and yelled to Penny to keep pulling in the anchor chain with the windless. We cleared the shallows and headed to deeper water to drop anchor again. This time we dropped 2 anchors and tied off to a mooring ball.

Next morning the fellow who's boat we hit stopped by in his dinghy. Turns out he and his wife are from Naples Fl. and lived about 2 miles from us, off Wiggins Pass.
It took us about 9 months and 2000 miles before we run into a boat from Naples Fl. Literally.

We exchanged information, insurance coverage etc., and we over to examine the damage to his boat. It was bad but not too bad. Could have been a lot worse. We suffered some bent safety line stanchions that can easily be fixed.

His boat and the damage.

Mayreau anchorage.

We went ashore to snoop around and were adopted by a really nice dog.
He showed us how to find crabs hidden in the sand.

Introduced us to the local vendors.

Showed us their boats.

Then took us to the local beach bar where we met some new friends.

We did a walkabout over the island.
Stopped at the church.

Here is a traditional “wattle and daub” building.

We stopped here for a beer.

Mayreau is a pretty laid back island.